【英语听和读】吉恩·怀尔德（打印版）

【英语听和读】吉恩·怀尔德（在线收听）

William: Hello, and welcome to Entertainment, I’m William Kremer. Today, I’m very

excited, because we’re going to be hearing from one of my very favourite

comedians – Gene Wilder. If you’re a fan of the crazy comedies of Mel Brooks,

you’ll know Gene Wilder by his great mop of curly hair. Gene Wilder worked

with Mel Brooks on films including Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and

The Producers.

Recently, Mel Brooks made The Producers into a stage musical, and it was a

huge success in New York and London. It was, we would say, a ‘hit’ a ‘hit

musical’.

Now Mel Brooks is working on a stage version of Young Frankenstein. We’re

going to hear a clip from an interview with Gene Wilder, who wrote the

screenplay for this film and who starred in it. In this clip, he describes what

happened when Mel Brooks told him about his plans to turn Young

Frankenstein into a musical. See if you can work out what Gene Wilder

thought about the idea…

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’ And I thought ‘Don’t do anything to desecrate

in any way the film of Young Frankenstein’, which is my favourite … favourite

film that I’ve done.

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William: Well, the answer is that he really didn’t want Mel Brooks to go ahead with the

production. At the start of the clip, you might have heard quite a common

phrase which we use when we really don’t want something to happen…

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’

William: ‘Over my dead body’. This means, if you want to do that, you will have to kill

me first. When people say it, they aren’t really ready to die! But they usually

are very angry about something.

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’

William: Gene Wilder was worried that if Mel Brooks made his musical, he would spoil

the original film of Young Frankenstein.

STING

William: These two old friends, Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, started to argue about

Young Frankenstein. As you listen to the next clip, see if you can hear what the

meaning of Borscht Belt is….

Gene Wilder: And he got on the phone, he started hollering, yelling, ‘Well you can’t…’ and

telling me all the things why, and I told him why, ‘You’re a Borscht Belt comic

and a genius, but this is not, I didn’t write Borscht Belt - ’ Borscht Belt means,

in the Catskills, there… all the comics used to go there to try out their material

and, a lot of Jewish comics, and they all drank Borscht, so it’s called ‘The

Borscht Belt’. But I said, ‘That’s not my kind of humour…’

William: The Borscht Belt is a place in the United States, in the Catskill Mountains. But

where does the name come from?

Entertainment © BBC Learning English 2007

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Gene Wilder: Borscht Belt means, in the Catskills, there… all the comics used to go there to

try out their material and, a lot of Jewish comics, and they all drank Borscht, so

it’s called ‘The Borscht Belt’. But I said, ‘That’s not my kind of humour…’

William: Jewish comics used to go to the Catskills to ‘try out their material’. In this

context, ‘material’ means their routines, their jokes. These comics would try

out their material in the Catskills, and they would all drink Borscht, a soup

which is usually made from beetroot. So, the Catskills are sometimes called

‘The Borscht Belt’.

OK, I know this isn’t very useful English, but it’s interesting isn’t it?

Borscht Belt comics have their own kind of very fast, clever, humour. Gene

Wilder told Mel Brooks that Mel was a great Borscht Belt comic, but, he said,

that wasn’t his kind of humour.

Before we hear the next clip, do you remember what the word for a very

successful production, or a very successful movie or song was? A ‘hit’. Now

let me tell you what the opposite of a hit is – a ‘flop’. A production which is a

flop doesn’t make enough money. There’s also a verb form – we can say, ‘the

production flopped’. OK - now see if you can work out what Gene Wilder

decided to do:

Gene Wilder: And I thought: ‘What am I saying? I want him to be happy and he needs to

work. If he really wants to do this, I have nothing to lose, because if it flops,

they’re not going to blame me, but if it’s a big hit, Mel said “So you’ll make a

few bucks”’

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William: Gene Wilder decided to let Mel Brooks turn Young Frankenstein into a musical.

He said he wanted Mel to be happy. He also said he realised he had nothing to

lose – if the stage version of Young Frankenstein flopped, no one would blame

him, but if it was a hit, he’d make some money, or as Mel Brooks said, he’d

make ‘a few bucks’, a few dollars….

Gene Wilder: If he really wants to do this, I have nothing to lose, because if it flops, they’re

not going to blame me, but if it’s a big hit, Mel said “So you’ll make a few

bucks”’

William: Somehow, I don’t think Young Frankenstein will be a flop. If you’ve seen the

film, you’ll know that it’s just too clever – and too silly – to be anything other

than a hit. Bye for now.

原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/yythd/404738.html