美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Hate U Give' Star Says The Novel Was Like 'Reading My Own Diary'

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In the new movie "The Hate U Give," Amandla Stenberg plays the protagonist¹ Starr Carter. She's a teenager who knows how to code switch. She lives in a struggling, predominately black neighborhood, but she goes to school at the private, affluent², mostly white Williamson Prep.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HATE U GIVE")

AMANDLA STENBERG: (As Starr Carter) That means flipping³ a switch in my brain. Williamson Starr doesn't use slang. If a rapper would say it, she doesn't, even if her white friends do.

MARTIN: NPR's Elizabeth Blair spoke⁴ with actor Amandla Stenberg about what it was like to play a teenager who's trying to find her voice in the midst of trauma⁵.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE⁶: Like a lot of teenagers, Starr Carter defines herself partly through the music she loves. Amandla Stenberg says, take the first time we see Starr onscreen.

STENBERG: "DNA⁷" by Kendrick Lamar is playing, which is really evocative of who she is.

BLAIR: Why?

STENBERG: Because she loves her blackness.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DNA")

KENDRICK LAMAR: (Rapping) I got - I got - I got - I got loyalty⁸, got royalty⁹ inside my DNA. [Expletive] quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA.

BLAIR: "The Hate U Give" zooms¹⁰ in on what happens to a family traumatized by the death of a neighborhood boy, Starr's childhood friend Khalil. One night, the two of them were pulled over by a white police officer. Khalil was unarmed when the police officer shot him. "The Hate U Give" is based on the book of the same name by novelist Angie Thomas. Last year, she told NPR she was inspired to write it after the shooting death of Oscar Grant by a transit¹¹ officer in Oakland. Grant was unarmed at the time he was killed. Thomas says she was struck by the media coverage¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ANGIE THOMAS: More people were talking about what he had done in his past than the fact that he unjustly lost his life.

BLAIR: Like Starr, Angie Thomas also grew up code switching, and so did Amandla Stenberg. Stenberg says she devoured¹³ Thomas's book.

STENBERG: Reading the book starts to become this kind of strange spiritual thing because it started to feel like I was reading my own diary.

BLAIR: Would you mind reading a little bit from the book?

STENBERG: Sure. (Reading) I've seen it happen over and over again - a black person gets killed just for being black and all hell breaks loose. I've tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down. Now I am that person, and I'm too afraid to speak.

BLAIR: Starr's father is having none of it. He wants his children to fight to be heard. In one emotional scene, he makes them recite the Black Panthers' a 10-point program.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HATE U GIVE")

STENBERG: (As Starr Carter) We want an immediate¹⁴ end to police brutality¹⁵.

RUSSELL HORNSBY: (As Maverick¹⁶ 'Mav' Carter) Finish it.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) And the murder of black people and people of color and oppressed people.

HORNSBY: (As Maverick 'Mav' Carter) By what means?

STENBERG: (As Starr Carter) By any means necessary.

HORNSBY: (As Maverick 'Mav' Carter) By what means?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character)By any means necessary.

HORNSBY: (As Maverick 'Mav' Carter) By what means?

STENBERG: (As Starr Carter) By any means necessary.

HORNSBY: (As Maverick 'Mav' Carter) So why you going to be quiet?

BLAIR: Without giving too much away, Starr eventually does find the courage to speak up. At a recent screening of "The Hate U Give" for D.C.-area high schools at the Smithsonian, 16-year-old Tatiana Minor¹⁷ (ph) says there is truth to this movie.

TATIANA MINOR: It really opened people's eyes about real-life problems that I guess people try to overlook in society or try to, I guess, like, sugar coat and make them not seem as bad as they really are.

BLAIR: Minor's classmate, Devon Lewis (ph), says he could relate to Starr's reluctance¹⁸ to speak up.

DEVON LEWIS: She wants to talk but she can't because she just doesn't have that voice yet. And then once she got the voice, it was just like, boom.

BLAIR: Lewis said he liked learning that her father named her Starr for light. It's a detail actor Amandla Stenberg likes, too.

STENBERG: I think that's something that's so beautiful about black culture is we give our children power in their names. My name actually means power in Zulu and Xhosa. And it was something that my mom was very intentional¹⁹ with. You know, I think we recognize that it's a tough world out there, and so we give our children names that they can use as superpowers.

BLAIR: This notion of what you give your children is referenced in the title of the book and the movie "The Hate U Give." It's from Tupac Shakur's philosophy - thug life. The hate you give little infants Fs everybody. And as Stenberg says, the love you give is even more powerful. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

1 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

2 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

3 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

6 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。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

9 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

10 zooms   

n.嗡嗡声( zoom的名词复数 )；隆隆声；（车辆等）疾驰的声音；变焦

参考例句：

• A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 m.p.h. 从你口中打出的喷嚏速度可达每小时600里。 来自互联网
• When the camera zooms in, the whole world watches out. 当镜头对准（汶川），全世界都在关注。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

16 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

17 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

18 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

19 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。