7-9 “大侦探波洛”与世长辞

 “Detective Poirot” Takes His Final Bow

 

Sir Peter Ustinov, a brilliant wit and mimic¹ who won two Oscars for an acting² career that ranged from the evil Nero in Quo Vadis to the detective Poirot in Death on the Nile, died on March 28 in Switzerland. He was 82.

 

Peter Alexander Ustinov was born in London on April 16, 1921, the only child of a Russian artist mother and a journalist father. Ustinov claimed also to have Swiss, Ethiopian, Italian and French blood--everything except English. He was performing by age 3, mimicking³ politicians of the day when his parents invited Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie for dinner. The youth attended the private Westminster School in London until he was 16, when he began studying acting with Michel Saint-Denis at the London Theater Studio. Within two years he made his London stage debut⁴ and gained increasing notice by writing and acting in two revues¹ and writing five plays.

 

Ustinov made some 90 movies and also wrote books and plays. He directed films, plays and operas. Among his film roles were a nomad⁵² in the outback³ who befriends a family in The Sundowners⁴, a one-eyed slave in The Egyptian, and detective Poirot in Death on the Nile.

 

Ustinov won best supporting actor Oscars for the role of Batiatus, owner of the gladiator⁵ school in Spartacus (1960), and as Arthur Simpson, an English small-time⁶ black marketeer in Topkapi (1965). His Nero--the Roman emperor who presided over⁷ the throwing of Christians⁶ to the lions--won him a Golden Globe for best supporting actor in the 1951 movie Quo Vadis. He also won three Emmys, portraying⁷ the English lexicographer⁸⁸ Samuel Johnson in Dr. Johnson and Socrates in Barefoot in Athens. In A Storm in Summer, his Emmy came for playing an aged⁹ Jewish delicatessen⁹ owner.

 

Ustinov rated his satisfactions in this order: 1) writing novels, 2) writing short stories, 3) playwriting, 4) acting, 5) directing and 6) producing. “Writing has always been my deepest love,” he said in 1982. “Acting is intrinsically¹⁰ easy. You’re like a chameleon¹⁰¹¹, adapting yourself to various circumstances and to what other people are writing. Writing is much more mysterious, and more personal.” Among his novels were The Loser (1960) and Krumnagel (1971); his short stories included Add a Dash of Pity (1959) and The Frontiers of the Sea (1966).

 

Ustinov later became a staunch¹² advocate for UNESCO. He was for more than 20 years a goodwill¹¹ ambassador for the United Nations Children’ s Fund, and for several years was a rector¹³ of the University of Dundee in Scotland. He also set up a foundation dedicated¹² to understanding between people across the globe and between generations. He was knighted by the Queen of England in 1990.

 

注释：

1. revue [ri5vju:] n.  时俗讽刺剧(一种轻松的娱乐性戏剧演出，常以讽刺时势、风俗、人事为主要内容，由歌唱、舞蹈、滑稽短剧和讽刺摹仿独角表演组成)

2. nomad [5nCmEd] n.  游牧部落一员

3. outback [5autbAk] n.  (尤指澳大利亚的)内地

4. sundowner [`sQn9daJnE(r)] n. 日没客(指专在日暮时分到农场、牧场等佯为找工作而实为乞食和投宿的流浪者)

5. gladiator [5^lAdieitE] n. (古罗马的)斗士，斗剑士

6. small-time  a.〈口〉非第一流的；次要的

7. preside [pri5zaid] over  主持；主管；领导

8. lexicographer [7leksi5kC^rEfE] n.  词典编纂者

9. delicatessen [7delikE5tesn] n.  熟食店

10. intrinsically [in5trinsikElkI] ad.  固有地；本质地；内在地

11. chameleon [kE5mi:ljEn] n.  美洲变色蜥蜴

12. staunch [stC:n(t)F] a.  忠实可靠的；坚定的

13. rector [5rektE] n.  (某些学校、学院、大学的)校长，院长

 

“大侦探波洛”与世长辞

 

3月28日，彼得·乌斯季诺夫爵士在瑞士去世，享年82岁。他是一位才华横溢的巧嘴人和模仿者，演艺生涯中两次获得奥斯卡奖。他所饰演的角色从《暴君焚城录》中的暴君尼禄到《尼罗河上的惨案》中的侦探波洛，不一而足。

彼得·亚历山大·乌斯季诺夫1921年4月16日出生于伦敦。他是家里的独子，母亲是一位俄罗斯艺术家，父亲是记者。乌斯季诺夫曾称自己还拥有瑞士、埃塞俄比亚、意大利和法国血统--惟独没有英国的。3岁时，乌斯季诺夫就在表演了。那时他父母宴请埃塞俄比亚皇帝海尔·塞拉西，他模仿当时的政客形象。少年时代的乌斯季诺夫就读于伦敦的威斯敏斯特私立学校。16岁时，他开始在伦敦剧院工作室师从米歇尔·圣丹尼斯学习表演。不到两年，他就在伦敦首次登台演出，并编写和出演了两出时俗讽刺剧，还编写了5个剧本，从而得到越来越多的关注。

乌斯季诺夫一生拍过大约90部电影，还写书和剧本，导演电影、戏剧和歌剧。他所扮演的电影角色包括：《流浪汉》中和一个家庭成为朋友的一个内地游牧民、《埃及人》中的独眼奴隶、《尼罗河上的惨案》中的侦探波洛。

乌斯季诺夫凭借1960年的影片《斯巴达克斯》中斗士学校老板巴蒂亚图斯的角色和1965年的影片《托卡比》中英国三流黑市商人阿瑟·辛普森的角色，两度获得奥斯卡最佳男配角奖。他在1951年的影片《暴君焚城录》中扮演了将基督徒投喂狮子的罗马皇帝尼禄，并因此获得了金球奖最佳男配角奖。此外，他还获得三项艾美奖：在《约翰逊博士》中塑造了英国词典编纂者塞缪尔·约翰逊的形象；在《赤足雅典》中塑造了苏格拉底的形象；在《夏日风暴》中扮演了一位年长的犹太熟食店老板。

乌斯季诺夫对自己所从事工作的满意度列出了如下的顺序：1）写长篇小说、2）写短篇小说、3）写剧本、4）表演、5）导演、6）制作。“写作一直是我最喜欢的工作，”他在1982年曾说。“表演本来是很简单的，你就像是变色龙一样，把自己融入各种环境中，按照别人写的去做。而写作则更具神秘性，更个人化。”他创作的长篇小说包括：《失败者》（1960年）和《克鲁姆纳盖尔》（1971年）。短篇小说有：《加一点怜悯》（1959年）和《海的边界》（1966年）。

乌斯季诺夫后来成为联合国教科文组织的坚定拥护者。他为联合国儿童基金会担任了20多年的亲善大使，并在苏格兰的邓迪大学担任了几年校长。他还成立了一个基金会，旨在促进世界各国人民之间以及几代人之间的相互理解。1990年，他被英国女王封为爵士。

 

1 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 mimicking   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• She's always mimicking the teachers. 她总喜欢模仿老师的言谈举止。
• The boy made us all laugh by mimicking the teacher's voice. 这男孩模仿老师的声音，逗得我们大家都笑了。 来自辞典例句

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 nomad   

n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民

参考例句：

• He was indeed a nomad of no nationality.他的确是个无国籍的游民。
• The nomad life is rough and hazardous.游牧生活艰苦又危险。

6 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

7 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 lexicographer   

n.辞典编纂人

参考例句：

• A lexicographer's job is to describe the language.词典编纂者的工作就是对语言加以描述。
• The lexicographer knew that the English lexis was changing. 字典编纂者知道英语词汇在不断变化。

9 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

10 chameleon   

n.变色龙，蜥蜴；善变之人

参考例句：

• The chameleon changes colour to match its surroundings.变色龙变换颜色以适应环境。
• The chameleon can take on the colour of its background.变色龙可呈现出与其背景相同的颜色。

11 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

12 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。