美国国家公共电台 NPR David Sedaris, Ira Glass And 25 Years Of 'Santaland Diaries'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

I can't believe how much time flies. Amazing, but it has been 25 years since MORNING EDITION listeners first met a very un-merry Christmas elf named Crumpet.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

DAVID SEDARIS: (Reading) I wear green velvet¹ knickers, a forest green velvet smock and a perky little hat decorated with spangles. This is my work uniform.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

That's writer and humorist David Sedaris reading from his "Santaland Diaries," the story of his time working as a Macy's department store elf. That reading was first heard on this program back in 1992. The "Santaland Diaries" catapulted Sedaris into a career as a best-selling author and playwright².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SEDARIS: (Reading) I don't know that I could look anyone in the eye and exclaim - oh, my goodness - I think I see Santa. Or, can you close your eyes and make a very special Christmas wish? It makes one's mouth hurt to speak with such forced merriment. I think I'll be a low-key sort of elf.

Gosh, what strikes me when I hear that is how young I sound, which makes sense because I was 25 years younger then. It's like the same relationship I have to my high school yearbook picture. I mean, I just see it, and I wince³.

IRA GLASS, BYLINE⁴: (Laughter).

GREENE: I don't know if you recognize that laugh or not. But that laugh came from Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. He actually produced the "Santaland Diaries" for MORNING EDITION.

MARTIN: So we brought Ira and David Sedaris back together to talk about recording⁵ this. Twenty-five years ago, Sedaris was a struggling writer who occasionally read his work in nightclubs. Ira Glass was doing a local radio show in Chicago.

GLASS: I had seen you read onstage and always had thought - from the very first time I heard you read - like, oh, this guy would be great on the radio.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SEDARIS: (Reading) I'm going to have you fired. I had two people say that to me today. I'm going to have you fired. Go ahead. Be my guest. I'm wearing a green velvet costume. It doesn't get any worse than this. I'm going to have you fired. And I want to lean over and say, I'm going to have you killed.

GLASS: I was always intimidated⁶ to approach you to ask you to record it because so many of your early stories are from the point of view of somebody who is nice to people when they meet them...

SEDARIS: (Laughter).

GLASS: ...But very mean underneath⁷. And so I was just always a little scared of you.

SEDARIS: Well, if you say to somebody - I'm going to have you killed - I mean, that's one thing. But doesn't everybody think it? I mean (laughter), you're allowed to have wicked thoughts. Aren't you? And that's always been interesting to me that people over the years have come up and said, oh, "Santaland" - you know, I hate Christmas, too. I love Christmas. I mean, I thought it came across in the story - love it.

GLASS: I remember I booked you into NPR's New York bureau to record it. And I remember listening to you read it. And it was going so well. And I remember we got to the part where you sing like Billie Holiday. And I had no idea that you were just going to like break into song and sound exactly like Billie Holiday. Like, I was a pretty experienced radio producer at that point. And, like - I was like, this is a good one. (Laughter) And so I remembered that so clearly, that moment of being like, what's happening? Like, what is this thing?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

SEDARIS: (Singing, imitating Billie Holliday) Away in a manger, no crib for a bed.

GLASS: I also think that "Santaland" has - you have a weird⁸ relationship to it because there was a phase in your early career as a writer where that was the thing that people knew you for. And I just remember it took years for you to outrun that. And so the fact that it just reruns every year on MORNING EDITION - I don't know. You must have very mixed feelings about it.

SEDARIS: Well, I realize you're lucky if you have one thing that people appreciate. You are a lucky, lucky person.

GLASS: Yeah.

SEDARIS: And I guess if you sat down and you thought about it and you thought - huh, what can I write about that people would respond to? Well, everybody has to deal with Christmas. And it's either going to torment⁹ you or delight you. And maybe that's why it resonated with people - because it affected¹⁰ everyone. But I think if I sat down to do that - if you said, OK, I want you to - you've got a month to write something that will touch everybody - I wouldn't be able to come up with anything.

(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI TRIO'S "WHAT CHILD IS THIS")

GREENE: David Sedaris with Ira Glass. I hope this got you excited for the 25th anniversary broadcast of the "Santaland Diaries," which will be tomorrow right here on MORNING EDITION.

1 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

2 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。

3 wince   

n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避

参考例句：

• The barb of his wit made us wince.他那锋芒毕露的机智使我们退避三舍。
• His smile soon modified to a wince.他的微笑很快就成了脸部肌肉的抽搐。

4 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。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。