访谈录 2011-01-15&01-17 花样滑冰冠军约翰尼·威尔专

Three-time figure skating champion Johnny Weir¹ is out with a new book that is incredibly personal and shows you a new side of the sometime controversial star. I had a chance to sit down with Johnny Weir. Take a look.

Congratulations on your new book-- “Welcome to My World”. Take us into your world a little bit. What made you decide to write this book?

You know, I have a lot of stories to tell and my persona to the masses is this crazy flamboyant² diva ice skater and that’s what a lot of people think of me. With the cover of the book, pink, and high heels and a disco ball, I wanted to, to kind of play with what people think of me but the actual story is very pure and I’m from a very small town of Pennsylvania. I wanted bigger matter things and I worked very hard to achieve everything that I’ve achieved. I’m a three-time national champion, world medalist, two-time Olympian. And I do work hard and sacrifice a lot to get there, so in somewhere I want my story to be heard and known and not just told through newspapers, through television anchors and things. I wanna, really tell my story from my perspective.

And also you do come out about being gay in this book for the first time. What made you decide to do that?

You know, I’ve never lived in. I’ve never, I’ve never remembered a moment when I slept in my closet with my coats and my shoes, you know, rest my head on my jeans. I’ve never lived in a closet. And in my own psyche³, I don’t think it’s important. I wasn’t born something else and then decided⁴ to be gay. I was born gay. I was born white. I was born male. And I don’t celebrate what I was born with. I tried to make something of myself and become an Olympian, become a great artist, become, you know, a great figure skater and a great athlete and those are the things I focus on. But a lot of, the sort of tabloid⁵ culture that we live in once to focus on the needy⁶ gradient, things that, you know, aren't accepted by everyone, and things that could be a little controversial, but for me, being gay’s being, is the same as being white. It's just something that I was born with. So I never make a big stink⁷ about it.

Right, right. And yet you grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, as you said, did you ever find it difficult fitting in?

My town in Pennsylvania was very very close in there and everyone knew everyone. So I never really felt it until I moved to pursue figure skating to Delaware. And I’d be walking down the halls in school and somebody called me a faggot or you know lots of other gay slurs⁸.

Was that shocking to you?

I grew up in a really small town in Pennsylvania where was completely white and completely Christian⁹. So when I went to school in Delaware, I was shocked to see so many African-American people and middle-eastern people and Asian people and Jewish people. I mean, the whole world was new to me. And you know, getting called names when I was walking down the hall way, it didn’t hurt me. I didn’t wanna cry. It made me strong and say ok, I will be better than all of you people. And that’s, that’s the inspiration that I got from that, and I didn’t let myself have a moment to be shocked and sad about it.

Are we going to see you in the 2014 Olympics?

I really hope so. Russian’s some place that’s so special to me and has inspired me so much. My coach’s from there, I speak the language. I go there maybe four or five months out of the year.

You speak Russian?

I speak Russian. Yeah, and it’s very special, so having a Winter Olympics in Russia is kind of magical and a dream, and while I’m still a skater, I’m not skating at the top level right now, I took a year off from competition, and if I can get myself back into competitive shape and really get my head back into it.

We are now into 2011, so you still have several years. At what point would you have to say "All right, all these other distractions¹⁰ aside, I’m gonna to do the Olympics in 14. I've got to just train”?

The absolute latest I would say is 2012.

Ok.

Absolutely the latest, but the sooner, the better.

Right.

I’m gonna be back on the ice training morsel¹¹ in March and April. And we'll see where I am by the middle of the summer, if I'm prepared and ready, maybe I’ll compete this year.

Now you obviously are in such a fashionable fair, a lot of people follow what you wear, do you have any designs?

I’m working hard, I mean, with everything else’s been happening in my life right now, with, with the book…

1 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

2 flamboyant   

adj.火焰般的，华丽的，炫耀的

参考例句：

• His clothes were rather flamboyant for such a serious occasion.他的衣着在这种严肃场合太浮夸了。
• The King's flamboyant lifestyle is well known.国王的奢华生活方式是人尽皆知的。

3 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

6 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

7 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

8 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。