美国国家公共电台 NPR 'OSLO' Tells The Surprising Story Behind A Historic Handshake

'OSLO' Tells The Surprising Story Behind A Historic Handshake

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It's a scene from history. Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister, Yasser Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organization chairman, shaking hands on the White House lawn, September 1993. Two foes¹ had come to terms on an agreement with the hope of making peace one day. That agreement was forged during months of secret back-channel talks in Norway. A new off-Broadway play looks at this little-known part of that process. It's called "OSLO." Jeff Lunden has the story.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE²: The most important piece of scenery in "OSLO" is a door, on one side, the negotiations³, on the other, a husband and wife, who never cross the threshold.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OSLO")

JENNIFER EHLE: (As Mona Juul) Terje, people are rioting.

JEFFERSON MAYS: (As Terje Rod-Larsen) I know. It's tragic⁴. But these are perfect conditions for progress. The desperation they're feeling on both sides; this is our ally.

BARTLETT SHER: Two people who are outsiders to the culture they're dealing⁵ with...

LUNDEN: Bartlett Sher directs "OSLO."

SHER: ...Who have belief and idealisms. And you enter the story through their human point of view on how to get this to happen. And their struggles with each other and with the problems that arise - and there, your entry point.

LUNDEN: For the audience and for the negotiations themselves, it was their idea. Terje Rod-Larsen was a sociologist⁶ and academic, Mona Juul, a young foreign service officer. She had been posted to Cairo where they got to know people on both sides of the conflict. When official talks between the parties in Washington, D.C., stalled, the couple arranged for both sides to meet secretly in Norway without the initial approval of their government. Terje Rod-Larsen is now president of the International Peace Institute.

TERJE ROD-LARSEN: We did it, in a way, exactly the opposite way of what was done in Washington. We did not put proposals on the table. We said we would facilitate, bring the parties together, be go-between, assist them in any way, saying it's your problem. You have to resolve it yourself. And number two, we said the delegations⁷ should never exceed three persons on each side because trust is dependent on personal relationships. And then, we also insisted that they should live in the same house. They should have all meals together - breakfast, lunch and dinner, et cetera. They had to live together.

LUNDEN: This sociologist was testing a theory. But playwright⁸ J.T. Rogers says the story behind "OSLO" is anything but a dry academic treatise⁹.

J T ROGERS: It was very clear that it was a thriller¹⁰ because it was. The ticking clock is the drama's friend.

LUNDEN: And the actors who play the Norwegian couple, Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays, say that's how it feels every night.

MAYS: We are continually surprised by this play - the doing of it. It feels like an ambush¹¹. We never know exactly what's going on or...

EHLE: What's coming next.

MAYS: ...What's coming next. I have a copy of my script backstage at all times that I...

EHLE: I have little...

MAYS: ...Continually refer to.

EHLE: ...Cheat sheets in my pocket that tell me what's coming next.

MAYS: So there's something about doing this play that feels like a wild improvisation¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OSLO")

EHLE: (As Mona Juul) This is not something you make up as you go along. If this fails, Fafo, the ministry¹³, our lives will all be torn down...

MAYS: (As Terje Rod-Larsen) Mona, you must trust me more than you have ever done before. I know how to do this. I see how to do this.

LUNDEN: "OSLO" is based, in part, on extensive interviews playwright J.T. Rodgers did with Rod-Larsen and Juul. He wanted to explore the intersection¹⁴ of the personal with the political.

ROGERS: The hope was to make a political play in the Greek sense of that word - a play about the public and the larger ideas about who we are as human beings and as nations and how to we go forward and how do we live with our enemies and with ourselves.

LUNDEN: And that's what appeals to director Bartlett Sher.

SHER: What I actually like most about it is that it is a very complex expression of how history actually works as opposed to a kind of Hollywood version of how this great thing was accomplished¹⁵.

LUNDEN: Sher says both he and Rogers felt they couldn't show the script to the couple ahead of time. Mona Juul, who's the current Norwegian ambassador to the U.K., hasn't seen the play yet, but Rod-Larsen has.

ROD-LARSEN: This is not a documentary, so many of the scenes there never took place or it took place in a different way. And what some of the characters in the play are doing was actually not done by the real-life figures. This being said, I think J.T. and Bart and the cast has caught tremendously well the spirit and the idea of Oslo and how it played out.

LUNDEN: And that spirit was very much one of optimism.

ROD-LARSEN: If you bring the right toolbox and handle the tools the right way, there are also possibilities today because there is one similarity with the situation at the time of Oslo and the time of today that is that everything looks impossible. And sometimes the impossible is easier to do than the possible. If you have resilience and persistence¹⁶, you can do things which nobody believes is possible.

LUNDEN: And critics and audiences have responded to that message. The off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center is sold out. And it was just announced that "OSLO" will move to Broadway next spring. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

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 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

7 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

8 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

9 treatise   

n.专著；(专题)论文

参考例句：

• The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
• This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。

10 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

11 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

12 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

13 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

14 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。

15 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

16 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。