美国国家公共电台 NPR The Poetic Legacy Of Russia's Yevgeny Yevtushenko

 

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YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO: (Speaking Russian).

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the Russian poet who was known for speaking out against anti-Semitism and the Soviet¹ Union. He died over the weekend at age 83. NPR's Andrew Limbong has this appreciation².

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE³: In 1961, a young Yevgeny Yevtushenko visited a ravine just outside of Kiev known as Babi Yar. It was a site where 20 years earlier, German troops killed over 30,000 Jews in two days. At spots like this there's often a memorial or a plaque⁴. But Yevtushenko didn't find anything like that.

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YEVTUSHENKO: I was so ashamed that I wrote this poem very quickly.

LIMBONG: Here's Yevtushenko talking to NPR in 2000.

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YEVTUSHENKO: Probably it was three hours, four hours.

Today, I am as old in years as all the Jewish people.

LIMBONG: He wasn't Jewish, but still he was upset about the lack of recognition. "Babi Yar" became his most famous poem.

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YEVTUSHENKO: The wild grasses rustle⁵ over Babi Yar. The trees look ominous⁶, like judges. Here all things scream silently.

LIMBONG: Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born in Zima Junction⁷, Siberia, in 1933. Divorce and war meant he moved a bunch as a kid. And yet he still managed to publish his first poem at the age of 16. By his 30s, his readings would pack auditoriums⁸ with crowds of people.

STEVEN MARKS: Here's the thing about the Soviet Union is that people read a lot.

LIMBONG: Steven Marks is a professor of Russian history at Clemson University.

MARKS: And so when his writings appeared and they appeared to challenge the orthodoxy of the regime, it certainly sent a kind of thunderclap throughout the society.

LIMBONG: Yevtushenko walked a fine line. Some of his peers said he didn't go far enough against the Soviet Union. But, Marks says...

MARKS: He did something that a lot of people would have been afraid to do, to speak honestly about certain things.

LIMBONG: He eventually started teaching poetry at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, spending time in both the U.S. and Russia. Even as Yevgeny Yevtushenko continued to write poetry criticizing Russia, there was always a sense it was out of love.

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YEVTUSHENKO: And Russia, full of blizzards⁹ but short of wizards, is still alive.

LIMBONG: Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

3 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。

4 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

5 rustle   

v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声

参考例句：

• She heard a rustle in the bushes.她听到灌木丛中一阵沙沙声。
• He heard a rustle of leaves in the breeze.他听到树叶在微风中发出的沙沙声。

6 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

7 junction   

n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站

参考例句：

• There's a bridge at the junction of the two rivers.两河的汇合处有座桥。
• You must give way when you come to this junction.你到了这个路口必须让路。

8 auditoriums   

n.观众席( auditorium的名词复数 )；听众席；礼堂；会堂

参考例句：

• The walls and ceilings of contemporary auditoriums usually conceal light, sound, and air-conditioning equipment. 当代观众厅的墙壁和天花板常设灯光、音响以及空调设备。 来自互联网
• The interior follows an exceedingly compact plan of different types and sizes of rooms and auditoriums. 在室内装饰方面，不同类型不同尺寸的空间以及观众席都追寻一种极端简洁的装饰风格。 来自互联网

9 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。