美国国家公共电台 NPR At Last, Harriet Tubman Strides Onto Our Screens

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

The Underground Railroad has been on America's mind this year. It was the backdrop of a novel called "The Underground Railroad" that won this year's National Book Award in fiction. And it was the setting for "Underground," an acclaimed¹ new television drama.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "UNDERGROUND")

JURNEE SMOLLETT-BELL: (As Rosalee) We have to go now.

ALDIS HODGE: (As Noah) No, we can't. We got to plan.

GREENE: The upcoming second season adds a new character, and she's based on a real historical figure whose story has been under-represented in movies and television. Here's NPR's Neda Ulaby.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE²: "Underground" is filled with wild chases and captures.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "UNDERGROUND")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Wanted - seven escaped slaves.

ULABY: Seven runaways⁴ flee a Georgia plantation⁵ in 1857 through a treacherous⁶ world filled with slave owners double-crossing slave catchers, slave catchers double-crossing abolitionists and enslaved people double-crossing each other.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "UNDERGROUND")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I trusted you. Now my family's torn apart. They got my Pearly Mae. They got her.

ULABY: The first season ends with one of the show's main characters, a runaway³ maid trying to save her friends, meeting a new character - a dark-skinned woman wielding⁷ a rifle.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "UNDERGROUND")

AISHA HINDS⁸: (As Harriet Tubman) They said you was looking to steal slaves.

SMOLLETT-BELL: (As Rosalee) Can't steal something that ain't property in the first place.

HUNDS: (As Harriet Tubman) Well, I aim to teach you how. Name's Harriet.

ULABY: Harriet Tubman.

VERONICA WELLS: Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

ULABY: Veronica Wells, culture editor of the website MadameNoire is one of the millions of "Underground" fans so excited about the new Harriet Tubman character. She can't stop saying how excited she is.

WELLS: I'm so excited. I'm so excited about Harriet Tubman because she doesn't play. She doesn't take any mass.

ULABY: Harriet Tubman helped more than a hundred people find freedom a decade before the Civil War.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "UNDERGROUND")

HUNDS: (As Harriet Tubman) The lord sent you to me to get your family back.

ULABY: But until now, this intensely dramatic character has barely been featured on screen, besides a miniseries from 1978, "A Woman Called Moses," starring Cicely Tyson.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "A WOMAN CALLED MOSES")

CICELY TYSON: (As Harriet Tubman) I will lead my people out of bondage⁹, Lord.

ULABY: No surprise, says MadameNoire editor Veronica Wells.

WELLS: She's a black woman, and there haven't been a lot of stories for black women of any time period.

ULABY: And that's why Wells is excited to see more of Harriet Tubman on the future $20 bill and an upcoming movie starring Viola Davis. On the WGAN show "Underground," Tubman is played by actress Aisha Hinds. When she first stepped on set, Hines, a seasoned theater professional, burst into tears even.

HUNDS: Even - oh, my God. Even - I get so emotional about it.

ULABY: Hinds did her research and learned Harriet Tubman's nearly superhuman courage came from her total confidence that God was advising her and listening to her.

HUNDS: Trying to dig deep for that level of faith just completely broke me. You know, I felt unworthy. I felt incapable¹⁰ of really, truly honoring the story that she had to tell.

ULABY: So to play an icon¹¹, Hinds searched for smaller truths to make Tubman human.

HUNDS: How does she peel potatoes in the kitchen? You know, just simple things that you forget to remember about a person.

ULABY: Actress Aisha Hinds believes there's a reason why Harriet Tubman's story feels so relevant right now.

HUNDS: I think we're in a time that calls for that level of courage, that level of resolve - you know, to be completely disgusted with injustice¹² to the point that you will have to take some huge leaps of faith. And it may take one person leading many.

ULABY: When the real Harriet Tubman died in 1913, it was in a home for African-American seniors she'd established years earlier. Her final words - I go to prepare a place for you. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

4 runaways   

（轻而易举的）胜利( runaway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They failed to find any trace of the runaways. 他们未能找到逃跑者的任何踪迹。
• Unmanageable complexity can result in massive foul-ups or spectacular budget "runaways. " 这种失控的复杂性会造成大量的故障或惊人的预算“失控”。

5 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

6 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

7 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

8 hinds   

n.（常指动物腿）后面的( hind的名词复数 )；在后的；（通常与can或could连用）唠叨不停；滔滔不绝

参考例句：

• He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 诗18:33他使我的脚快如母鹿的蹄、使我在高处安稳。 来自互联网
• He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 33他使我的脚快如母鹿的蹄，又使我在高处安稳。 来自互联网

9 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

10 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

11 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

12 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。