Unit 9 How I Found My Voice課文翻譯綜合教程四

1、unit 9 how i found my voicejames earl jones1 today i am known for my voice as much as for my acting. it has been my good fortune to receive jobs such as the speaking role of darth vader in george lucass star wars trilogy and the voice-over announcer for cnn cable television. i also narrated aaron co

2、plands lincoln portrait on a compact disc i recorded with the seattle symphony. perhaps my greatest honor came when i was asked to read the new testament on tape.2 but it took a long time to believe such good things could happen to me. when i was a youngster i stuttered so badly i was completely una

3、ble to speak in public. 3 since i was eight id had trouble speaking. it was so bad that whenever i stood up in class to read, the other kids snickered and laughed. i always sat down, my face burning with shame.4 im not sure what caused my stuttering. perhaps it was an emotional problem. i was born i

4、n arkabutla, mississippi, and when i was about five, i moved to live with my grandparents on their farm near dublin in northern michigan. it was traumatic moving from the warm, easy ways of catfish country to the harsh climate of the north, where people seemed so different.5 fortunately, my granddad

5、dy was a gentleman, a farmer who taught me to love the land. he was short and he had a prodigious amount of energy. he even built a church to please grandmother, a fervent worshiper of the lord. all sorts of people were invited to our little church; white, black and american indian came together in

6、a nondenominational fellowship. granddads irish heritage came out in his love for language; during the week he used “everyday talk”, but on sunday he spoke only the finest english.6 as much as i admired his fluency, i couldnt come close to it. i finally quit sunday school and church, not wanting to

7、be humiliated any more. all through my grade school years, the only way the teacher could assess my progress was for me to write down everything i had learned.7 oh, i could talk, all right. our farm animals knew that. i found it easy to call the pigs, tell the dogs to round up the cows, and vent my

8、feelings to fanny, the horse whose big brown eyes and lifted ears seemed to express interest in all i said. but when visitors came and i was asked to say hello, i could only stand, pound my feet, and grit my teeth. that awful feeling of my voice being trapped got worse as i grew older. 8 then when i

9、 was 14, professor donald crouch came to our school. he was a retired college professor who had settled in nearby brethren, a mennonite community. when he heard that our agricultural high was teaching chaucer, shakespeare and other classics, he couldnt stand not being a part of our school. so he lef

10、t his retreat to teach us english, history and latin.9 donald crouch was a tall, lean man with gray hair; english was his favorite subject, poetry was his deepest love. hes been an associate of robert frost. he held a book of poems as if it were a diamond necklace, turning pages as if uncovering tre

11、asures. he memorized a poem every day, explaining that if he ever lost his eyesight he would still be able to savor all that beauty.10 when he learned that i not only loved poetry but was writing it, we found a kinship. there was, however, one difficulty between us. professor crouch (we always calle

12、d him that) could not stand the fact i refused to read my poems to the class. 11 “jim, poetry is meant to be read aloud, just like sermons,” he pressed. “you should be able to speak those beautiful words.”12 i shook my head and turned away.13 then he tricked me. i labored long and hard on a poem, an

13、d after handing it in i waited expectantly for his critique. it didnt come. instead, one day as the students assembled, he challenged me. “jim, i dont think you wrote this.”14 i stared at him in disbelief. “why,” i started, anger flooding me, “of course i did!”15 “well, then,” he said, “youve got to

14、 prove it by getting up and reciting it from memory.”16 by then the other students had settled at their desks. he looked at me meaningfully and nodded. with knees shaking, i walked up before my peers.17 “jim will recite his latest poem,” announced professor crouch.18 for a moment i stood breathless.

15、 i could see smirks and wry smiles on some faces. then i began. and kept going. i recited my poem all the way through without hesitation or fault! i stood amazed and floated back to my desk in a daze, amid wild applause.19 afterward, professor crouch congratulated me. “aha,” he said. “now we have so

16、mething here. not only will you have to write more poetry and read it aloud to know how good it feels, but im sure that you will want to read other writers poetry before the class.”20 i was dubious about that, but said id try.21 soon i began to discover something other stutterers know. most have no

17、problem singing because the lyrics rhythmic pattern flows by itself. i found the same cadences in poetry, and before long my fellow students actually looked forward to hearing me recite. i loved the rolling beat of the song of hiawatha, especially since i had indian blood in my veins.22 i discovered

18、 i did have a voice, a strong one. under professor crouchs tutelage, i entered oratorical contests and debates. he never pushed anything at me again; he just wanted all his students to wake up.23 as my stuttering disappeared, i began dreaming of becoming an actor, like my father, who was then perfor

19、ming in new york city. no one in my family had ever gone to college. but encouraged by professor crouch, i took exams and won a scholarship to the university of michigan. 24 there i entered the drama department and after graduation fulfilled my rotc responsibility by serving with the armys cold weat

20、her training command on mountain maneuvers in colorado.25 later, on the gi bill, i signed up with the american theater wing in new york and supported myself between roles by sweeping floors of off-broadway stages. in 1962 i earned an obie for my role in an off-broadway production of othello, and hav

21、e been an actor ever since.26 meanwhile, i always kept in touch with my old professor, by letter and telephone. every time we talked it was always, “hi, jim. read any good poetry lately?” he was losing his sight and i remembered his early explanation of why he had memorized poetry. in later years wh

22、en i was doing shakespeares timon of athens at the yale repertory theater in new haven, connecticut, i phoned him. “can i fly you in from michigan to see it?”27 “jim,” he sighed, “im blind now. id hate not to be able to see you acting. it would hurt too much.”28 “i understand, professor,” i said, he

23、lped in part by the realization that though my mentor could no longer see, he was still living in a world vibrant with all of the beautiful treasures he had stored.29 about two years later i learned donald crouch had passed on. when i was asked to record the new testament, i really did it for a tall

24、, lean man with gray hair who had not only helped to guide me to the author of the scriptures, but as the father of my resurrected voice, had also helped me find abundant life.找回聲音詹姆斯厄爾瓊斯1 今天我在聲音方面的名氣一點(diǎn)都不遜色于我的表演。我在喬治盧卡斯的星球大戰(zhàn)三部曲中擔(dān)任達(dá)斯維達(dá)的配音演員，并在有線新聞網(wǎng)擔(dān)任旁白播音員，能夠獲得這些工作機(jī)會(huì)我感到很幸運(yùn)。我還與西雅圖交響樂團(tuán)合作錄制cd，在艾倫科普蘭的林肯肖像

25、中擔(dān)任朗誦。也許我最大的榮譽(yù)是應(yīng)邀錄制新約。2 我花了好長(zhǎng)時(shí)間才相信這樣的好事會(huì)落到我頭上。我還是個(gè)小孩子的時(shí)候口吃非常嚴(yán)重，以至于不敢在公眾面前說(shuō)話。3 從8歲開始我說(shuō)話就有困難。情況很嚴(yán)重。每次我在班上站起來(lái)朗讀，其他小孩不是竊笑就是大笑。于是我只好坐下來(lái)，雙頰緋紅，羞憤不已。4 我不知道怎么會(huì)口吃的。也許是情感問(wèn)題。我出生在密西西比州的阿卡布特拉。5歲的時(shí)候，搬到密歇根州北部都柏林附近我外祖父母的農(nóng)場(chǎng)里，和他們生活在一起。從溫暖愜意的鯰魚之鄉(xiāng)搬到氣候嚴(yán)峻的北部，風(fēng)土人情看起來(lái)大不相同，是一件令人痛苦的事。5 幸運(yùn)的是，我外公是位農(nóng)場(chǎng)主紳士，他教會(huì)我熱愛土地。他個(gè)頭矮小，精力過(guò)人。為了討好

26、外婆，他甚至建了一座教堂，因?yàn)橥馄攀巧系蹮嵴\(chéng)的信徒。我們的小教堂邀請(qǐng)了各色人等參加活動(dòng)；白人、黑人、印第安人，不分宗教派別，紛至沓來(lái)，和睦友愛。外公的愛爾蘭傳統(tǒng)表現(xiàn)在他對(duì)語(yǔ)言的熱愛上。周一到周六他使用日砈糜飻，但是到了禮拜天他只講最優(yōu)雅的英語(yǔ)。6 盡管我佩服他語(yǔ)言流利，我卻無(wú)法達(dá)到他的水平。最后我放棄了到主日學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)，也不去教堂，再也不想受到羞辱。在我整個(gè)小學(xué)時(shí)代，老師考核我進(jìn)步的唯一方式是讓我寫下我所學(xué)會(huì)的全部知識(shí)。7 哦，我會(huì)說(shuō)話，是的。我們農(nóng)場(chǎng)里的動(dòng)物都知道這一點(diǎn)。我覺得叫喚豬，告訴狗兒把奶牛趕到一塊兒都很容易，還可以對(duì)著凡妮傾訴衷腸。凡妮是一匹馬兒，她大大的棕色眼睛和豎起的耳朵似乎都表

27、示對(duì)我說(shuō)的一切都很有興趣。但凡來(lái)了客人，大人們讓我和他們打招呼，我只能站起來(lái)，跺著腳，咬著牙。隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)，我那種嗓音被卡在喉嚨里的可怕感覺變得更加糟糕了。8 于是到了我14歲的時(shí)候，唐納德克勞奇教授來(lái)到了我們學(xué)校。他是個(gè)大學(xué)退休教授，在附近的布雷瑟任定居，這是個(gè)門諾派教會(huì)社區(qū)。當(dāng)他聽說(shuō)我們這個(gè)農(nóng)業(yè)中學(xué)講授喬叟、莎士比亞和其他經(jīng)典作家的作品，便迫不及待地加入到我們學(xué)校來(lái)。于是他離開了自己的靜修所來(lái)給我們講授英語(yǔ)、歷史和拉丁語(yǔ)。9 唐納德克勞奇又高又瘦，頭發(fā)花白。他最喜英語(yǔ)，最愛詩(shī)歌。他曾是羅伯特弗羅斯特的同事。他抓著一本詩(shī)集，仿佛那是一串鉆石項(xiàng)鏈，翻動(dòng)這本詩(shī)集就像探尋珍寶一般。他每天背一首詩(shī)

28、，解釋說(shuō)萬(wàn)一失明，他仍然能夠回味詩(shī)歌的一切美麗。10 他聽說(shuō)我不僅熱愛詩(shī)歌還自己動(dòng)手創(chuàng)作，我們找到了共同的愛好。然而我們之間存在著一個(gè)難題。克勞奇教授(我們總這樣稱呼他)不能忍受的一點(diǎn)是我拒絕向全班朗誦自己的詩(shī)歌。11 “吉姆，詩(shī)歌就是用來(lái)大聲朗誦的，就像布道詞一樣，”他催促我?！澳銘?yīng)該能夠讀出那些美麗的詞句?！?2 我搖搖頭，轉(zhuǎn)身離開。13 于是他耍了個(gè)招數(shù)。我花費(fèi)苦功和很多時(shí)間寫了一首詩(shī)，把這首詩(shī)歌交給他以后我非常期待他的評(píng)論。然而評(píng)論姍姍來(lái)遲。有一天，當(dāng)同學(xué)們聚集在一起時(shí)，他先發(fā)制人：吉姆，我不相信這是你寫的。14 我瞪眼看著他，不敢相信自己的耳朵。“不，”我憋不住了，怒火中燒：“當(dāng)然是我寫的!”15 “那么，好吧，”他說(shuō)，“你得站起來(lái)，給我們背誦一下。16 到了這會(huì)兒，其他同學(xué)都已紛紛就座。他意味深長(zhǎng)地看著我，點(diǎn)了點(diǎn)頭。我兩腿不住發(fā)抖，但還是站到了同學(xué)們面前。17 “吉姆將為大家朗誦他最新的詩(shī)歌作品。”克勞奇教授宣布道。18 一時(shí)間我?guī)缀跻舷⒘恕Ｎ铱梢钥吹侥承┤说母`笑與怪臉。于是我開始朗誦。一直不停地朗誦。我從頭到尾流暢準(zhǔn)確地背誦了出來(lái)!我驚訝地站