时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:2011年VOA慢速英语(二)月


英语课

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I’m Shirley Griffith.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Patricia Neal, a famous actress who reached the top of her profession but had many personal tragedies.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In the nineteen forties and fifties, one American actress could be identified by listening to her speak just a few words:

PATRICIA NEAL: “I didn’t want to be tied to anything. I wanted to destroy it rather than let it be part of a world where beauty and genius and greatness have no chance.”

That was Patricia Neal in the nineteen-forty-nine film “The Fountainhead.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: She was named Patsy Louise Neal when she was born in nineteen twenty-six in Packard, Kentucky, a coal-mining camp. Her father was a manager at a coal mine. Packard no longer exists. It disappeared, as mining camps often do, and few people remember it. But Packard’s most famous daughter is remembered for her great beauty, success, talent, bravery and activism.

Patricia Neal is escorted by Kirk Douglas to the world premiere of the movie "The Fountainhead" in Los Angeles in 1949

Later the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Patricia began acting 1 as a teenager. She studied drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for two years but left to go to New York City. In nineteen forty-seven she won a Tony award the first year the awards were given for her first Broadway performance. She played a teenage girl in “Another Part of the Forest” written by Lillian Hellman. Her success on Broadway quickly brought offers from Hollywood filmmakers.

By the age of twenty-one, Patricia Neal was on the cover of Life magazine. Being on the cover meant you were a star. Millions of Americans read the magazine every week.

Patricia Neal at the opening night performance of "Doubt" on Broadway

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Soon after Patricia Neal arrived in Hollywood, she met Gary Cooper, one of the most famous movie stars of the time. They starred together in “The Fountainhead” in nineteen forty-nine. It was the film version of Ayn Rand’s famous book.

GARY COOPER (AS HOWARD ROARK): “Come in…I expected you to come here.”

PATRICIAL NEAL (AS DOMINIQUE FRANCON): “I didn’t know your name. You knew mine, but you haven’t tried to find me in all these months.”

GARY COOPER: “I wanted you to find me and have to come to me.”

PATRICIA NEAL: “If it gives you pleasure to know that you are breaking me down I’ll give you a greater satisfaction…I love you, Roark. Would it please you to hear that I’ve lived in torture all these months? Hoping never to find you again and wishing to give my life just to see you once more. But you knew that, of course – that’s what you wanted me to live through.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Gary Cooper was forty-eight years old and married. Patricia Neal was just twenty-three. But they soon became lovers. Their three-year love affair ended when Cooper refused to leave his wife and daughter for Neal, even after Neal became pregnant with his child. This hurt Patricia Neal terribly. She had an illegal abortion 2. She suffered an emotional collapse 3. She left Hollywood and moved to New York City.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen fifty-three, she met and married the British writer Roald Dahl. More than thirty years later, she said in an interview that she did not love Dahl when she married him. But she wanted very much to be a mother.

PATRICIA NEAL: “So I thought, well, I will marry him because he will give me divine children, and I wanted children so much - you have no idea how much I wanted children. And that, that is really why I married Roald Dahl because I thought I would never be deeply in love again because I had been deeply in love with Gary Cooper.”

They moved to England where they had five children. In the nineteen fifties Patricia Neal again appeared on Broadway. In nineteen fifty-seven she returned to film and starred in “A Face in the Crowd” directed by Elia Kazan. But two tragedies happened to Neal and Dahl in the nineteen sixties. Their infant son Theo suffered brain damage when a car hit him in New York City. Their seven-year-old daughter Olivia died from the disease measles 4.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal lived in England with her husband and children, but she continued to make movies in Hollywood. In nineteen sixty-four, she received an Academy Award for best actress. She won the award for her performance as Alma the housekeeper 5 in the movie “Hud,” starring Paul Newman.

Patricia Neal holds a replica 6 of her Hollywood Walk of Fame star that was installed on May 20, 2005

PATRICIA NEAL (AS ALMA): “Don’t you ever ask?”

PAUL NEWMAN (AS HUD): “Well, the only question I ever ask any woman is ‘What time is your husband comin’ home?’”

PATRICIA NEAL: “Must say I’ve been asked with a little more finesse 7 in my time.”

PAUL NEWMAN: “I’ll bring ya a two-pound box of candy and maybe a bottle of perfume from the drugstore.”

PATRICIA NEAL: “No thanks. I done my time with one cold-blooded bastard 8. I’m not lookin’ for another.”

PAUL NEWMAN: “It’s too late, honey, you already found him.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen sixty-five, a year after she won the Oscar, Patricia Neal suffered three strokes. She was thirty-nine years old and three months pregnant with her fifth child. She was unconscious for three weeks. When she woke up, she was blind and could not speak. And she was unable to move parts of her body.

She was in such terrible condition that Variety, a national entertainment newspaper, reported that she had died.

PATRICIA NEAL: “I’ve read about my death in the paper.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The report read: “Patricia Neal, thirty-nine, last-year’s Oscar-winning best actress who won five prizes for her first Broadway performance in nineteen forty-seven, died last night at UCLA Medical Center.”

The report was wrong, but not by much. She was near death. It was three months before she was able to walk again and speak a little. Her husband forced her to improve. But every day was difficult. She said she hated life. “I wanted to commit suicide,” she said, “but I didn’t know how.” Six months after the strokes, she gave birth to a healthy daughter named Lucy. She believes the strokes kept her from becoming a major star.

PATRICIA NEAL: “I’d just won the Academy Award. I was going to go sensational 9. I was gonna get the most heavenly parts in the world. I would win Oscar after Oscar after Oscar.”

INTERVIEWER: “You were thirty-nine years old – at the beginning, in fact, of a career.”

PATRICIA NEAL: “And it was killed.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: But by nineteen sixty-eight she was back in the movies. The strokes affected 10 her brain so much that it was very difficult for her to remember her lines. But she worked hard. And she received an Academy Award nomination 11 for her role in “The Subject Was Roses.”

She played an angry mother who uses her son as a weapon against her husband.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen seventy-eight, she dedicated 12 the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation 13 Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. The center helps people who have had strokes. Patricia Neal raised money for children and adults who had suffered brain injuries. She showed that a brain injury did not mean the end of life or the end of joy. She said: “I can’t see from one eye. I’ve been paralyzed. I’ve fallen down and broken a hip 14. Stubbornness gets you through the bad times. Don’t give in.”

Patricia Neal received a lifetime achievement award at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2008

In nineteen eighty-three, Patricia Neal suffered another personal tragedy. She learned that her husband had been having a long relationship with her closest friend. After thirty years in England, she ended her marriage and returned to the United States.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal was eighty-four when she died of lung cancer in two thousand ten. She had made almost forty movies.

They include “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” She had worked with the most famous actors of her time.

She also appeared in many television programs. She had had a productive career, but it was not everything she had wanted it to be. She wished she had become a great star.

A friend remembered her as one of the most extraordinary women of our time. “She was constantly inspiring everyone for her courage and dedication 15. Whether on stage, in motion pictures or in her personal life, she maintained her unique beauty and personality.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Jennie Morrow raises money to support the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center. She said Patricia Neal faced severe problems with such style and grace. “She was so inspirational to the patients. She stopped to hear their stories, held their hands and applauded their success. And she knew about the value of applause.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal struggled back to a productive life after many personal and professional problems. She helped others who were recovering from strokes. But one writer said after she died: “She wished to be remembered not for gossip, or for her personal life, but for her performances on stage and screen.”

In two thousand five, Patricia Neal said: “I am an actress, and I will take any good part as long as I can stand up. And when I can no longer do that, I will take them lying down.”

After she died, the New York Times newspaper wrote that her life moved back and forth 16 between victory and tragedy. A book about her is called “Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life.” That seems like a good way to describe the life she lived.

PATRICIA NEAL: “I’ve loved being here…”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written by Christopher Cruise and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Shirley Griffith.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. Our programs are online with transcripts 17 and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.



1 acting
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
2 abortion
n.流产,堕胎
  • She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
  • A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。
3 collapse
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
4 measles
n.麻疹,风疹,包虫病,痧子
  • The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
  • The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。
5 housekeeper
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
6 replica
n.复制品
  • The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
  • The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。
7 finesse
n.精密技巧,灵巧,手腕
  • It was a disappointing performance which lacked finesse.那场演出缺乏技巧,令人失望。
  • Lillian Hellman's plays are marked by insight and finesse.莉莲.赫尔曼的巨作以富有洞察力和写作技巧著称。
8 bastard
n.坏蛋,混蛋;私生子
  • He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
  • There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。
9 sensational
adj.使人感动的,非常好的,轰动的,耸人听闻的
  • Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
  • Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。
10 affected
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
11 nomination
n.提名,任命,提名权
  • John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
  • Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。
12 dedicated
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
13 rehabilitation
n.康复,悔过自新,修复,复兴,复职,复位
  • He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
  • No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。
14 hip
n.臀部,髋;屋脊
  • The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
15 dedication
n.奉献,献身,致力,题献,献辞
  • We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
  • Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。
16 forth
adv.向前;向外,往外
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
17 transcripts
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句
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