(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today, we finish the story of the writer William Faulkner. He created an area and filled it with people of the American South. In nineteen forty-five, all seventeen books William Faulkner had written by then were not being published. Some of them could not be found even in stores that sold used books.
The critic Malcolm Cowley says, Faulkner's "early novels had been praised too much, usually for the wrong reasons. His later and in many ways better novels had been criticized or simply not read. " Even those who liked his books were not always sure what he was trying to say. Faulkner never explained. And he did not give information about himself. He did not even correct the mistakes others made when they wrote about him. He did not care how his name was spelled: with or without a "u." He said either way was all right with him.
Once he finished a book he was not concerned about how it was presented to the public. Sometimes he did not even keep a copy of his book. He said, "I think I have written a lot and sent it off to be printed before I realized strangers might read it." In nineteen forty-six, Malcolm Cowley collected some of Faulkner's writings and wrote a report about him. The collection attempted to show what Faulkner was trying to do, and how each different book was part of a unified effort. Cowley agreed that Faulkner was an uneven writer. Yet, he said, the unevenness shows that Faulkner was willing to take risks, to explore new material, and new ways to talk about it. In nineteen twenty-nine, in his novel "Sartoris," Faulkner presented almost all the ideas he developed during the rest of his life. Soon after, he published the book he liked best, "The Sound and the Fury." It was finished before "Sartoris," but did not appear until six months later.
The Sound and the FuryIn talking about "The Sound and the Fury," Faulkner said he saw in his mind a dirty little girl playing in front of her house. From this small beginning, Faulkner developed a story about the Compson family, told in four different voices. Three of the voices are brothers: Benjy, who is mentally sick; Quentin, who kills himself, and Jason, a business failure. Each of them for different reasons mourns the loss of their sister, Caddie. Each has a different piece of the story. It is a story of sadness and loss, of the failure of an old Southern family to which the brothers belong. It also describes the private ideas of the brothers. To do this, Faulkner invents a different way of writing for each of them. Only the last part of the novel is told in the normal way. The other three parts move forward and back through time and space.
The story also shows how the Compson family seems to cooperate in its failure. In doing so the family destroys what it wants to save. Quentin, in "The Sound and the Fury," tries to pressure his sister to say that she is pregnant by him. He finds it better to say that a brother and sister had sex together than to admit that she had sex with one of the common town boys of Jefferson. Another brother, Jason, accuses others of stealing his money and causing his business to fail. At the same time, he is stealing from the daughter of his sister. Missus Compson, the mother in the family, says of God's actions: "It can't be simply to. . . hurt me. Whoever God is, he would not permit that. I'm a lady. " Some of the people Faulkner creates, like Reverend Hightower in "Light in August," live so much in the past that they are unable to face the present. Others seem to run from one danger to another, like young Bayard Sartoris, seeking his own destruction. These people exist, Faulkner says, "in that dream state in which you run without moving from a terror in which you cannot believe, toward a safety in which you have no...belief. "
As Malcolm Cowley shows, all of Faulkner's people, black or white, act in a similar way. They dig for gold after they have lost hope of finding it -- like Henry Armstid in the novel, "The Hamlet." They battle and survive a Mississippi flood for the reward of returning to state prison -- as the tall man did in the story "Old Man." They turn and face death at the hands of a mob -- like Joe Christmas does in the novel, "Light in August." They act as if they will succeed when they know they will fail.
Faulkner's next book, "As I Lay Dying," was published in nineteen thirty. It is similar to "The Sound and the Fury" in the way it is written and in the way it deals with loss. Again Faulkner uses a series of different voices to tell his story. The loss this time is the death of the family's mother. The family carries the body through flood and fire in an effort to get her body to Jefferson to be buried.
Neither "As I Lay Dying" nor "The Sound and the Fury" was a great success. Faulkner did not earn much money from them. He was adding to his earnings by selling short stories and by working from time to time on movies in Hollywood. Then to earn more money, he wrote a book full of sex and violence. He called it "Sanctuary." When the book was ready to be published, Faulkner went to New York and completely rewrote it. The changes were made after it was printed. So Faulkner had to pay for them himself. The main person in "Sanctuary" is a man called Popeye. He is a kind of mechanical man, a man, Faulkner says, without human eyes. Faulkner says he is a person with the depth of pressed metal. For Faulkner, Popeye represents everything that is wrong with modern society and its concern with economic capitalism. Popeye is a criminal, a man who "made money and had nothing he could do with it, spend it for." He knows that alcohol will kill him like poison. He has no friends. He has never known a woman.
In later books he appears as a member of the Snopes family. The Snopes are a group of killers and barn burners. They fear nothing, except nature. They love no one, except themselves. They cheat everyone, even the devil. They live in a private land without morals. Yet Flem Snopes ends as the president of the bank in Jefferson. Like Popeye, they gain the ownership and use of things, but they never really have them. Flem Snopes marries into a powerful family but his wife does not even have a name for him. She calls him "that man." Faulkner says that nothing can be had without love. Love is the opposite of the desire for power. A person in one of Faulkner's stories says, "God created man, and he created the world for him to live in. And. . . He created the kind of world he would have wanted to live in if he had been a man. "
Light in August"Light in August" starts with the search by a woman, Lena Grove, for the man who promised to marry her. The story is also about two people who do not fit with other people. They are a black man named Joe Christmas, and a former minister, John Hightower, who has lost his belief in God. Faulkner ties the three levels of individual psychology, social history and tragedy into a whole. In nineteen thirty-six, Faulkner followed "Light in August" with "Absalom, Absalom." Many consider this his best novel. It is the story of Joseph Sutpen, who wants to start a famous Southern family after America's Civil War. It is told by four speakers, each trying to discover what the story means. The reader sees how the story changes with each telling, and that the "meanings" are created by individuals. He finds that creating stories is the way a human being finds meaning. Thus, "Absalom, Absalom" is also about itself, as a work of the mind of man. Faulkner's great writing days were over by the end of World War Two. Near the end of his life, Faulkner received many honors. The last and best one was the Nobel Prize for Literature in nineteen forty-nine.
In a speech accepting the award, Faulkner spoke to young writers. It was a time of great fears about the atomic bomb. Faulkner said that he refused to accept the end of the human race. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things." William Faulkner died of a heart attack in nineteen sixty-two. He was sixty-five years old.
重点解析
1.unevenness n. 不平坦;不均
I sanded the corners to take away any unevenness in the joints.
我用砂纸磨边边角角的地方，去除接头处的不均。
2.mourn v. 哀悼,忧伤,服丧
Today we come sorrowfully to mourn our teacher.
今天我们怀着悲痛的心情来伤悼我们的老师。
3.cooperate v. 合作，协作，配合
The two nations will cooperate on research and development of energy conservation.
这两个国家将合作进行能源保护的研究与开发。
4.endure v.持久,持续;忍受,忍耐
His arrogance heated us beyond enduring.
他的傲慢使我们怒不可遏。
5.prevail v.流行, 盛行, 获胜, 成功
During the two weeks a joyous spirit prevails.
这两个星期到处是一片欢快的气氛。
6.sacrifice v. 牺牲,祭祀,贱卖
Your sacrifice will not be in vain.
你不会白白牺牲的。
参考译文
我是菲丝·拉伯蒂斯。我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们将结束作家威廉·福克纳的故事。他创造了一个满是美国南方人的地方。1945年，那时威廉·福克纳所写完的17本书均未出版。其中一些书甚至在二手书店都找不到。评论家马尔科姆·考利说，福克纳的“早期小说常因莫名的原因而备受追捧。他后期和其他更好的小说却受到了批评或没有读者。” 甚至是那些喜欢他作品的人也无法确定他想表达的是什么。福克纳从未解释过。关于自己，他并未有过过多的介绍。甚至对于一些关于他的错误报道，他都从未进行过纠正。他并不在意如何拼写自己的名字：不论有没有‘u’。他说他觉得两种写法都可以。他每完成一部作品，他不在意以何种方式将他的作品呈献给读者。有时他甚至不保留自己的作品。他说，“我认为在我意识到会有读者去读我的作品之前，我就已经写过很多，也送去印刷过很多次了。”
1946年，马尔科姆·考利收集了一些福克纳的作品并写了一篇关于他的报道。收集他的作品旨在展示福克纳尝试去做的以及其每部作品所代表的不同部分。考利同意福克纳是一名与众不同的作家。但是他说这种不同展现了福克纳愿意冒险，愿意探索新事物以及探索讲述事物的不同方法的人。1929年，在他的小说《沙多里斯》中，福克纳展现了他余生所有的想法。不久后，他出版了自己最喜欢的书籍《喧哗与骚动》。这本书是在《沙多里斯》之前完成的，但是直到六个月后才发表。
在谈论《喧哗与骚动》时，福克纳表示他在自己脑海中看到一个脏兮兮的小女孩在她家门前玩耍。以这个为开头，福克纳以四种口吻叙述了康普生家族的故事。其中三个叙述人是哥哥：班吉，患有精神病；昆廷，自杀了以及詹森，公司倒闭。每个人都因不同原因哀悼妹妹卡迪的死亡。每个人都有不同的故事。这是一部关于悲伤和死亡、关于古老的南方家族的故事。书中也描述了兄弟们各自的想法。为了做到这一点，福克纳为每个人发明了不同的写作手法。
书中只有后半部分是以一种正常方法叙述的。其他三个部分的叙述时间和空间来回穿梭。故事还讲述了康普生家族如何在其失误中合作。正因如此，这个家族才摧毁了他们最想保留的东西。在《喧哗与骚动》中，昆廷试图强迫他的妹妹承认自己怀了他的孩子。他发现，相比承认她和杰弗逊镇上的男孩发生了关系，哥哥和妹妹发生关系更容易说出口。另一个哥哥詹森起诉别人偷了他的钱，导致他破产。同时，他还从自己妹妹的女儿那里偷钱。康普生太太，这些家族的母亲认为这是上帝理智的决定：“这不能伤害我，不论上帝是谁，他不会允许这么做的。我是一位女士。”
福克纳作品中的一些人物，比如《八月之光》中的海托华教士，总是活在过去，无法面对现实。其他人物总是陷入一个又一个麻烦之中，比如年轻的萨托利斯，自取灭亡。“这些人是存在的”，福克纳说，“他们存在于梦中，梦中你不用在不真实的恐惧中奔跑，跑向那个没有信仰的安全地带。”正如考利所说，福克纳笔下的所有人物，不论种族，都以一种相似的方式演绎。比如小说《村子》中的亨利，他们失去希望后，还在挖掘金子。比如小说《老人》中的那个高个子男人，他们在密西西比河洪水中挣扎生存，只为了返回州监狱的奖励。比如《八月之光》的乔·克里斯玛斯，生命掌握在移民暴徒手中。当知道他们会失败时，他们还是假装自己会成功。
福克纳的第二本书《我弥留之际》于1930年出版。这本书的写作方式和处理死亡的描述和《喧哗与骚动》的处理方式相似。福克纳再一次利用一系列不同声音讲述他的故事。这一次死的是家中的母亲。家人想通过洪水将尸体运往杰弗逊安葬。《我弥留之际》和《喧哗与骚动》都未取得巨大成功。福克纳没有从中赚到多少钱。他通过买短篇小说，偶尔客串好莱坞电影赚钱。为了赚更多的钱，他写了一本满是暴力和性的小说《圣殿》。这本书准备出版时，福克纳去往纽约，重写了这本小说。书籍印刷后才进行的修改，因此，福克纳不得不自己出钱。《圣殿》中的主要人物叫做金鱼眼。他是一名技工，一个男人，福克纳说，这是一个没有人类眼睛的男人。福克纳说他是一个精神深受压迫的男人。对于福克纳来说，金鱼眼代表着和现代社会不相符的一切事物以及和经济资本主义的关心。金鱼眼是一名罪犯，是一个‘赚了钱，去不知如何使用’的人。他知道酒精像毒药一样会杀死他。他没有朋友，也没有认识的女孩子。小说最后，他成为了斯诺普斯家族成员。斯诺普斯家族里都是杀人犯。除了本性，他们无所畏惧。除了自己，他们谁也不爱，他们欺骗每个人，哪怕那个人是恶魔。他们荒淫地生活在一片私有土地上。但是在故事结尾，弗莱姆· 斯诺普斯却成为了杰弗逊镇上一家银行的主席。像金鱼眼一样，他们获取事物的所有权和使用权，但是却从未真正的拥有它们。弗莱姆· 斯诺普娶了一个家族显赫的女人，但是她的妻子连他的名字都不愿叫，只是称他为‘那个男人’。福克纳说没有爱，一切就没有意义。爱和欲望是相对立的。福克纳笔下的一个人物说，“上帝创造了人，为人创造了生存的世界。他创造的这个世界是他想要生活的地方。”《八月之光》起于一个名为莉娜·格鲁夫的女人寻找那个承诺娶她的那个男人。故事中也有两个与世不同的人。他们是一位名叫乔·克里斯默斯的黑人以及一名前牧师约翰·海托华，他到最后失去了对上帝的信仰。福克纳将个体心理、社会历史以及悲剧这三个层次贯穿整个故事。
1936年，《八月之光》之后，福克纳又创作了《押沙龙，押沙龙》。很多人认为这是他最好的一部小说。这是关于约瑟夫·萨德本的故事，他想要在美国内战后建立一个著名的南方家族。故事有四个讲述者，每一个都试图发掘这个故事的意义。读者们能看到每个人所讲述的故事都不一样，每个讲述者给这个故事创造出了不同的意义。他发现讲述故事是一个人发现意义的方法。因此，《押沙龙，押沙龙》也是关于一个人精神的作品。
二战结束后，福克纳创造的辉煌也结束了。在生命后期，福克纳获得了很多荣誉。福克纳所获得的最后一个也是最棒的一个奖项是1949年诺贝尔文学奖。在发表获奖感言时，福克纳对青年作家发表演讲。这是原子弹恐惧弥漫的年代。福克纳说他拒绝接受人类的灭绝。“我相信人类不会灭绝：人类会盛行。他是不朽的，不仅仅是因为他在众生之中独树一帜，也是因为他有着同情、奉献和无畏的灵魂。诗人和作家的责任是谱写一切事物。”1962年，威廉·福克纳因心脏病发作去世，享年65岁。
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