In the late 1960s, a 23-year-old high-school dropout founded a theatre troupe in Pittsburgh's Hill District, the predominantly black neighbourhood where he had grown up. He took to writing. One of his earliest works was a play set in a ramshackle gypsy-cab office in which little happened: a bunch of guys trade stories, swap insults, talk about the world. At some point, however, it became plain that all this was not really the playwright's characters talking about the world so much as he, August Wilson, doing what great writers do: building a world through his characters' words.
Revised and polished over two decades, that work became “Jitney”, part of an ambitious series of ten plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century and all save one in the Hill District. These, known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, earned Wilson almost every award a playwright can win. To describe the plays as telling the story of the American black experience is true, but it sounds too high-minded. Wilson had a golden ear for the cadence and humour of everyday speech, and the way his characters reveal themselves through language provides a pleasure unmatched on the American stage.
Radio Golf is the cycle's final chapter in two senses: it is set in the century's last decade, and Wilson died soon after completing it. Its protagonist, Harmond Wilks, is anomalous among Wilson characters: he is middle-class, politically ambitious and a true believer in the American legal and political systems. The play is a battle for his soul.
On one side are his flashy business partner, Roosevelt Hicks, and Wilks's savvy wife, Mame. Hicks and Wilks want to “bring the Hill back” by building an apartment and retail complex on the site of some abandoned row houses. On the other side are two older neighbourhood guys: Old Joe, who has a claim on one of the houses Wilks wants to pull down, and who has a claim on one of the houses Wilks wants to pull down, and Sterling Johnson, a street-smart handyman. Metaphorically, this is a battle for the black community in the late 20th century: a struggle to maintain black cohesion in the face of economic incentives and a sort of spiritual gentrification.
Dramatically, this play may be Wilson's thinnest: the lines between good and evil are too starkly drawn, and the claim that redevelopment has been uniformly regrettable for black Americans is simply untrue. But the plot is almost beside the point. Wilson has turned the Hill into a place as richly peopled and mythologically deep as Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha county: the house that Old Joe believes he owns belonged to Aunt Ester, who died at the great age of 349. Ester was the spiritual centre of Wilson's Hill neighbourhood. Though she appeared in only one play, she is spoken of in all of them. Sterling Johnson was a young hot-head in “Two Trains Running”, Wilson's 1960s play. In this one John Jelks gives him depth, toughness and wonderful comic timing. The outstanding performance, though, belongs to Anthony Chisholm, who invests Old Joe with a heartbreaking humanity. His recollection of having a flag torn off his army uniform mixes sadness, outrage and poetry in a manner that is quintessentially Wilsonian.
注(1):本文选自Economist, 05/17/2007
注(2):本文习题命题模仿对象为2003年真题Text 3。
1. According to the author, one of the reasons for Wilson’s winning lots of awards is _______.
[A] Wilson writes about the black communities.
[B] Wilson works hard on revising and polishing his works.
[C] Wilson’s works captures everyday humor and language.
[D] Wilson expresses his own views through his characters’ words.
2. What is the public’s attitude towards Wilson’s work?
[A] indifferent
[B] detached
[C] negative
[D] enthusiastic
3. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that _______.
[A] Wilson died before he finished Radio Golf.
[B] Radio Golf is about how Wilks becomes a politician.
[C] Radio Golf sets in the 1990s.
[D] Radio Golf is the best of all the ten series of plays.
4. The term “protagonist” (Line 2, Paragraph 3) probably means _______.
[A] actor
[B] the main character
[C] fictitious man
[D] political activist
5. From the text we can see the author’s attitude towards Radio Golf is _______.
[A] negative
[B] supportive
[C] indifferent
[D] indignant
篇章剖析
本文主要在于介绍奥古斯特·威尔逊的最后一部剧作《高尔夫电波》。文章第一、二段先介绍了该部作品所属的系列戏剧的背景、作者的写作风格和特点等;第三、四段对《高尔夫电波》的主要人物和情节进行了概述;最后一段则是作者对于这部作品的评价。
词汇注释
troupe [tru:p] n. 剧团 handyman [`hAndimAn] n. 做零活的人
predominant [pri`dCminEnt] adj. 支配的, 主要的 metaphorical [7metE`f`rikEl] adj. 隐喻的
ramshackle [`rAm7FAkl] adj. 摇摇欲坠的 cohesion [kEu`hi:VEn] n. 结合, 凝聚
swap [swCp] v. 易物交易 incentive [in`sentiv] n. 动机
cadence [`keidEns] n. 节奏, 韵律 gentrification [dVen7tifi`keiFEn] n. 贵族化
protagonist [prEu`tAgEnist] n. 主角, 领导者 stark [stB:k] adj. 刻板的,荒凉的
anomalous [E`nRmElEs] adj. 不规则的, 反常的 outrage [`autreidV] n. 暴行, 侮辱
flashy [`flAFi] adj. 浮华的 quintessential [`7kwintE`seFEl] adj. 精萃的, 精髓的
savvy [`sAvi] adj. 有见识和精明能干的
难句突破
At some point, however, it became plain that all this was not really the playwright's characters talking about the world so much as he, August Wilson, doing what great writers do: building a world through his characters' words.
主体句式 It became plain that …
结构分析 句子主干的that后面跟的是一个主语从句,从句的主干为all this was not really … so much as …,而冒号后面的部分是补充说明前面的“what treat writers do”。
句子译文 然而,我们却可以清晰的看出,从某种意义上来说,所有这些与其说是作品中的人物在谈论对这个世界的看法,不如说是作者奥古斯特·威尔逊本人和其他伟大作家一样,通过笔下人物之口来构建起一个世界。
题目分析
1.C. 细节题。根据文章第二段最后一句,显而易见答案C最符合题意。
2.D. 态度题。文章第二段中提到Wilson获得了一个作家能够获得的所有奖项,而且他的作品能够给人一种无可匹敌的快感,因此说明了他的作品是广受欢迎的。
3.C. 细节题。文章第三段第一句说明了这部戏剧是以20世纪的最后10年,即90年代为背景的。
4.B. 语义题。从第三、四段的小说情节描述中,应该可以发现Harmond Wilks是该作品的主角。
5.A. 态度题。文章最后一段的第一句话指出该部作本是作者的系列作品中最薄弱的一部,由此可见作者的态度。
参考译文
在二十世纪六十年代晚期,一名23岁的高中辍学学生在匹兹堡的希尔区创建了一个剧团。希尔区是他成长的地方,这里主要居住着黑人,正是这个地方使他迷上了写作。在他的早期作品中,有一部以狭小阴暗的吉普赛个体出租汽车办公室为背景,讲述了发生在那里的琐事:一群家伙在一起聊侃、漫骂、谈论这个世界。然而,我们却可以清晰的看出,从某种意义上来说,所有这些与其说是作品中的人物在谈论对这个世界的看法,不如说是作者奥古斯特·威尔逊本人和其他伟大作家一样,通过笔下人物之口建立起来的一个世界。
经过了20年的修改和润色,这部作品成为了名为《五分硬币》十部系列剧之一。每一部都对应着20世纪的各个不同的年代,且除了一部以外,都以希尔区为背景。这个戏剧系列被称为《匹兹堡圈子》,它们为威尔逊赢得了一个剧作家可以赢得的一切奖项。毫无疑问,我们可以认为这些戏讲述了美国黑人的经历,但这种说法过于高尚。威尔逊能够很好地捕捉日常对话的节奏和幽默,他笔下的人物通过语言来进行自我展示的方式给人带来的快感在美国舞台上是无可匹敌的。
《高尔夫电波》在两个意义上成为这个系列的最后篇章,它以这个世纪的最后十年为背景,且威尔逊在完成该部作品不久以后就去世了。这部戏的主人公哈蒙德·威尔克斯是威尔逊塑造的所有角色中最性格反常的一位:他是一个中产阶级,有着政治抱负,是美国立法和其政治体系的真正笃信者。这部戏是他的灵魂之战。
一方是庸俗的商业伙伴罗斯福·西克斯和威尔克斯精明的妻子玛姆,西克斯和威尔克斯想通过在一排废弃房子的旧址上建造公寓住宅和零售综合楼来“恢复希尔区”。另一方是两个老邻居:老乔声称自己对威尔克斯想拆毁的其中一间房子拥有所有权,斯特林·约翰逊则是一个生活在社会底层的零活工。这部作品隐喻了二十世纪晚期为保存黑人社区的斗争:一场针对经济刺激和中产阶级化、保持黑人凝聚力的斗争。
戏剧性的是这部戏剧可能是威尔逊作品中最为薄弱的一部:对于美好与邪恶的区别界定过于刻板,而他声称美国黑人都为经济的发展而感到扼腕叹息的观点并不真实。但是故事情节几乎离题。威尔逊使得希尔区变成了有如福克纳笔下的Yoknapatawpha小镇那样人口聚集,并富有神奇的色彩:老乔认为他所拥有的房子曾经属于那个349岁高龄去世的埃斯特婶婶。埃斯特是威尔逊的希尔区社区中的精神领袖。尽管她只在一部戏里出现过,但她却被所有人所提及. 斯特林·约翰逊在威尔逊1960年代的戏剧《两列行驶的火车》里是一个冲动的年轻人。在这部剧中约翰·杰克斯让这个人物变得更加深沉、坚强、以及很好的喜剧性。而最精彩的表现属于安东尼·启思蒙,他对待老乔的方式中包含着令人感动的人性。他回忆在军队制服上扯掉国旗徽章的那刻,搀杂着悲伤、愤怒和诗意,某种意义上说,这便是威尔逊作品精髓所在。
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