时间:2019-01-17 作者:英语课 分类:2017年NPR美国国家公共电台6月


英语课

 


KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:


Before I talk to Eddie Izzard about his new book, "Believe Me: A Memoir 1 Of Love, Death And Jazz Chickens," I think we need to hear about the jazz chickens.


(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)


EDDIE IZZARD: Cows go roo (ph). Sheep go bahh (ph). Ducks go quack 2. Pigs go oink - all of them. Chickens go cock-a-doodle-doo (ph) - unless you wedge a trumpet 3 on their face.


MCEVERS: (Laughter) If you are a fan of Izzard's surreal stand-up comedy, you probably can tell where this is going.


(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)


IZZARD: (Imitating trumpet). Farmer's wife going, what is that? That's jazz chicken. We bought a jazz chicken? No, it's the old chicken, but a trumpet fell on his face. What do you mean fell on it? Well, I wedged it on there. I couldn't stand it (imitating chicken crowing) all times of the day and night. I thought, let's make it jazz.


MCEVERS: (Laughter) Eddie Izzard, comedian 4, actor, writer, joins me now here in the studio in the flesh. Welcome.


IZZARD: I've got to say two things about that. One, that's the first time I've ever heard someone in the middle of the joke pull out to make a comment that, OK, here, a joke's coming here...


MCEVERS: (Laughter).


IZZARD: ...And then go back in and let the joke release, which was very weird 5 but maybe very NPR-ish (ph) of you.


MCEVERS: (Laughter).


IZZARD: And the word jazz chicken - well, the two words jazz chickens is not mentioned in the book at all.


MCEVERS: Right, jazz chickens is in the title but not in the book. I mean, was that (laughter) supposed to be true?


IZZARD: They said, there's got to be something funny in there. So there is - I do talk about love and death and jazz chickens is just there to be funny, in a way.


MCEVERS: And as much as we're laughing, it's a serious book. You start with the day that you say your childhood ended.


IZZARD: Yeah.


MCEVERS: The day your mother died of cancer, March 4, 1968. You were 6 years old.


IZZARD: Yeah. It was an unusual thing, which I think I say in that first chapter - if not, I say it later on - that Mom and Dad decided 6 not to say that this was - this cancer was going to kill her. And then one day, she was gone. And, yeah, it doesn't get better. You just put layers and layers over it.


MCEVERS: At some point, and I don't know if it's in that chapter or later, but you write that ever since she died, you feel like, in a way, you've been trying to bring her back. What do you mean by that?


IZZARD: Well, I'm trying to do all these things because if I do enough, maybe she'll come back. And that is right that if I can really do enough interesting things, maybe it will cut through to the other side. Now, I don't believe in a god. I just think, unfortunately, we live and then we die and then that hurts kids. So I don't think Mom can come back.


And I think she would have got a message back, you know? You know, surely one person would have got a message back over the eons and eons of time of 10,000 years of civilization - just one.


MCEVERS: One email (laughter).


IZZARD: If one - yeah, one message, one clouds pull aside and it's me, Janine (ph). I died last Tuesday. Anyway, it's great. They get massages 7 up here. And God's nice. He's a bit full of himself but all right.


MCEVERS: (Laughter).


IZZARD: You know, they're all hanging out here. Everyone gets on. It's great. Be nice, and you come up here. If not, you go down and it's smelly and it's horrible. It's all cold and hot at the same time.


MCEVERS: So obviously, yeah, you don't mean you would actually bring her back. But you said, like, if you just keep doing enough things...


IZZARD: Yeah. And they're not scattergun. It's not, like, and then I'm going to be a stamp collector, be the most brilliant stamp collector. These are just things that I wanted to do. You had a few things usually on the boil there. And I've just kept those on the - sort of simmering in the back of my mind. And then I brought a number of them forward, like drama and surreal comedy.


And then I went off to do gigs in Spanish in Madrid and Barcelona to do en Espanol, and now I can go around America doing it in English and...


MCEVERS: And Spanish, yeah.


IZZARD: ...En Espanol. And I will go through Central America and South America as well.


MCEVERS: 'Cause this is a thing that runs through the book. You worked really hard but you also had this confidence that you could do what you wanted to do, right? Some people call it chutzpah. I think you call it pigheadedness.


IZZARD: Yeah.


MCEVERS: Where does it come from? I mean, I feel like I want to be able to bottle and sell it. But I want to know where...


IZZARD: It was locked in from coming out in 1985. Coming out 32 years ago as transgender or - I was TV when I came out. The language has changed over the years.


MCEVERS: Right.


IZZARD: Transvestite, TV, transsexual, TS. We are now at trans and transgender. So I came out in 1995. And it was very difficult to go out and forge your way out and lock it into your life. Once I did that and I pushed back on all that fear and hatred 8 and the feelings that society all around the world was saying to me. You're not allowed to do this. This is wrong.


And I'm saying, it's built into my genetics. And I think I have girl genetics and boy genetics. So I'm going to express them. I am not going to feel shame or guilt 9. And that has given me the confidence for everything else.


MCEVERS: I want to talk about your process, too, about writing, about how you come up with some of your bits. I want to listen to...


IZZARD: You can't call them bits.


MCEVERS: Oh, sorry.


IZZARD: I think they're scenes. I know there's an American stand-up language thing of saying, I've got this bit. And it just sounds...


MCEVERS: It makes it sound pretty small.


IZZARD: Yes, it sounds like - I got this bit where I talk about the existence of eternity 10. I mean, you know, it sounds like someone has forced us to say, I've got a bit. No, I've got a nice piece of comedy. I've got a little scene. I've got a little story.


MCEVERS: All right, we're going to banish 11 the bit. Let's talk about one of your scenes. You're talking about something extremely mundane 12, about how software automatically updates. You know, when you're, like, sitting at your computer and the software is like, oh, do you want to have an automatic update? And you're like, yes, please update, thank you. Let's listen to that.


(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)


IZZARD: No one in this room has read the terms and conditions. No one in (unintelligible) has read the terms and conditions. No one in the world [expletive] world has read it. Even the people who wrote it didn't read it.


(LAUGHTER)


IZZARD: Anything could be there. We will take your buttocks and sell them to the Chinese. Fine. Swap 13 your knees out - yes. So we'll tape your buttocks to the hot part of a tractor. OK. Put your big toe on your thumbs and swap them out. Yes, yes, can we? Because at that point, you just want it. You want - give me the [expletive] update. And then you get the update, and nothing's changed.


(LAUGHTER)


MCEVERS: So process-wise, is that you, you know, sitting at home at your computer, the update actually happens and you think to yourself, I'm going to write a scene about this or...


IZZARD: No, it's even more loose than that. It's actually on stage - like, if I was doing that, I would be on stage talking about something else or something close to it. And then I'd think, that terms - we don't read it, do we? No one reads it. Do you read it? What's in it? And then suddenly you realize there's a whole lot of areas I can go there.


So I just start ad-libbing on the stage. Everything is verbal sculpting 15. I verbally sculpt 14 from there. So the next night, I'll expand upon it more. And I will say, I'll sell my buttocks to the Chinese, whatever it is. You know, and you get this energy that goes into it. And the audience really reacts to the energy. But then after a while, you can get it locked down. And if you get it precise, you go, I'm going to use these jokes in this section. And then it starts to become leaden.


So I thought, if I keep it always molten, it will always be live. So I write down some ideas in the notes section of my iPhone. And then I go on stage and I develop them. And I developed "Force Majeure," my latest show, in LA and San Francisco and New York. And I will do that in Paris. And that'll be a salute 16 to France in voting in President Macron and the 65 percent. And that was, like, their referendum.


I'm very positive on Europe. We have to make the world work, otherwise this century, it's going to be our key century. The first century for the rest of eternity where humanity really gets as fair as possible or it's the last century and goodbye humanity.


MCEVERS: Wow. Stakes....


IZZARD: Yeah, I think those are the stakes.


MCEVERS: Wow.


IZZARD: I think those are the stakes. So moderates of the world, be radical 17 in your moderatism because the people on extremes, they will use a lot of hatred and a lot of aggression 18 against you. And you have to push - you have to be tough and push back against it.


MCEVERS: Awesome 19. Eddie Izzard, thank you.


IZZARD: Thank you. Cheers.


MCEVERS: Eddie Izzard's book is called "Believe Me: A Memoir Of Love, Death And Jazz Chickens."



n.[pl.]回忆录,自传;记事录
  • He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
  • In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中,她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。
n.庸医;江湖医生;冒充内行的人;骗子
  • He describes himself as a doctor,but I feel he is a quack.他自称是医生,可是我感觉他是个江湖骗子。
  • The quack was stormed with questions.江湖骗子受到了猛烈的质问。
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘
  • He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴,我吹喇叭。
  • The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。
n.喜剧演员;滑稽演员
  • The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
  • The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的
  • From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来,他好像有点怪。
  • His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
按摩,推拿( massage的名词复数 )
  • At present the doctor is giving him daily massages to help restore the function of his limbs. 目前医生每天在给他按摩,帮助他恢复腿臂的功能。
  • His father massages his nose and chin. 他爸爸揉了揉鼻子和下巴。
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨
  • He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
  • The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责
  • She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
  • Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。
n.不朽,来世;永恒,无穷
  • The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
  • Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞,永世相随。
vt.放逐,驱逐;消除,排除
  • The doctor advised her to banish fear and anxiety.医生劝她消除恐惧和忧虑。
  • He tried to banish gloom from his thought.他试图驱除心中的忧愁。
adj.平凡的;尘世的;宇宙的
  • I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作,而不是一份平凡无奇的。
  • I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的,即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。
n.交换;vt.交换,用...作交易
  • I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
  • This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。
n.雕刻,雕塑,雕刻品,雕塑品
  • When I sculpt,my style is expressionistic.我的雕刻风格是表现主义。
  • Then,sculpt the remaining fringe parting.然后雕刻剩余的边缘部分。
雕刻( sculpt的现在分词 ); 雕塑; 做(头发); 梳(发式)
  • The quality of the result is determined by a Craft( sculpting) check. 由手艺(刻)定决定结果质量如何。
  • Another difficulty in the process of ice sculpting is time control. 冰雕过程中的另一项困难是时间的掌控。
vi.行礼,致意,问候,放礼炮;vt.向…致意,迎接,赞扬;n.招呼,敬礼,礼炮
  • Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
  • The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的
  • The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
  • She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害
  • So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结,就不必惧怕外来侵略。
  • Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。
adj.令人惊叹的,难得吓人的,很好的
  • The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
  • That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.
学英语单词
a wedding reception
abrasive-laden
accretion efficiency
Alois Senefelder
American Institute Hull Insurance Clauses
Anguillara Sabazia
art work tape
binary-coded alphanumeric
bioassay procedure
blamestorm
bucking coil
Calophaca
carotenoderma
chklovski
chloropentaammineplatinum(iv) chloride
cryptic crossword
cumulative time series
darfuris
derived distribution
dietetist
dust allayer
entodermal vesicle
Eria graminifolia
eruption of glanders
essential inorganic ion
Europlugs
fdp management science
forciplessure forceps
fork type hay loader
fretsawed
funding mechanism
genus Delphinium
george armstrong custers
georgian folk dance (georgia)
GF (natural-gas fired)
good delivery of securities
gradeschool
graphic reprernt-ation
guttman scalogram analysis
high-rank fuel
histoplasmotic arthritis
horsetail pine
I-armature
impoisoners
incremental allocation
initiallings
insulsity
jute rope
krimmel
lamellodiscusiasis
language, description
latent focus
liquefies
Malartic, L.
malfunctioning
marine placer
Mek'et'ewa
micro photosizer
mojonnier lo-temip evaporator
murder room
noncleaved
nondualism
odd or even
open hearth block
overcontain
paochi
pneumogas trography
propagation velocity
quantum frequency conversion
ranunculus equatilis l.var.pantothrix hohen
recompence
record output
regerminate
relay shock absorber
reverse thrust
rollback propagation
rouse model
s'hart
slobo
sodium chloride optics
split-level investment trust
standard white surface
stannous oxide
sungest
sunk gutter
swirl-flow combustion
thin-film transistor (tft)
tieline oscillation
two level
undrained triaxial compression test
unregardful
unsighty
vapid beer
voice grade circuit
Warsaw-based
wealthy trader
wire back
wire strainer
You cackle often, but never lay an egg.
yuilles