美国国家公共电台 NPR In Bill Clinton's New Thriller, A (Fictional) President Faces Impeachment

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Since he left the White House, Bill Clinton's found time to write books - memoir¹, policy tomes - never until today fiction. He told me writing a thriller² has been a little scary.

BILL CLINTON: I had so much fun, but it's - you know, I've never done this before, I mean, with a fiction book. So I'm just nervous (laughter).

KELLY: Nervous, really?

CLINTON: Jim keeps saying, just relax, and have a good time. Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty - you know, I'm an old dog. It's a new trick.

KELLY: Jim would be James Patterson, the author of a zillion thrillers³ who signed on to co-write with Clinton. Together they're out today with "The President Is Missing." It stars, yes, an American president, in this case one trying to thwart⁴ cyber terrorists who want to cripple - completely cripple the United States. So I asked them, how realistic a plotline is that? Could somebody really bring down the whole Internet?

CLINTON: Yes, I think it could be done. And I think someone could take out at least one of our grids⁵, the eastern half of the country, and simultaneously⁶ fry the transformers so you couldn't bring it back up in a hurry. Someone could take out the bank records and, if you had a clever enough virus, simultaneously the backups.

JAMES PATTERSON: We talked to dozens of experts in this area, and they do believe that this is possible. And it's - something, you know, on some level like this will happen.

KELLY: James Patterson and Bill Clinton - I asked them about another plot twist. Early in the book, their fictional⁷ President Duncan wants to meet someone in private, so he puts on a disguise and orders his Secret Service protection to stand down.

Could you just order your Secret Service to walk away? Would they obey that order?

CLINTON: The answer is, in theory, yes. In practice, it's hard, as you saw. Anybody besides the president who has Secret Service protection can actually sign off of it and basically assume liability. And others have done it. We can find no example where a president ever did it. I never did. Every president wants to 'cause you just get tired of never being alone and in control of your destiny. But it's irresponsible to do.

PATTERSON: And there are several lawyers who said, yes, they - it could happen. And you would also find some lawyers who'd say you couldn't do it. But you would have lawyers who'd say, yes, you can do it.

KELLY: Was there ever a moment in your presidency⁸ that you and Secret Service seriously disagreed over how to proceed?

CLINTON: Yes, and I normally deferred⁹ to them. When bin¹⁰ Laden¹¹ had a - you know, a hit job out on me after I tried to take him out, they didn't want me to go to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Especially they were worried about Pakistan and Bangladesh. And I thought the worry about Pakistan was wrong. I was more worried about going into Bangladesh, where the government was supportive of the United States and where the people were. But they just didn't have the military capacity to stop this sort of thing.

KELLY: Interesting.

CLINTON: And so I flew there on an unmarked airplane, and I tried to make sure that no Secret Service agents with young children went with me.

KELLY: Y'all put that in the book. The - your fictional president, President Duncan, says he doesn't want Secret Service protecting him in a particular high-risk situation if they have young children. Is that - so that's something that you also...

CLINTON: I did. I - yeah, I did that.

KELLY: There are points in the book where it's hard to tell where President Duncan ends and it's really President Clinton you're hearing from. In one chapter, the fictional president delivers a barnstormer of a speech to Congress saying, quote, "our democracy cannot survive its current downward drift into tribalism, extremism and seething¹² resentment¹³. Today it's us versus¹⁴ them in America."

I read that and wondered, President Clinton, if you are using fiction here to comment on our real-life moment in history.

CLINTON: Well, I think this has been going on in some form or fashion since the '60s. And it was flaming in the '90s, and I was just lucky enough to have a tough enough hide and enough experience as a governor in a fairly conservative state to be able to bridge it and get a lot done with the Congress...

KELLY: But I guess what I'm driving...

CLINTON: ...Because the...

KELLY: Go on.

CLINTON: No, no, I - that's all I'm saying.

KELLY: Yeah.

CLINTON: So no, it's - do I think Hillary got a bad deal? Yeah, I do. But that's not a - the larger problem is that the system - because of organized interest groups, massive money, basically the business model of the way politics is covered, the whole thing favors paralysis¹⁵. And the voters, when they vote in an emotional state, very often reinforce that. So this is - in the end, it's up to the American people, which is why I wrote it this way. I think when they're calm, 65 to 70 percent of the American people say, I just want somebody to get the show on the road and make it better than it is now.

KELLY: But I guess what I'm driving at is whether - the thing about being Bill Clinton is that when you weigh in on politics, it becomes part of the politics inherently. And I wonder whether writing fiction about an American president allows you to weigh in in a different way.

PATTERSON: I don't think the book is terribly political. In fact, it isn't. And we really went out of our way. And, you know, in that speech, I mean, you definitely feel a bit President Clinton, and I think that's good. I'm happy that we did it that way. And if I wasn't, I would have said, you know, let's calm the speech down.

KELLY: James Patterson - as you can hear, over the course of a 500-page book, he and President Clinton have gotten used to finishing each other's sentences. In recent months, Clinton has been in the news for reasons beyond his book tour. In this #MeToo era, he's come under new scrutiny¹⁶ for his past misconduct with women, both acknowledged and alleged¹⁷. His fictional protagonist¹⁸ is a widower¹⁹ living an apparently²⁰ chaste²¹ and celibate²² life. But the book opens with the specter of his possible impeachment²⁴ on national security grounds. I asked Clinton to read me that passage, a president called to testify as his opponents lay the groundwork to impeach²³ him.

CLINTON: (Reading) I'm alone at my chair - no aides, no lawyers, no notes. The American people are not going to see me exchanging hushed whispers with an attorney, my hand over the microphone, removing it to testify that I have no specific recollection of that, Congressman²⁵. I'm not hiding. I shouldn't have to be here, and I sure as hell don't want to be here, but here I am, just me, the president of the United States, facing a mob of accusers.

KELLY: A mob of accusers - Clinton had plenty back in the '90s and plenty more today both from outside and within his party. The fact is not a lot of people could write that fictional scene with firsthand knowledge, a point I put to Clinton.

That's something - not a lot of people have sat in that chair. You have.

CLINTON: Yep, and it's really - it's important that people understand that you have to develop the capacity if you really want to serve people to basically almost disengage yourself from whether something is making you angry because it's not fair to you. It's almost like you can't exist, almost like you can't have feelings except for the American people. You shouldn't be mad except on behalf of the American people. Everything else has to be calculation so you can maximize your capacity to do the job you put your hand on the Bible and swore to do.

KELLY: President Bill Clinton along with writer James Patterson talking about their new thriller, "The President Is Missing."

1 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。

2 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。

3 thrillers   

n.紧张刺激的故事( thriller的名词复数 )；戏剧；令人感到兴奋的事；（电影）惊悚片

参考例句：

• He has written seven thrillers, and clearly enjoys intellectual pursuits. 他已经写了7本惊悚小说，显然很喜欢这样的智力活动。 来自辞典例句
• Most Americans prefer to read fast-moving adventure stories that we call "thrillers". 大部分美国人喜欢看我们称之为"惊险小说"的情节多变的冒险故事。 来自辞典例句

4 thwart   

v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的)

参考例句：

• We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。
• I don't think that will thwart our purposes.我认为那不会使我们的目的受到挫折。

5 grids   

n.格子( grid的名词复数 )；地图上的坐标方格；（输电线路、天然气管道等的）系统网络；（汽车比赛）赛车起跑线

参考例句：

• Typical framed structures are beams, grids, plane and space frames or trusses. 典型构架结构为梁、格栅、平面的和空间的框架或桁架。 来自辞典例句
• The machines deliver trimmed grids for use or stock. 这种机器铸出修整过的板栅，以供使用或储存。 来自辞典例句

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 deferred   

adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从

参考例句：

• The department deferred the decision for six months. 这个部门推迟了六个月才作决定。
• a tax-deferred savings plan 延税储蓄计划

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

11 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

12 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

13 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

14 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

15 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

16 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

17 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

18 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！

19 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

20 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

21 chaste   

adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的

参考例句：

• Comparatively speaking,I like chaste poetry better.相比较而言，我更喜欢朴实无华的诗。
• Tess was a chaste young girl.苔丝是一个善良的少女。

22 celibate   

adj.独身的，独身主义的；n.独身者

参考例句：

• He had defended the institution of a celibate priesthood.他捍卫了独身牧师制度。
• The instinct of the celibate warned him to hold back.单身汉的本能告诫他回头是岸。

23 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

24 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

25 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。