美国国家公共电台 NPR With Wallpaper, 'Whiskey' And Women, Reese Witherspoon Celebrates The South

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Reese Witherspoon may be a big-time Hollywood actress living the California dream, but she hails from Nashville, Tenn. And she has got Southern in her soul. Witherspoon has a new book out about some of her favorite Southern traditions, recipes and decorating tips. In between, there are stories about her life and upbringing. She titled the book "Whiskey In A Teacup," something her grandmother used to say.

REESE WITHERSPOON: Southern women are like whiskey in a teacup. You know, they're beautiful and presented well on the outside, but they can be fierce and very strong on the inside.

MARTIN: Witherspoon shares her grandmother's love of wallpaper, decorative¹ dinner plates, and she's got an entire chapter on monograms³.

WITHERSPOON: I just - I think it's so beautiful. It's such an art, and it's something that I was raised with. And then when I moved to California, nobody did it. And I was so confused why everybody didn't have monograms on their towels and their sheets and their cups and their plates.

MARTIN: You're like, I have no idea whose teacup this is because there's not a monogram² on it.

WITHERSPOON: Exactly.

MARTIN: Do you monogram your kids' stuff?

WITHERSPOON: Oh, yeah. I mean, to a point where my daughter had to eventually say to me - Mom, stop putting my initials on everything. But I don't know why we do that. I mean, maybe it's just so people don't steal our stuff. I don't know.

MARTIN: What's the biggest misperception about Southern women?

WITHERSPOON: I will say, like, the grace and charm with which they behave is very genuine. When I moved out to California when I was 20, I think people thought I was being fake because I was so friendly.

MARTIN: Right.

WITHERSPOON: And I had a long time trying to make friends because I think people thought I wasn't being genuine. But that enthusiasm over meeting people and genuine interest in other people is just that. It's very real.

MARTIN: You have made an effort in your career, in the last several years, to do your part in making sure that strong women are at the center of films, that there are more perspectives from strong women...

WITHERSPOON: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...That they are the storytellers. I wonder if in this moment - now that we're, you know, a year-plus after the #MeToo movement got the kind of national and international notoriety that it has, have you noticed a systemic change happen yet?

WITHERSPOON: I wouldn't go all the way to systemic. But I have noticed great change, which is so encouraging. I mean, the amount of female directors that are so gainfully employed at this point - honestly, someone said to me the other day, we're running out of female directors because people are seeing this absence of female authorship and are trying to right the ship and correct themselves and hire more women to direct television shows, to direct films. The only deficit⁴ comes when we don't have enough women to employ because a lot of them didn't even bother to get started in a profession that they felt like it was a dead-end road.

I would love to see more women of color being employed and directing, more disabled women, more LGBTQ women and men finding their authorship in my business. And I think that's happening. So it's exciting to see baby steps happening and real growth and change.

MARTIN: If we circle back to end on the book, I have to ask this - because there will be people who pick this up and flip⁵ through these pages and see beautiful photos of you and your home and food and friends and think - oh, my God - her life is, like, so perfect.

WITHERSPOON: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Is it?

WITHERSPOON: I hid all the junk for the pictures.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

WITHERSPOON: Come on. When you know somebody is coming over to take a picture of your house, you hide all the toys.

MARTIN: (Laughter) But we do live in this time - right? - where everybody wants the raw - like, all the deep and the dark and the gritty stuff. And this is not that. This is...

WITHERSPOON: Oh, they can see all the junk on my Instagram.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

WITHERSPOON: They can see the real chaos⁶ of my life. But no, I wanted to present something that is visually pleasing. And it's like, yeah, I cleaned it up for you people.

MARTIN: Yeah.

WITHERSPOON: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Why not?

WITHERSPOON: I tried to make it nice.

MARTIN: Reese Witherspoon - her new book is called "Whiskey In A Teacup," and it is very nice.

Reese, thank you so much for talking with us.

WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Rachel.

1 decorative   

adj.装饰的，可作装饰的

参考例句：

• This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
• The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽，而且装饰效果很好。

2 monogram   

n.字母组合

参考例句：

• There was a monogram in the corner in which were the initials"R.K.B.".原来手帕角上有个图案，其中包含着RKB三个字母。
• When we get married I don't have to change the monogram on my luggage.当我们结婚后，我连皮箱上的字母也不用改。

3 monograms   

n.字母组合( monogram的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The box was inlaid with gold monograms. 这箱子镶嵌着金质字母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Origami-based logos are a good choice for corporate monograms. 折纸形式对于字母组合型的企业标志是一个不错的选择。 来自互联网

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。