TED演讲:三个提高写作的反社交技能(1)

 　　Dialogue gives a story color, makes it exciting and moves it forward. 对话使故事变得生动有趣，推动着情节发展。

　　Romeo: O, wilt¹ thou leave me so unsatisfied? 罗密欧：啊，难道你不打算满足我吗？

　　Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? 朱丽叶：今晚如何才能满足你？

　　Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vows² for mine. 罗密欧：用你忠诚的爱情誓言来交换我的誓言。

　　Without dialogue 如果没有对话

　　So what goes into writing effective dialogue? 那么怎样写出对故事有利的对话呢？

　　Well, there are social skills: making friends, solving conflicts, being pleasant and polite. 常规的三大社交技巧：交朋友，化解冲突，表现得彬彬有礼。

　　We won't be using any of those today. 但是我们今天不讨论这些。

　　Instead, we'll be working on, let's call them "anti-social skills." 我们今天要讨论的是——“反社交技巧”。

　　If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. 如果你是个作家，应该已经具备某些类似技巧了。

　　The first is eavesdropping³. 第一个技巧是偷听。

　　If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. 如果你在乘车时听到有趣的对话，应该把它们都记下来。

　　Of course, when you write fiction, you're not describing real people, you're making up characters. 虽然在小说里你写的不是真实人物而是虚构的角色。

　　But sometimes the words you overhear can give you ideas. 但有时偷听到的对话能为你带来灵感。

　　"I did not," says one person. “我没做”，一个人辩解着。

　　"I saw you," the other replies. “我看见你做了”，另一个人反驳。

　　Who might be saying those words? 这样的对话会是谁在说呢？

　　Maybe it's two kids in a class, and the boy thinks the girl pushed him. 也许是班里的两个孩子，小男孩以为小女孩推了他。

　　Maybe it's a couple, but one of them is a vampire⁴, 也许是一对夫妻，妻子是吸血鬼，

　　and the woman vampire saw the man flirting⁵ with a zombie. Or maybe not. 她看到丈夫与一个僵尸调情。还有更多可能性。

　　Maybe the characters are a teenager and his mother, 比如是儿子和母亲间的对话，

　　and they're supposed to be vegetarians⁶, but the mother saw him eating a burger. 他们是素食主义者，但妈妈看到儿子偷吃了汉堡。

1 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

2 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

3 eavesdropping   

n. 偷听

参考例句：

• We caught him eavesdropping outside the window. 我们撞见他正在窗外偷听。
• Suddenly the kids,who had been eavesdropping,flew into the room. 突然间，一直在偷听的孩子们飞进屋来。

4 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

5 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

6 vegetarians   

n.吃素的人( vegetarian的名词复数 )；素食者；素食主义者；食草动物

参考例句：

• Vegetarians are no longer dismissed as cranks. 素食者不再被视为有怪癖的人。
• Vegetarians believe that eating meat is bad karma. 素食者认为吃肉食是造恶业。