PBS高端访谈:听艾伦·艾尔达讲述人的面孔

JUDY WOODRUFF: Next, we turn to another installment¹ of our weekly Brief But Spectacular series. Alan Alda is an award-winning actor, writer, director, and now podcaster. His latest interview show, which includes everyone from comedian² Sarah Silverman to violinist Itzhak Perlman, is called "Clear and Vivid." The first episode dropped this past Tuesday. Here he is, artfully demonstrating to our Brief producers Steve Goldbloom and Zach Land-Miller, the importance of communication.

QUESTION: Mr. Alda, I will just get a sound level from you, if you can tell me what you had for breakfast this morning.

ALAN ALDA, Actor/Writer/Director: Everybody wants to know what I had for breakfast. I'm so sick of that.

QUESTION: How about...

ALAN ALDA: I will tell you what I had for breakfast. Here's what I had for breakfast. I had peanut butter, two spoons. I'm starving. That's what I had for breakfast.

QUESTION: This is exactly the answer we're looking for.

QUESTION: We can go home.

ALAN ALDA: Are you ready?

ALAN ALDA: I was born in New York. My father couldn't make a living as a junior architect because the Depression was on. And he started singing in paid amateur nights, where he was a ringer. He'd come in and get paid to pretend he was an amateur and win the contest. And then he went into burlesque³. We traveled up and down from Baltimore to Toronto. I used to shoot craps with the strippers. It was an unusual childhood.

Unfortunately, my mother was psychotic. She had suffered from schizophrenia and paranoia⁴. And it was difficult, because, as a child, I didn't know it wasn't her fault. So I got very good at observing her and, by extension, observing everybody else. I think that helped me be a writer and an actor. Now, I pay attention to people's face and their body language all the time. Watch people when they communicate with other people. Watch the next time somebody says, here's how I feel about this. I feel very strongly about this. You're over there, and they're not looking at you. They're looking into the blue space over here. Why? If they want me to get what they're saying, why aren't they checking my face? And, by the same token, if they're not checking my face, they're talking to the wrong person. They are talking to who they think I am. As a matter of fact, this is very difficult for me, because I'm talking to the damn lens. And there are two guys behind the camera and you're laughing, you're smiling. And I got to pretend the lens is what's reacting to me. I am reacting to you, but I'm not, it's only peripherally⁵. I'm looking into the lens. You're making it very hard for me to relate to you. Improvising⁶ changed me as an actor, and it changed me as a person. And I began to realize that I could really be of service to other people, first scientists, because I had spent 11 years interviewing scientists. And I saw that, when we improvise⁷ together, when we just listen to each other and had a conversation about science, the science became clearer, it became alive. I think, after the show, a lot of people will be wearing this.

ALAN ALDA: What did you ask me anyway?

QUESTION: No, I am going to pick up on that. Where did...

ALAN ALDA: Oh, you're picking up on something. This is exciting. I'm so glad about it. No, go ahead. Go ahead. No, this is a moment of spontaneity. I love this.

QUESTION: Where did your desire to help scientists communicate their work come from?

ALAN ALDA: That really came out of the moment?

ALAN ALDA: My desire to help scientists communicate came out of doing this science show, "Scientific American Frontiers." They weren't conventional interviews. I didn't go in with a list of questions. I just wanted to understand them. And if I didn't understand them, I would grab them by the collar and shake them, and I'd say, tell me again. Make it plainer. I can't get it. I wasn't afraid to be ignorant. Ignorance is a really good thing, as long as it's coupled with curiosity. Ignorance without curiosity, not so good. I am Alan Alda, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on being connected.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：下面播出我们另一每周系列节目《简短也精彩》。艾伦·艾尔达是一位屡获嘉奖的演员、作家及导演，而现在他成为了一名播客。他的最新访谈节目名为《清晰而生动》，其中囊括了从喜剧演员萨拉·丝沃曼到小提琴手伊扎克·帕尔曼的各类名人。第一集已在上周二播出。他在这里，巧妙地向我们系列节目《简短也精彩》的制片人史蒂夫·戈德布卢姆和扎克·兰德·米勒展示了沟通的重要性。

提问：艾尔达先生，如果您能告诉我，您今天早上早餐吃了什么，我就找到了您的调子。

艾伦·艾尔达，演员/作家/导演：每个人都想知道我早餐吃了什么。我真是烦透了。

提问：那么…

艾伦·艾尔达：我会告诉你我早餐吃了什么。我早餐就吃了这个。我吃了花生酱，两勺。我饿死了。我早餐就吃了这个。

提问：这正是我们想要的答案。

提问：我们可以回家了。

艾伦·艾尔达：你准备好了吗？

艾伦·艾尔达：我出生在纽约。那时，我的父亲作为一位初级建筑师，根本难以谋生，因为大萧条已经开始了。他开始利用业余时间唱歌，在那里他伪装了自己。他到了那，假装自己是个业余选手，结果赢得了比赛。此后他开启了滑稽表演的生涯。我们辗转从巴尔的摩来到多伦多。我过去常常和脱衣舞女一起拍戏。那是一段不同寻常的童年。不幸的是，我母亲患有精神病。她患有精神分裂症和偏执症。这很艰难，因为，作为一个孩子，我并不知道，这其实不是她的错。所以我非常擅长观察她，并以此作为延伸，观察其他人。我认为这对我成为作家和演员起到了帮助。现在，我一直关注人们的面部表情和肢体语言。观察别人与他人交流时的感受。观察下次有人说，这就是我的感受。我对此感觉非常强烈。你在那边，他们没在看你。他们正在看这里的那片蓝色空间。为什么？如果他们想让我知道他们在说什么，那为什么他们不看我的脸？同样，如果他们不注意我的脸，他们就会找错人。他们在和他们心目中的我说话。事实上，这对我来说是非常困难的，因为我在和该死的镜头说话。摄像机后面有两个家伙，你在大笑，你在微笑。我得假装镜头正在对我说的话做出反应。我在给你反馈，但我没有，那只是无关紧要的。我正在看镜头。你让我很难与你建立联系。作为一名演员，即兴表演改变了我，而作为一个人，它同样改变了我。我开始意识到我真的可以为其他人服务，首先是科学家们，因为我花了11年的时间去采访他们。我发现，当我们一起进行即兴创作时，当我们互相倾听并谈论科学时，科学变得更加清晰，变得生动起来。我想，演出结束后，很多人会穿这件衣服。

艾伦·艾尔达：你到底问了我什么？

提问：不，我要去注意一下。哪里…

艾伦·艾尔达：哦，我要去注意一些事情。这真令人兴奋。我很高兴。不，继续吧。继续。不，这是一个自发的时刻。我喜欢它。

提问：你想帮助科学家们交流他们工作的愿望源于何处？

艾伦·艾尔达：真的源于那个时刻吗？

艾伦·艾尔达：我想帮助科学家们交流的愿望就来自于做这个科学节目，《美国前沿科学》。它们不是传统的采访。我并没有列出一系列问题。我只是想了解他们。如果我不理解他们的话，我会抓住他们的衣领，摇晃他们，我会说，再告诉我一次。说得更清楚一些。我弄不明白。我不怕无知。无知是一件很好的事情，只要它与好奇相结合。无知却缺乏好奇心，则不太好。我是艾伦·艾尔达，这是我的《简短也精彩》，关于沟通。

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：关于《简短也精彩》的更多节目，您可以登录我们的网站PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief，进行观看。

1 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 burlesque   

v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿

参考例句：

• Our comic play was a burlesque of a Shakespearean tragedy.我们的喜剧是对莎士比亚一出悲剧的讽刺性模仿。
• He shouldn't burlesque the elder.他不应模仿那长者。

4 paranoia   

n.妄想狂，偏执狂；多疑症

参考例句：

• Her passion for cleanliness borders on paranoia.她的洁癖近乎偏执。
• The push for reform is also motivated by political paranoia.竞选的改革运动也受到政治偏执狂症的推动。

5 peripherally   

外围地，外面地

参考例句：

• Subpleural nodules are visible peripherally and in relation to the major fissures. 可见肺外带胸膜下结节，与肺裂相关。
• Now farming endowment the current situation of current domain and outlet, to to see peripherally. 怎样规范流通体制，就尖锐地摆到我们的面前。现就农资流通领域的现状及出路，谈几点肤浅之见。

6 improvising   

即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• I knew he was improvising, an old habit of his. 我知道他是在即兴发挥，这是他的老习惯。
• A few lecturers have been improvising to catch up. 部分讲师被临时抽调以救急。

7 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。