美国国家公共电台 NPR The Gospel Of Climate Change: One Man's Mission To Take The Message To Commuters

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

You got to be in some dire¹ straits to start shouting at the top of your lungs in a New York City subway car. Here's a story of one man who lost his voice hollering at strangers and then taught other people how to do the same thing.

Here's reporter Ben James.

RICHARD MCLACHLAN: Ladies and gentlemen, I do not want any money from you, but I would really appreciate...

BEN JAMES, BYLINE²: Meticulously³ shaven, a clean, collared shirt and fine leather shoes, Richard McLachlan doesn't quite fit the bill for New York desperate.

MCLACHLAN: This is not about me. It's about all of us here in this climate emergency that we are in. I'm an elderly man now, with five grandchildren, and their lives are...

JAMES: Brooklyn to upper Manhattan, above and underground, steeped in the subway din⁴, McLachlan delivers a crushing litany of food shortages, forest fires, more and bigger storms. He wants to scare his listeners, wake them up, connect them to one another.

MCLACHLAN: Talk to your family and friends, your lovers, your workmates. Talk to complete strangers in the subway car.

JAMES: Few riders look at McLachlan directly. They stare at the floor, their phones, waiting for him to be done. Then, at least by New York subway standards, something astonishing occurs.

(APPLAUSE)

MCLACHLAN: Thank you so much. That means a lot to me, just to know you listened.

JAMES: Even while some riders applaud, a man on this Q train heading into Brooklyn raises his voice in response. His name is Kape Deville (ph) and, yeah, he's talking about climate change on the subway to strangers, but this might not be exactly what McLachlan was after.

KAPE DEVILLE: Oh, I was just saying, basically, that it's too late now. The things we were supposed to do to fix it, we were supposed to do in the '80s. God is the only one who's going to save us.

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Stand clear of the closing doors.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

JAMES: A Tuesday night in Bushwick, Brooklyn, McLachlan teaches members of Extinction⁵ Rebellion - that's the climate group he belongs to - how to give their own subway talks. His workshop is part writing craft, part encouragement and part reflection from a man who's got a genuine knack⁶ for preaching the apocalypse.

MCLACHLAN: At some point I thought, there's no Richard. There's just an old white guy standing⁷ up in the subway car yelling. And I sort of have this technique. You know, I sit there and I dispense⁸ with Richard. And then I stand up and start talking.

JAMES: Aubrey Reeves Aldritch (ph) is one of nine people in attendance. She says she's aware of the associations people might have about someone who speaks out on the subway.

AUBREY REEVES ALDRITCH: I'm not afraid to be the crazy person because it's not crazy. It's happening.

JAMES: Later that night, Aldritch, Arthur Boyle (ph) John Spies (ph) and others give their subway talks for the first time.

ALDRITCH: The polar ice caps are melting. The oceans are rising and rising and rising. Worldwide crop failure...

ARTHUR BOYLE: We're losing untold⁹ thousands of species to extinction. We have migrants...

JOHN SPIES: It's not our fault we inherited a broken system. But we do have a choice.

JAMES: Sure, it's awkward. These newbies don't yet connect with their audience, at least not the way their mentor¹⁰ does. But McLachlan is all praise. He knows from experience what it takes to stand up and start shouting that first time.

MCLACHLAN: That was great, man.

BOYLE: OK.

MCLACHLAN: You've got a really good voice.

BOYLE: It's loud.

MCLACHLAN: You could have gone up quite a lot more...

BOYLE: OK.

MCLACHLAN: ...And the people way down there would have...

JAMES: McLachlan and at least some of his students plan to speak on the subway throughout October, while their peers in Extinction Rebellion block traffic and risk arrest in cities around the globe.

For NPR News, I'm Ben James.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE EMBR'S "METRO")

1 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

2 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。

3 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

4 din   

n.喧闹声，嘈杂声

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• They tried to make themselves heard over the din of the crowd.他们力图让自己的声音盖过人群的喧闹声。

5 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

6 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

9 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

10 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。