时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:2018年NPR美国国家公共电台10月


英语课

 


ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:


John Jay Osborn is a screenwriter and novelist who has mined his own life for material. In 1970, he based the book "The Paper Chase" on his time in law school. His new novel is based on an experience he and his wife had together.


JOHN JAY OSBORN: More than 30 years ago, we went to the marriage counselor 1. And it was a life-changing experience. It made our life together so much better. And we went to her for four years. And at the end of four years, she said, you know, guys; I'm sorry, but this is it, you know? This isn't designed to go on for your whole marriage. You know, now you're going to have to go out on your own. And we were like, oh, God, no, you know?


SHAPIRO: (Laughter).


OSBORN: But she said, no, this is it - got to go.


SHAPIRO: His new novel is called "Listen To The Marriage." The reader only meets three people - a couple and their marriage counselor. In the author's note, John Jay Osborn writes that he hopes the book may change some marriages for the better.


OSBORN: I'd been wanting to write this novel for quite a long time, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I just couldn't get it right. And then suddenly I had two realizations 2. And the first one was, it all takes place in the marriage counselor's office. That's what the story is. And the second was it's from the marriage counselor's point of view. And that was a big step for me for two reasons. You know, I've never been a marriage counselor. And number two, the marriage counselor had to be a woman.


SHAPIRO: Why?


OSBORN: I just - that - I've asked myself that. I mean, part of it was that my marriage counselor was a woman, and I believe most marriage counselors 3 are women. And it just felt right. It just felt like it had to be that way.


SHAPIRO: How similar is the marriage counselor in this book to the one that you used?


OSBORN: So the marriage counselor in the book is different, but the themes of the marriage counselor, the techniques of the marriage counselor are very much the same.


SHAPIRO: Explain. What do you mean? What are those themes and techniques?


OSBORN: So for example, the marriage counselor says there are no deals, you know? You can't make any deals with each other. We're not going to do exchanges of promises. We're not going to say, OK, I'll do this, and you'll do that, and therefore our marriage is all going to work out. There's none of that. You know, to go to a marriage counselor who says that to you is really an interesting experience.


And then the second thing is if you want something from your partner, you've got to make them want to give it to you. So in the simplest situation, if you want your partner to love you, then you've got to become the kind of person that your partner is going to want to love, you know? Those are the kinds of insights 5 - simple but I think critically important insights that my real marriage counselor and my fictional 6 marriage counselor share.


SHAPIRO: Would you mind reading a section of the book for me?


OSBORN: No, sure.


SHAPIRO: Page 38.


OSBORN: (Reading) Usually Sandy didn't pay much attention to the world beyond her small office - the illicit 7 meeting in New York where Gretchen was going for the weekend, what Bill's wife knew. Everything that happened outside the office - she didn't care. To Sandy, the important story was what happened inside her office. It was what she had to focus on. It was the story. It was what was really happening. Of course all the time, it was tempting 8 to get caught up in the outside story - the affairs, the sex, the betrayals, the soap opera. But the real work was here inside her office.


SHAPIRO: That almost feels like a thesis 9 statement for the book.


OSBORN: It is actually. And I put that in because I didn't quite trust the reader to get it, you know? Those two paragraphs are a marker for the reader saying, look, guys; this is where the real story is.


SHAPIRO: I know that's true of the novel. Is that really true in life? It's hard to imagine that betrayals and affairs cannot actually be what's important to whether a marriage lives or dies.


OSBORN: I have to say that in the long run, they don't matter. The stuff that happens outside the office doesn't matter. And I can tell you that by analogy 10. So what happens in really good marriage counseling 11, the marriage counseling illustrated 12 in this book, is that by the end of the process, when you really begin to get it, when you can actually understand for the first time in your life what your partner is really saying to you, you feel like a new person. It's as if you've shed everything that happened before, right? I mean, so if you had an affair before, it's as if it happened to a different person. It doesn't count anymore. You're new. Does that make any sense?


SHAPIRO: It does, and it makes it sound like the marriage counseling is about much more than marriage. It's about real transformation 13 of each individual.


OSBORN: It has to be. It absolutely has to be. And that's why it takes time - because it's - it is not some kind of blinding insight 4 that you're going to have. Oh, God, this happened to me when I was 14; now I understand it; I'll be different. It's not about that at all. It's about learning lessons that you should have learned when you were growing up maybe by watching your parents. But your parents didn't have it together. They weren't - didn't have a great marriage. It's about learning these lessons of how you can relate to the other person, how you can understand what they're thinking.


And you have to practice. You have to practice it again and again. And that's what the couple does in this book. There are certain little things that the marriage counselor leads them through. For example, throughout the book, she'll stop, and she'll say, I want you to look at each other, and tell me what you see. And as you read the book, you'll see that they see more as they learn more until they really can see the other person in a deep and meaningful way.


SHAPIRO: I said that we only meet three characters in this book, which is not...


OSBORN: Yeah.


SHAPIRO: ...Exactly true because the way you write this book...


OSBORN: That's right.


SHAPIRO: ...There really is sort of a fourth character...


OSBORN: There is.


SHAPIRO: ...Which is the marriage itself.


OSBORN: It's the marriage itself. And the marriage counselor actually sees the marriage as a distinct 14 and real character. She's actually listening to the marriage as the marriage changes in the office. And she's trying to get the couple to be able to do that as well, to see their marriage as something that they built over time that's very important and that's alive in a way that's different from each of them.


SHAPIRO: Marriage rates have been going down for decades. According to the Pew Research Center, today, just about half of adults are married down from about 75 percent in the '60s. Your book is clearly pro-marriage. Why do you think this institution still matters?


OSBORN: Wow, I mean, you're absolutely right. My book is pro-marriage. But it's not pro-marriage in any kind of transnational sense that we have to have marriage. It's pro-an-important-relationship because it makes your life so much better, you know? I mean, there's a reason that everybody wants to have a relationship. It's, like, the two of you individually are one thing. But if you can get it together, you literally 15 become more than the two of you if you can create a important, fulfilling relationship together.


SHAPIRO: Do you think every marriage could benefit from a good marriage counselor, or is it really just sort of for people in crisis 16, in dysfunction?


OSBORN: OK, I think that every marriage could benefit from a good marriage counselor, you know? You may not have to go for four years, but I think that you can really learn a lot. I don't think you should settle for a marriage that just, you know, is OK. I mean, it's the critical thing in your life. You want a marriage that's wonderful. You want a marriage that you can feel and talk to and that gives it back to you.


SHAPIRO: Well, John Jay Osborn, thank you so much for talking with us about your book.


OSBORN: Well, thank you so much. This was really fun.


SHAPIRO: His novel is called "Listen To The Marriage."


(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MARRIAGE")


BOMBADIL: (Singing) What would you say of marriage after the 200th time I told the same joke and then I broke your favorite watch with my heel?



1 counselor
n.顾问,法律顾问
  • The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
  • Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。
2 realizations
认识,领会( realization的名词复数 ); 实现
  • Popular realizations of MPI standard are CHIMP and LAM and so on. 目前,公用的MPI实现有CHIMP、lam等。
  • The author presents some realizations from the certificate assurance work. 本文介绍了笔者在ISO9001质量体系认证工作中的几点体会。
3 counselors
n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 );律师;(使馆等的)参赞;(协助学生解决问题的)指导老师
  • Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。) 来自超越目标英语 第4册
4 insight
n.洞察力,洞悉,深刻的见解
  • Good teachers have insight into the problems of students.好的教师能洞察学生的问题。
  • The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。
5 insights
洞察力( insight的名词复数 ); 洞悉; 领悟; 顿悟
  • This is a book full of profound, original and challenging insights. 这本书充满了深刻、新颖、令人深思的见解。
  • Because his judgement was prudent, his insights were central to any consultation. 因为他考虑问题很慎重,所以他的意见在每次磋商时都最受重视。
6 fictional
adj.小说的,虚构的
  • The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
  • The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。
7 illicit
adj.非法的,禁止的,不正当的
  • He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
  • Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。
8 tempting
a.诱人的, 吸引人的
  • It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
  • It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。
9 thesis
n.论题,论点,论文
  • His thesis is being finished off.他的论文快写完了。
  • He argued his thesis well.他为他的论点进行了有力的辩论。
10 analogy
n.类似,相似,类比,类推
  • It is not always reliable to argue by analogy.靠类推法论证并不总是可靠的。
  • A close analogy with the art of singing can be made.可以用歌唱艺术作类比。
11 counseling
n.咨询服务
  • A multimillionaire media magnate has shocked his employees with his candor by telling them all that he's putting his business affairs on hold to enter an alcoholism-counseling program. 一位身份数百万的媒体大亨,坦诚地告诉他全体员工他将暂时搁置他的事业以便参加戒酒班,令员工大为惊愕。
  • She will need medical help and counseling to overcome the tragedy. 她将需要医疗帮助和心理咨询来平复这场悲剧。
12 illustrated
n.变化;改造;转变
  • Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
  • He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。
13 distinct
adj.种类不同的,有区别的,清楚的,明显的
  • I had the distinct impression that I was being followed.我清楚地感觉到有人跟踪我。
  • The party split into two distinct groups.该党分裂成两个截然不同的团体。
14 literally
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
15 crisis
n.危机,危急关头,决定性时刻,关键阶段
  • He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明,在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
  • The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。
学英语单词
A fool's bolt is soon shot .
actual mixing cycle
Akula
allocation of agriculture
Amidozon
ampere-turns
arsenic ulcer
ataraxias
Bain circuit
baths
bells the cat
benzotriazole
cabalize
chromatin body
Chulmleigh
circular point at infinity
CMTMDS
collecting tubules
compensating market
contestations
creped paper
cut to a point
cyclomation
data reading system
decoupling era
diffusion speed
direct ascent weapon
doliops similis
dump skip
equatorial coordinates
euler microtime scale
ex-ante efficiency analysis
facsimiled
fibre grease
first-aid
food demand
formamide process
frondosely
fuck-me
full-year loss
glason
grammole
hand power crane
heating pattern
Heichelheim's tests
high speed paper cutting machine
highly internationalized operation
Hitzig tests
hornblendite
immedial sky blue
international reference group
inverse of multiplication
jayakody
Kanigogouma
keeps guard
keneret
lapsed sales discounts
ligamentous ankylosis
like fury
litas
logp
Michiganensians
milking pipeline
modelbuilding
neptunic rocks
not put a foot wrong
official position
one upper
organizational change
paralyses
perihysteric
physiology of protozoa
pneumatic linkage
poetica
preeclampsia
prosinesses
reauthorising
red prussiate of potash
residual competence
road-blocking
root-mean-square simulation error
Schwegenheim
shadflies
Shell sort
short rainbow
side-strain
sidescraper
sing low
slash with
sowles
stress-timeds
subtriplicated
sweep along
tethered unit
their majesties
treating waste water
tuco-tuco
vettura
wallabas
wavefront curvature
wely
when to charge