(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
JUDY WOODRUFF: Texting and e-mailing technology have revolutionized the way we communicate. It has permitted us to be more efficient, to stay in touch easier, and has likely changed the dynamics of some of our most important relationships. But within that revolution, have we also lost something? Tonight, poet Willie Perdomo urges us to take up pen and paper because, in his Humble Opinion, a letter expresses more than just words.
WILLIE PERDOMO, Author, The Crazy Bunch: These days, humans are growing lonelier by the gigabyte. Hookup and social apps connect us before we actually meet. Bullies thrive anonymously. Google completes our sentences. It takes only three emojis to say, let's have a martini and dance. It's going to be lit. Words have lost their intent, their impact. The role of writing letters has become an almost extinct practice in our daily lives. The envelope in the mail is just a bill. I used to be a passionate letter writer. I wrote my letters by hand, so my friends were able to see my redactions and second thoughts. They were privy to my flaws, celebrations, and conflicts. One friend told me she carried one of my letters from East Harlem to Paris like a charm. I wanted my letters to be a familiar voice in a new city, a blues song replayed in a strange village. On occasion, I sent and received letters from friends in prison. They liked to call letters kites. For them, ink and blank pages were at a high premium. Their letters were usually full of promises, epiphanies, and requests for poetry. I would return their kites with shout-outs from the city. Here, I would say, fly the kite for a day, if not your full sentence. Letters are where we argue, say goodbye, dream, fail, forgive, and tell our secrets, and send regrets. We can't filter our lives or curate our feeds in letters.
Letters are where we attempt to tell the truth and wait. People tend to believe handwritten letters, or, as one friend suggested, you can't hide from a letter so easily. Recently, my wife wrote me from her childhood home in Puerto Rico. She could've easily sent emojis of sunshine and palm trees or a squared photo of her doing a mountain pose on a local beach. But, instead, she cried post-Hurricane Maria tears in her letter. She left splotches of coffee stains and smudges of ink on the margins. I believed her. Some of us still write letters. It's our resistance against loneliness, where we witness. Write a letter to someone you love, and if you can't write, have someone write it for you. Surprise a friend, a classmate, a coach, a beloved, a mentor. Tell them a story. Let them know you're paying attention. Letter writing is a pure act of devotion, a place where, if not storytellers, we all become human again.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Great advice. Pick up a pen and paper.
重点解析
1.take up 从事
He did not particularly want to take up a competitive sport.
他并不特别想从事竞技体育运动。
2.privy to 准许知情
She was not privy to any information contained in the letters.
她未获准接触那些信的内容。
3.hide from 躲避
Greta Garbo went to great lengths to hide from reporters and photographers.
葛丽泰·嘉宝想方设法躲开记者和摄影师。
4.resistance against 抵制
When the war of resistance against Japanese aggression broke out, his family fled from Wuxi to shanghai.
抗日战争爆发后，他家从无锡逃难到了上海。
5.by hand 手写
She addressed them by hand in her beautiful italic script.
她用漂亮的斜体字写明了收信人姓名和地址。
参考译文
朱迪·伍德拉夫：发送信息和邮件的科技一直在变革着我们沟通的方式。这种变革提高了我们的效率，让保持联系变得更加轻松，而且很有可能已经改变了最重要的一些关系的动态。但变革是否也让我们失去了什么东西呢？今晚，诗人威利·佩尔多莫敦促我们拿起纸笔，因为他今晚将向我们讲述手写的书信与电子传递的信息更有含金量。
威利·佩尔多莫，The Crazy Bunch作家：近来，科技让人们变得越来越孤独。各种联系和社交应用程序让我们在见面前就有了联系。人们可以匿名欺侮他人，谷歌可以猜到我们想打的下文。只需要发3个表情符号，就能表达咱们喝杯鸡尾酒，然后开始跳舞吧。话语已经失去了本来的目的和影响力。手写书信的作用在日常生活中已经消失。唯一收到的书信就是账单。我以前热衷于手写书信。我亲自手写，这样我的朋友们就能看出我措辞上的修改和雕琢词句的痕迹。他们能看出我的小毛病、我的欢欣鼓舞和我的矛盾挣扎。一位朋友告诉我：她从东哈莱姆区搬到巴黎的时候，一直带着我写给她的信，仿佛这封信有一种魔力。我希望我的书信能在新的城市给予他们熟悉的力量，就像异乡里反复奏响的蓝调歌曲。有时候，我和身陷囹圄的旧友会往来书信。他们希望称书信为风筝。对他们来说，笔墨纸砚的费用很高。他们的书信中通常充满了希望、顿悟和对诗歌的追求。我回信时会附以来自城市的声音。我会写，尽情地在信里抒发你的情感吧。通过书信，我们争吵、道别、做梦、体会失败和原谅、倾诉秘密、表达悔恨。书信无法过滤生活，也无法让我们自给自足。
但书信是可以说真话、可以满心等待的媒介。手心的书信，可信度更高，很多东西在书信中无法掩饰。最近，我的妻子从波多黎各长大的地方写了一封信给我。她可以简简单单地把阳光、棕榈树、海滩上摆山立式造型的照片发来。但她却选择在心中哭诉。信的边缘还有咖啡的溅渍和墨水的污点。我相信她，也相信还有很多人保留着写信的习惯。这是抵御孤独的方式，这是见证生活的方式。给你爱的人写信吧，如果你动不了笔，就让他人代劳吧。给朋友、同学、教练、爱人、导师一个惊喜，给他们讲个故事，让他们知道你还关心他们。写信只是一种倾注精力的方式，写信时的我们，不管是否在讲述故事，都再次体会了做人的感觉。
朱迪·伍德拉夫：您的建议很好，我们真的应该重拾纸笔。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
