美国国家公共电台 NPR Mystery Guest

Mystery Guest

JONATHAN COULTON: This is ASK ME ANOTHER, NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia. I'm Jonathan Colton here with puzzle guru Art Chung. And now, here's your host, Ophira Eisenberg.

(APPLAUSE)

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Thank you, Jonathan. Now, before the break, our contestant¹ Mary won her way to the final round at the end of the show. And we're going to find out who will face off against her a little later. But first, it's time for a game we call Mystery Guest. A stranger is about to come onto the stage. Jonathan Coulton and I have no idea what makes this person special, but puzzle guru Art Chung does. Jonathan and I can only ask yes-or-no questions to try to figure it out. Art Chung, please bring our mystery guest out.

ART CHUNG: Please welcome today's mystery guest, Rebecca McMackin.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Hi, Rebecca.

REBECCA MCMACKIN: Hi.

CHUNG: Now, Rebecca works in Brooklyn, and she has hired some temporary workers to help her out with an interesting problem this summer. So, Ophira and Jonathan, you have to figure out who are these workers and what do they do?

EISENBERG: OK.

CHUNG: All right. Ophira, you're first.

EISENBERG: Does - most of the work these temporary workers are doing, is most of it underground?

MCMACKIN: No, it's very far above ground.

COULTON: Are we talking about trees?

MCMACKIN: No, but warmer.

COULTON: Is this a problem with an organic thing, a thing that is growing?

MCMACKIN: Yes.

COULTON: Is it vines or plants of some kind?

MCMACKIN: Yes.

COULTON: Not vines, not trees.

EISENBERG: Bamboo, is it bamboo?

MCMACKIN: No.

EISENBERG: Again, in Brooklyn, what grows in Brooklyn?

COULTON: A tree grows in Brooklyn.

EISENBERG: A tree (unintelligible) Brooklyn. What else grows...

CHUNG: What grows that are problems?

COULTON: Weeds.

EISENBERG: Weeds, dandelions. It's a weed problem.

MCMACKIN: Correct.

COULTON: You have some very tall weeds.

EISENBERG: But they're growing somewhere that is problematic.

MCMACKIN: Yes.

EISENBERG: Oh, are they growing on subway tracks?

MCMACKIN: No.

CHUNG: Yes, Art?

CHUNG: We've also lost the workers issue.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

CHUNG: Who are these workers?

EISENBERG: I don't know.

COULTON: Who are these workers?

EISENBERG: They sound like they come very cheap.

COULTON: Are they...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Or are these workers gardeners and weeders?

MCMACKIN: They are weeders, not gardeners.

COULTON: Wait, are the workers even human?

MCMACKIN: No.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: You've hired some animals to do some work for you.

MCMACKIN: Yes.

EISENBERG: Oh, this problem of introducing an animal to fix a problem has never gone wrong.

CHUNG: All right. We're going to - we'll give you each one question to figure it out.

EISENBERG: Oh, no. OK. Are you dealing² with animals that will eat a certain kind of weed to deal with the problem?

MCMACKIN: Yes.

EISENBERG: All right.

CHUNG: All right. Jonathan, you want one question and then you guys get one guess.

COULTON: What is the animal?

CHUNG: That's...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Yes or no, what is the animal?

CHUNG: That is the question.

COULTON: Is the animal a mammal?

MCMACKIN: Yes.

COULTON: That narrows it down.

EISENBERG: OK.

CHUNG: All right. What's your guess?

EISENBERG: OK. I think that she is hiring - that's an interesting word to use because I don't know what the pay rate is, but you somehow have rodents³ that are really after a certain kind of weed and you've released them in major thoroughfares in Brooklyn. And they are eating up the weeds, and that's the end of that story.

MCMACKIN: No.

EISENBERG: OK (laughter).

COULTON: You are a rat breeder and your rat hutches are filled with trees and you've hired beavers⁴...

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

COULTON: ...To get rid of all the trees. Do I - am I close?

MCMACKIN: (Laughter) No.

COULTON: No.

CHUNG: All right. So the answer is Rebecca is the horticulture director at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and there is a hill separating the park from the highway that's infested⁵ with, yes, weeds. So she's hired some goats to eat the weeds.

EISENBERG: No way. So how much does a goat go for?

MCMACKIN: Only $400 a season.

EISENBERG: You get them for the whole summer.

MCMACKIN: Yes.

EISENBERG: And where are the goats hanging out when they're not working?

MCMACKIN: We have a shed for them.

EISENBERG: And where is that shed?

MCMACKIN: It's top secret.

EISENBERG: Oh, interesting.

COULTON: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: It's, like, basically someone's apartment.

COULTON: Wait, so there's - where are you get - is there a company that you can just rent a goat?

MCMACKIN: There is. There's a very interesting character who has a monopoly on goat rental⁶ for the eastern seaboard.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It's a nice hill covered with weeds. It'd be a shame if anything were to happen to it.

EISENBERG: And why did you choose goats?

MCMACKIN: There were a few other options. We could either spray herbicides all over the hill...

EISENBERG: Which we don't want to do.

MCMACKIN: ...Which would be crazy. We're also an organic park and we try to manage the wild areas for migratory⁷ birds and pollinators, et cetera, so bad news. We could also do it ourselves and have gardeners climbing all over the berm, but it would be - it's very, very steep. It would be difficult, a lot of work, and we might damage it with our large, human feet. And so, yeah, goats were really the only logical option.

EISENBERG: And how many goats do you have employed?

MCMACKIN: Four.

CHUNG: And they have names, right?

MCMACKIN: Yes. It's Hector (ph), Horatio (ph), Eyebrows⁸ (ph) and Minnie (ph).

(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)

COULTON: I want to meet Eyebrows.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

COULTON: Eyebrows sounds great.

EISENBERG: Yeah, Eyebrows.

COULTON: And when the goats are done, you just - what do you do? Do you just get a bunch - you hire a bunch of lions to come and eat the goats?

(LAUGHTER)

MCMACKIN: They go back to the farm. And then when the weeds regrow, we'll bring them back.

EISENBERG: Oh, so they really have figured out some job security, these goats.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Rebecca, thank you so much for playing our game. Everybody, give it up one more time for Rebecca McMackin.

(APPLAUSE)

1 contestant   

n.竞争者，参加竞赛者

参考例句：

• The company will furnish each contestant with a free ticket.公司将为每个参赛者免费提供一张票。
• The personal appearance and interview of the contestant is another count.参加比赛者的个人仪表和谈话也是一项。

2 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。

3 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

4 beavers   

海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人

参考例句：

• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。
• Thus do the beavers, thus do the bees, thus do men. 海狸是这样做的，蜜蜂是这样做的，人也是这样做的。

5 infested   

adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于

参考例句：

• The kitchen was infested with ants. 厨房里到处是蚂蚁。
• The apartments were infested with rats and roaches. 公寓里面到处都是老鼠和蟑螂。

6 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

7 migratory   

n.候鸟，迁移

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• This does not negate the idea of migratory aptitude.这并没有否定迁移能力这一概念。

8 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。