美国国家公共电台 NPR Xbox Bowling For Seniors? Visit Your Local Library

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

There's a place where older people can go to upgrade their computer skills, make art and play games. You're probably thinking senior centers. You could also think the library. NPR's Ina Jaffe covers aging, and she went to Brooklyn for this report. As the population in New York ages, the library system there is finding new ways to serve seniors.

INA JAFFE, BYLINE¹: On a Wednesday morning, the Brooklyn Central Library's lobby cafe is crowded with young mothers and kids in strollers, friends meeting for coffee, singles poring over a book. But upstairs, there's some serious work underway.

DAVE JOHNSON: What I'd like you to do, as you tell the story, I want you to also use simile² and metaphor³. I mean, you might say, yeah, he's a little bit like a porcupine⁴, right? Or...

JAFFE: That's poet Dave Johnson leading an eight-week workshop in memoir⁵ writing. Everyone in the class is at least 50, though most are much older than that. For this day's class, they're supposed to write something about the differences between members of their families.

JOHNSON: Of course, you can make it up. Right? People are not going to know the difference.

JAFFE: But 77-year-old Laurence James, a retired⁶ New York Transit⁷ bus mechanic, doesn't make anything up.

LAURENCE JAMES: My mother very religious, God-fearing, good provider but distant like Africa.

JAFFE: James says he comes to the library a lot. He prefers the mix of people here to the traditional senior center, though he concedes he doesn't go to any senior centers and probably has an unfair image of what they are.

JAMES: I have this stereotype⁸ in my head because sometimes some centers limit the activities of seniors to, like, bingo, yoga and some things that I'm just not interested in.

JAFFE: The memoir class is sponsored by an organization called Lifetime Arts, which develops arts classes for older adults. Contrary to Laurence James' image, Lifetime Arts also works with senior centers, but the organization is best known for their work with more than 80 public libraries in 13 states. Maura O'Malley is the CEO and co-founder. She says that whether the classes are writing or painting or choral singing or salsa dancing, all of them are taught by professional artists and structured to result in a final project or performance.

MAURA O'MALLEY: And that's, I think, the exciting thing about this work. It's about rebuilding connections as you age and about finding new ways of living and expressing yourself. It's not about entertainment.

JAFFE: Not that there's anything wrong with that.

(CROSSTALK)

JAFFE: At the Macon branch library in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, about a dozen older adults seem pretty darned entertained by bowling¹⁰.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I need strikes. Come on.

JAFFE: Virtual bowling, that is, using Xbox. They face a large screen that shows the alley⁹ and pins and go through the moves as if they had a ball. There's a lot of team spirit here. They even have matching bowling shirts. And there are tournaments with teams from other libraries. Seventy-four-year-old Alice Baker¹¹ has been coming to virtual bowling since it started three years ago, but she's not at the library just for that.

ALICE BAKER: I learned to quilt at the library, and now I quilt a lot. They also have exercise. They have classes for kids - brings everybody in. You can bring your family with you.

JAFFE: If you question what Xbox bowling has to do with the mission of a library, well, Nick Higgins has heard those questions before. He's the director of outreach for the Brooklyn Public Library system.

NICK HIGGINS: I'd say a good library really reflects the needs of their particular community. And so for instance, as some of our patrons are aging, they're starting to exhibit some mobility¹² issues. And they're looking for opportunities other than, you know, movie night - something active and social. And the public library is a perfect space for that to happen.

JAFFE: In fact, all of the programs for older adults are growing. The number of older people involved in arts programs is up more than 50 percent since last year. And the number of branch libraries with bowling teams has doubled.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Get that spare. Get that spare.

JAFFE: Which just goes to show that older people want a chance to write new chapters in their life stories one way or another.

(CROSSTALK)

JAFFE: Ina Jaffe, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE POLISH AMBASSADOR'S "TAKE WINGS")

1 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。

2 simile   

n.直喻，明喻

参考例句：

• I believe this simile largely speaks the truth.我相信这种比拟在很大程度上道出了真实。
• It is a trite simile to compare her teeth to pearls.把她的牙齿比做珍珠是陈腐的比喻。

3 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

4 porcupine   

n.豪猪， 箭猪

参考例句：

• A porcupine is covered with prickles.箭猪身上长满了刺。
• There is a philosophy parable,call philosophy of porcupine.有一个哲学寓言，叫豪猪的哲学。

5 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

8 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

9 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

10 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

11 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

12 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。