词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Epigram Writer

Broadcast on COAST TO COAST: September 9, 2004

DAVE ARLINGTON: Every Thursday we bring you another report in our Wordmaster series, looking at American English. Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble will be back next week. In their place, we meet a man who puts just a few words together in unusual ways. As VOA's Mike O'Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, he has earned a living for more than three decades by getting his entertaining little phrases printed in newspapers and books and on postcards and T-shirts.

MIKE O'SULLIVAN: Ashleigh Brilliant writes epigrams, which he explains are short, pithy¹ sayings.

ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT: "Traditionally, it's written to go onto something. That's where the 'epi' part comes from. 'Gram' means 'writing.' 'Epi' is 'upon.' So originally they were something to be written and put on a tree or on a rock. Nowadays, of course, they can go on a T-shirt or on a postcard, or anything. But it's the idea of a separate little piece of writing."

MO: He has imposed some additional rules on himself in writing his epigrams. They must be original and no longer than 17 words.

AB: "That's very short, even for an epigram. Mine must never have any rhyme of rhythm because my idea is to have them capable of being translated into other languages. Also, I try to say something meaningful, but also say it in a way that's entertaining."

MO: He is the author of nine books, made up of his epigrams, with illustrations.

AB: "The first one was called 'I May Not be Totally Perfect, But Parts of Me are Excellent.' Number two, 'I Have Abandoned My Search for Truth and am Now Looking for a Good Fantasy.' Next came, 'Appreciate Me Now and Avoid the Rush,' followed by, 'I Feel Much Better Now that I've Given Up Hope.'"

MO: Book number five was titled, "All I Want is a Warm Bed and a Kind Word, and Unlimited² Power."

Ashleigh Brilliant was born in England, and says, yes, he was born with the name Brilliant. As a child, he moved to Canada with his parents, and came to California in 1956. After teaching high school briefly³, he went on to finish a Ph.D. in American history at the University of California, Berkeley.

He taught college briefly, then spent two years on a cruise ship that sailed around the world offering college courses.

AB: "There was nowhere to go from that, so I had to find a new career. And it happened to be just about the time of the "summer of love" in San Francisco, 1967, so I became a sort of mock-hippie guru. And I had been writing these strange little things for quite a while and didn't know what to do with them, so this was my opportunity."

MO: He soon found that people would pay for his sayings printed on postcards. That was the start of a business. He syndicates his sayings in a newspaper column called "Pot-Shots," sells them on cards and in books, and licenses⁴ them for reproduction on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even underwear. One of his popular epigrams says "Your smile is one of the great sights of the world." He reads some others:

AB: "'By doing just a little every day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me.' 'No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas.' 'Instead of past, present and future, I prefer chocolate, vanilla⁵ and strawberry.' Oh, here's a good one for a journalist: 'My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating.'"

MO: Some sayings are funny, others are ironic⁶. They all have the ring of truth, he says, or people won't buy them. He says the rise of the Internet has been good for the epigram business.

AB: "The postcard business has declined, but the Internet business is growing all the time. And I'm just on the verge⁷ of bringing out what I hope will be our most popular product, a database, a piece of software, containing all my work, both the text and the pictures."

MO: After more than 35 years and thousands of epigrams, he says the task of writing them is getting more difficult.

AB: "I've grown a little weary. I don't intend to go on forever. In fact, I'm thinking of stopping at 10,000, which I'm now approaching."

MO: But at 70 years of age, the writer of epigrams is still satisfying his fans and rounding out his extensive body of very short works. Mike O'Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles.

 

1 pithy   

adj.(讲话或文章)简练的

参考例句：

• Many of them made a point of praising the film's pithy dialogue.他们中很多人特别赞扬了影片精炼的对白。
• His pithy comments knocked the bottom out of my argument.他精辟的评论驳倒了我的论点。

2 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

5 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

6 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

7 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。