美国国家公共电台 NPR Let's Turn It On

Let's Turn It On

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0008:36repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: 

Let's meet our next two contestants². First up, Tarik Koc. You are a computer programmer. Supposedly, you ran a language teaching site from a computer in your closet.

TARIK KOC: Yeah, that's true.

EISENBERG: Yeah, that doesn't sound weird³ at all. Is it the same server Hillary Clinton used for her emails?

KOC: I guess the same idea, yeah.

EISENBERG: Same idea, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

JONATHAN COULTON: Same idea...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: ...In that it was a server.

KOC: Yeah, it was a server in a closet, yeah.

COULTON: Yeah, same kind of thing. Same general idea.

EISENBERG: What was this language teaching site? What do you mean by that?

KOC: Originally, it was flashcards to help me learn Turkish.

EISENBERG: Oh, OK.

KOC: I was trying to learn Turkish.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

KOC: I built it for that. And then I eventually made it for other languages, too. I was just like, well, why don't I just make a website of this and see if people use it other places?

EISENBERG: And did people use it?

KOC: They did, yeah. I could see people in different countries using it.

EISENBERG: Sounds fun.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Your opponent is Colleen Celsor. Now, you design children's clothing for a kids' clothing subscription⁴ startup.

COLLEEN CELSOR: Yes, I do.

EISENBERG: Here's a weird fact about you. You've noted⁵ that your body is impervious⁶ to the amount of cheese you eat.

(LAUGHTER)

CELSOR: Yeah, (laughter) that's true. I'm pretty gross.

(LAUGHTER)

CELSOR: One day, I ate an entire block of cheese in less than 24 hours. And the next day, I ate an egg and cheese sandwich. And I got a piece of cheese stuck to my shirt. And I had to walk around all day with, like, a badge of cheese shame.

(LAUGHTER)

CELSOR: Yeah, my friends have also caught me, like, on the subway late at night with, like, a block of cheese in my purse.

(LAUGHTER)

CELSOR: I really like cheese.

EISENBERG: I just want to point out these are the things you tell us.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Colleen, what's your go-to subway cheese?

(LAUGHTER)

CELSOR: A sharp cheddar.

EISENBERG: Yeah?

COULTON: A sharp cheddar, yeah. You can't really go wrong with a sharp cheddar.

EISENBERG: Yeah, no.

COULTON: In public? No, always a sharp cheddar.

CELSOR: A hard cheese survives the warm commute⁷.

COULTON: You don't want a brie in your purse.

CELSOR: No, that would get funky⁸.

EISENBERG: You don't do a brie on a D train? That's not your kind of thing?

COULTON: Oh, a D train? Sure.

EISENBERG: Yeah, a D train.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: All right, remember, Tarik and Colleen, the first of you who wins two of our games will move onto our final round at the end of the show. Let's go to your first game. Tarik, what is something you would like to invent, as an inventor yourself?

KOC: Well, actually, I used to be a patent examiner.

EISENBERG: You have a lot of talent.

(LAUGHTER)

KOC: And I remember we saw a patent for - it was, like, a resurrection burial tomb.

EISENBERG: Yeah?

(LAUGHTER)

KOC: And it was, like, at the South Pole so it would really need cooling and all that. So I think if I could actually invent that thing, that would be a pretty cool thing to invent.

EISENBERG: Just for those of us that might not be familiar with a resurrection burial tomb, what is that exactly?

KOC: Well, according to the illustrations on the application, you know, a lot of skeletons involved and a nuclear reactor⁹ and, you know.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: But what does it do?

KOC: I guess it resurrects you if you...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It sounds like a great idea.

KOC: I thought so too.

EISENBERG: Colleen, what is something you would like to invent?

CELSOR: Mine's not as Halloweeny (ph).

EISENBERG: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: That's the nicest way to say that.

CELSOR: I think if I could invent packing tape that didn't make the awful packing tape sound.

EISENBERG: Oh, yeah, right. That, like, screeching¹⁰, final - like the kind of thing you would put on your resurrection tomb, right - to make sure it's shut. All right, we have a very sexy musical parody¹¹ game for you. It's set to the tune¹² of "Let's Get It On." So Jonathan Coulton, get it on.

COULTON: Yeah, I'd love to get it on. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: This game is called Let's Turn It On. I'll be singing about famous people who invented or discovered something. So buzz in to identify the person that I'm singing about. You don't need to name the invention. The winner will be one step closer to moving onto the final round at the end of the show. You ready? OK, here we go. (Singing) I've been really trying, baby. Trying to send you this message for so long. And if you hear dots and dashes, come on, tap my key. Let's turn it on.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Tarik.

KOC: Morse?

COULTON: Samuel Morse, that's correct - inventor of the telegraph.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: (Singing) It's just carbonized cotton. With such light to give, lots of watts¹³ there, sugar. Since I made this thing, we can see after dark now.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Tarik?

KOC: Glow in the dark? I don't know.

COULTON: There's no one named glow in the dark that I know of.

(LAUGHTER)

KOC: I know.

COULTON: It's an excellent guess, though. Colleen, do you know the answer?

CELSOR: Night vision man?

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: That's correct, night vision man, inventor of night vision. We were looking for Thomas Edison.

CELSOR: Oh, light bulb, yeah.

COULTON: You jumped a few inventions ahead of what we were looking for. (Singing) There's nothing wrong with me showing you, baby, no, no, how to burn your CDs and keep all your songs in your iTunes queue. Oh, baby.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Colleen.

CELSOR: Steve Jobs?

COULTON: You got it, Steve Jobs.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: (Singing) I ain't going to write it. I'm just going to press, going to print a Bible - add them, switch them, move my letters, move them all night long. Hey, let's turn it on.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Colleen.

CELSOR: Sie (ph) Gutenburg.

COULTON: (Laughter) Wait; wait; wait; wait.

EISENBERG: Did you just...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Did you say Steve Guttenberg?

CELSOR: I said Gutenberg.

(LAUGHTER, CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

CELSOR: I said with a German accent.

COULTON: Colleen, you know we're recording¹⁴ this, right? We can easily find out what you said. Yes, Gutenburg is correct...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: ...Johannes Gutenberg.

EISENBERG: No, no, no, his friends called him Steve.

COULTON: Steve - Steve for short.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: (Singing) You know it's elementary. Come on, Pierre, get the radioactivity out. You want me to explode. Let's turn it on.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

KOC: Curie.

COULTON: Curie - that's right, Marie Curie...

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: ...Discoverer of radium and polonium.

EISENBERG: And then in a weird, dark story - right? - she died because of exposure to radiation...

COULTON: Radiation poisoning.

EISENBERG: ...And sexism.

COULTON: And...

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: This is your last clue. (Singing) If a boulder¹⁵ blocks you, I can move it. It's going to come down with Nitroglycerin. To give us all good feelings, I'm going to sponsor some prizes, give them out in Stockholm.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Tarik.

KOC: Nobel.

COULTON: Alfred Nobel - that's right, inventor of dynamite¹⁶.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

ART CHUNG: It was a close game, but Tarik, you're one step closer to moving on to the final round.

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 impervious   

adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的

参考例句：

• He was completely impervious to criticism.他对批评毫不在乎。
• This material is impervious to gases and liquids.气体和液体都透不过这种物质。

7 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

8 funky   

adj.畏缩的，怯懦的，霉臭的；adj.新式的，时髦的

参考例句：

• The kitchen smelled really funky.这个厨房有一股霉味。
• It is a funky restaurant with very interesting art on the walls.那是一家墙上挂着很有意思的绘画的新潮餐馆。

9 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

10 screeching   

v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫

参考例句：

• Monkeys were screeching in the trees. 猴子在树上吱吱地叫着。
• the unedifying sight of the two party leaders screeching at each other 两党党魁狺狺对吠的讨厌情景

11 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

12 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

13 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

14 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

15 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

16 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。