美国国家公共电台 NPR Overwhelmed Mom Seeks 'A Basic Amount Of Dignity' In 'Today Will Be Different'

Overwhelmed Mom Seeks 'A Basic Amount Of Dignity' In 'Today Will Be Different' 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0006:02repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

Eleanor Flood has some things to work on. She is the protagonist² of Maria Semple's new novel, and we meet her on a day when she has resolved to change some things about her life.

MARIA SEMPLE: (Reading) Today will be different today. Today I will be present. Today anyone I'm speaking to - I will look them in the eye and listen deeply. Today I'll play a board game with Timby. I'll initiate³ sex with Joe. Today I will take pride in my appearance. I'll shower, get dressed in proper clothes and only change into yoga clothes for yoga, which today I will actually attend. Today I won't swear. I won't talk about money. Today there will be an ease about me. My face will be relaxed, its resting place a smile. Today I will radiate calm. Kindness and self-control will abound⁴. Today I will buy local. Today I will be my best self, the person I am capable of being. Today will be different.

MARTIN: Maria Semple's new novel is called "Today Will Be Different," and she joins me now. Thanks so much for being with us, Maria.

SEMPLE: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: Can you situate us in this moment of Eleanore's life? Where is she personally when we meet her?

SEMPLE: We find her on today, October 8, where she is very overwhelmed and frazzled by the basics of daily life. And she has decided⁵, instead of trying to accomplish a lot, to set the bar very low for herself, as you just heard, and try to at least get through that with just a basic amount of dignity.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: On this day, her son Timby, 8 years old, is pretending to be sick so he can spend some time with her, which is kind of sad, in and of itself. But then I found myself feeling more and more sad for this kid when it becomes clear that he's often an afterthought in her life, or at least, that was my reading of it. What's her relationship like with her son?

SEMPLE: Well, her relationship, I would like to think, is an honest depiction⁷ of just the daily life with a kid. You know, my previous book "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" - I wrote a very exalted⁸ mother-daughter relationship. And I started to feel a little guilty 'cause people would come up to me and say, oh, I have that beautiful relationship with my daughter, too. And I thought, well, I don't know if it's - I feel like maybe I need to be more realistic about what I'm really like as a mother.

(LAUGHTER)

SEMPLE: And so I thought that I would depict⁶ the daily dogfights you get in with your child and how your own - your - only your child knows how to push your buttons and vice⁹ versa. And I - gee¹⁰, I think that it's not as sad. I think that they enjoy each other's company. And I think that it really, to me, is Eleanor and Timby's story because it starts with him, and it really does end with him. And I think that they have a moment at the end of the book. And I think that, particularly with him, he helps her end the day on a very hopeful note.

MARTIN: This is also a story about marriage - how it changes over time. What,- I mean, that's something so many people have written about. What did you want to explore in that through Eleanor?

SEMPLE: I wanted to explore an intersection¹¹ that I think we find ourselves in in middle-age marriage. You know, the book is called "Today Will Be Different." And I could say that today is the day where she realizes a lot of things. And one of the things she realizes is that her marriage is on autopilot. And if it keeps going that way, they're just going to be two strangers in a business of raising a child together, you know, where their life just becomes scheduling and emailing each other.

MARTIN: Yeah.

SEMPLE: And so this is a book to me about the decision to dig in and to try to, as Eleanor says, not mistake love for youth.

MARTIN: Eleanor's a writer and illustrator. Your last book, "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" - Bernadette was an architect. She was also, like Eleanor, a flawed heroine. She was sharp - really sharp - and compelling, but she had her own issues going on. What is it about these kind of women that appeals to you?

SEMPLE: Well, thank you. I mean, I do like them, and I feel like I'm always trying to write about a part of myself that I'm not happy with. And that in one hand, I don't want the world to see. But there's some insane part of me that I want to expose to the world. And so there's a dichotomy there that gives me a lot of energy. And so I really try to find a part of myself that has a lot of power.

And in the case of "Today Will Be Different," literally¹² the first day when I sat down, trying to think of what my new novel would be, I really tried to just be quiet and write what's the part of myself that I don't want other people to know and the part that I'm ashamed of - the part that I wish wasn't the case. And I almost verbatim wrote that first page of the book - the one that I read.

MARTIN: There is this kind of Bridget Jones quality to Eleanor. Could you see yourself picking her up again in another novel down the road?

SEMPLE: I never really think about that. I feel like with my novels, with "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" and with "Today Will Be Different," I feel like at the end, my heroines are our kind of whole, and I've left them in a good place. And so the story freak in me doesn't know that I want to start a novel with characters who are all in good places. But I suppose time could pass, and they could get all messed up again, and then I could pick them up.

MARTIN: (Laughter) Maria Semple - her new novel is called "Today Will Be Different." Maria, thanks so much for talking with us.

SEMPLE: Thank you, Rachel.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

3 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

4 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

7 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

8 exalted   

adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

参考例句：

• Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
• He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

11 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• 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。