美国国家公共电台 NPR Encore: Mahershala Ali Plays An Unlikely Father Figure In 'Moonlight'

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The first cast member of "Moonlight" to take the stage last night was Mahershala Ali. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor. In the film, he plays a man conflicted about being both a drug dealer¹ and father figure to the story's hero.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Our colleague Kelly McEvers spoke² to Ali last fall about how he got into the business and whether he anticipated the limited number of roles Hollywood offers to young black actors.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

MAHERSHALA ALI: My dad had introduced me to indie films. So the stuff that I had a taste for, I'd certainly never saw myself in those parts. So growing up, it definitely affected³ my confidence or me understanding what could be accomplished⁴ because of only seeing myself in a very limited way.

It's been really hard for me to say I want to be a leading man, like to really say that. Because when I was growing up, I didn't see that. But I did see people helping⁵ the leading man. And the people helping the leading man always looked like me. And then when you feel it from the inside out, it's a little frustrating⁶, but the industry's changing. So these young men in this movie, they're going to have an entirely⁷ different experience than I've had...

KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE⁸: Right.

ALI: ...Being in this business now for a decade and a half. I've been working for 16 years.

MCEVERS: You know, in the past couple years, you have played a really diverse range of characters - of course Remy Danton...

ALI: Oh, yeah.

MCEVERS: ...Ruthless power broker⁹ on "House Of Cards."

ALI: My buddy¹⁰.

MCEVERS: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

MCEVERS: Your buddy, really. And then of course there's the complicated villain¹¹ who kind of has a heart, Cottonmouth from "Luke Cage" on Netflix. I don't know, you're just, like, playing, like, this spectrum¹² of, like, black maleness. Does it feel - I don't know, do you feel a - like a weight of responsibility? You know, I mean, there's a lot of complicated nuance¹³ in these characters.

ALI: I feel the responsibility to try to do great work. And that keeps me up at night sometime, just, you know, trying to figure out what my in is with these characters and how to really connect to them and sort of lose myself in them for that 16 hours a day. I have no interest in playing myself. I really don't think I'm that interesting.

I think that these characters though, the ones that I say yes to, are really interesting to me. And I respond to the ones where I feel like there's a shaft¹⁴ of light, like there's a little opening there where I can power the entire person through that one little connection. So whether he's a drug dealer or a gun runner or what have you, that if I can just make him human, then that is the goal for me right now.

(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF DUKAS' "THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE")

SHAPIRO: That's Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali talking with our co-host Kelly McEvers back in October.

(SOUNDBITE OF NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF DUKAS' "THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE")

1 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

2 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。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 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。

9 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

10 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

11 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

12 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

13 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

14 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。