美国国家公共电台 NPR Have You Abandoned Your New Year's Resolutions? Tell Us In

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's still early days of the new year. Let's start it with a poem.

KWAME ALEXANDER, BYLINE¹: I am resolved throughout the year to lay my vices² on the shelf; a godly, sober course to steer³ and love my neighbors as myself - excepting always two or three whom I detest⁴ as they hate me.

I am resolved that vows⁶ like these, though lightly made, are hard to keep; wherefore I'll take them by degrees, lest my backslidings make me weep. One vow⁵ a year will see me through, and I'll begin with No. 2.

MARTIN: That was Kwame Alexander reading an excerpt⁷ of "New Year's Resolutions," a Rudyard Kipling poem. Kwame, happy new year. I haven't talked to you in this new year, 2020.

ALEXANDER: I know. Happy new year to you, Rachel.

MARTIN: We made it. We made it to a new year.

ALEXANDER: It only took 12 months...

MARTIN: (Laughter).

ALEXANDER: ...But, yes, it is here. Happy 2020 to you, my friend.

MARTIN: Who knows what the new year will bring?

ALEXANDER: And the new decade.

MARTIN: Right? So many poems to recite and write.

ALEXANDER: There's not enough time for all your rhymes, Rachel.

MARTIN: Hey, there you go. OK. So 2020 has arrived. We are going to start strong. Did you make a New Year's resolution?

ALEXANDER: I did.

MARTIN: Did you?

ALEXANDER: I hired a personal trainer.

MARTIN: Hey.

ALEXANDER: Yes. My guy Imran (ph) is getting me fit and healthy.

MARTIN: I love it. Good for you.

ALEXANDER: What about you?

MARTIN: So I make the same one every year. It sounds not very exciting. But it's - (laughter) which means, I guess, I don't achieve it. I am drinking more water in 2020. Stay hydrated.

ALEXANDER: Stay hydrated, my friend.

MARTIN: Yes.

ALEXANDER: It's important.

MARTIN: Yes, and also to just have more poetry in my life. You have been kind of a window into this world for me. And it makes me happier when we have these conversations, and so I resolve to welcome more poetry into my life.

ALEXANDER: Do it. You know, we often talk about the resolutions that we make, but what about the ones we fail to keep?

MARTIN: Right. Not that I've ever done that, of course. I keep all my resolutions, as I've made clear. I imagine that you, because you are who you are, you might have written a poem about this.

ALEXANDER: Well, now that I keep all my resolutions, I had to look back in my files, and I did find something. It went a little something like this.

To the flower box I forgot to water, the dinner rolls I swore I wouldn't eat; to the old friends I still don't call, to my continued obsession⁸ with red meat. To the empty church pew, the tithes⁹ not paid. To not posting less on my Facebook page.

MARTIN: Less social media for you this year.

ALEXANDER: Yeah, hopefully.

MARTIN: Yeah, I know. OK. So what you heard Kwame do right there, those were a bunch of couplets. This is where we want you, our listeners, to come play with us in the poetry sandbox. We want to hear your couplets, right?

ALEXANDER: Exactly. A couplet is just a pair of lines that rhyme.

MARTIN: So we want these couplets to be about not the New Year's resolutions you make or you keep, the ones that you keep abandoning.

ALEXANDER: Just have fun with it - from eating more greens to not waiting to the last minute to do your homework.

MARTIN: Yeah, updating your resume, learning a new language. We want you to submit your poems to npr.org/resolutions. And from all of those submissions¹⁰, Kwame is going to do what he does. He's going to make one of our crowdsourced poems. Submit your poems to npr.org/resolutions. And then what happens, Kwame?

ALEXANDER: And then I'll take all of these amazing submissions and sort of cull¹¹ them down to a few and create a community poem, as you would, of all the beautiful lines we've received from our lovely listeners.

MARTIN: Awesome¹². Kwame Alexander, he's a regular contributor to Morning Edition, the author of the graphic¹³ novel "The Crossover" and the inaugural¹⁴ innovator-in-residence at the American School in London. I'm excited for this one. We will catch back up with each other in a couple of weeks when we've got these submissions, right, Kwame?

ALEXANDER: Yes, indeed, Rachel. Cheers.

(SOUNDBITE OF LULLATONE'S "FOR ALL THE FORGOTTEN RESOLUTIONS (PIANO VERSION)"

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 vices   

缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳

参考例句：

• In spite of his vices, he was loved by all. 尽管他有缺点，还是受到大家的爱戴。
• He vituperated from the pulpit the vices of the court. 他在教堂的讲坛上责骂宫廷的罪恶。

3 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

4 detest   

vt.痛恨，憎恶

参考例句：

• I detest people who tell lies.我恨说谎的人。
• The workers detest his overbearing manner.工人们很讨厌他那盛气凌人的态度。

5 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

6 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

7 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

8 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

9 tithes   

n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For your tithes and offerings, please use the envelopes at the entrance. 什一捐款及奉献：奉献信封摆放于入口处。 来自互联网
• Although she left the church officially, she still tithes. 虽然她正式离开了该教堂，但她仍然对教堂缴纳什一税。 来自互联网

10 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

11 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

12 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

13 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

14 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。