【英语听和读】吉恩·怀尔德

 William: Hello, and welcome to Entertainment, I’m William Kremer. Today, I’m very

excited, because we’re going to be hearing from one of my very favourite

comedians¹ – Gene² Wilder. If you’re a fan of the crazy comedies of Mel Brooks³,

you’ll know Gene Wilder by his great mop of curly hair. Gene Wilder worked

with Mel Brooks on films including Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and

The Producers.

Recently, Mel Brooks made The Producers into a stage musical, and it was a

huge success in New York and London. It was, we would say, a ‘hit’ a ‘hit

musical’.

Now Mel Brooks is working on a stage version of Young Frankenstein. We’re

going to hear a clip from an interview with Gene Wilder, who wrote the

screenplay for this film and who starred in it. In this clip, he describes what

happened when Mel Brooks told him about his plans to turn Young

Frankenstein into a musical. See if you can work out what Gene Wilder

thought about the idea…

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’ And I thought ‘Don’t do anything to desecrate⁴

in any way the film of Young Frankenstein’, which is my favourite … favourite

film that I’ve done. 

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William: Well, the answer is that he really didn’t want Mel Brooks to go ahead with the

production. At the start of the clip, you might have heard quite a common

phrase which we use when we really don’t want something to happen…

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’

William: ‘Over my dead body’. This means, if you want to do that, you will have to kill

me first. When people say it, they aren’t really ready to die! But they usually

are very angry about something.

Gene Wilder: I thought, ‘Over my dead body.’

William: Gene Wilder was worried that if Mel Brooks made his musical, he would spoil

the original film of Young Frankenstein.

STING

William: These two old friends, Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, started to argue about

Young Frankenstein. As you listen to the next clip, see if you can hear what the

meaning of Borscht Belt is….

Gene Wilder: And he got on the phone, he started hollering, yelling, ‘Well you can’t…’ and

telling me all the things why, and I told him why, ‘You’re a Borscht Belt comic

and a genius, but this is not, I didn’t write Borscht Belt - ’ Borscht Belt means,

in the Catskills, there… all the comics used to go there to try out their material

and, a lot of Jewish comics, and they all drank Borscht, so it’s called ‘The

Borscht Belt’. But I said, ‘That’s not my kind of humour…’

William: The Borscht Belt is a place in the United States, in the Catskill Mountains. But

where does the name come from? 

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Gene Wilder: Borscht Belt means, in the Catskills, there… all the comics used to go there to

try out their material and, a lot of Jewish comics, and they all drank Borscht, so

it’s called ‘The Borscht Belt’. But I said, ‘That’s not my kind of humour…’

William: Jewish comics used to go to the Catskills to ‘try out their material’. In this

context, ‘material’ means their routines, their jokes. These comics would try

out their material in the Catskills, and they would all drink Borscht, a soup

which is usually made from beetroot. So, the Catskills are sometimes called

‘The Borscht Belt’.

OK, I know this isn’t very useful English, but it’s interesting isn’t it?

Borscht Belt comics have their own kind of very fast, clever, humour. Gene

Wilder told Mel Brooks that Mel was a great Borscht Belt comic, but, he said,

that wasn’t his kind of humour.

Before we hear the next clip, do you remember what the word for a very

successful production, or a very successful movie or song was? A ‘hit’. Now

let me tell you what the opposite of a hit is – a ‘flop⁵’. A production which is a

flop doesn’t make enough money. There’s also a verb form – we can say, ‘the

production flopped⁶’. OK - now see if you can work out what Gene Wilder

decided⁷ to do:

Gene Wilder: And I thought: ‘What am I saying? I want him to be happy and he needs to

work. If he really wants to do this, I have nothing to lose, because if it flops⁸,

they’re not going to blame me, but if it’s a big hit, Mel said “So you’ll make a

few bucks”’ 

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William: Gene Wilder decided to let Mel Brooks turn Young Frankenstein into a musical.

He said he wanted Mel to be happy. He also said he realised he had nothing to

lose – if the stage version of Young Frankenstein flopped, no one would blame

him, but if it was a hit, he’d make some money, or as Mel Brooks said, he’d

make ‘a few bucks’, a few dollars….

Gene Wilder: If he really wants to do this, I have nothing to lose, because if it flops, they’re

not going to blame me, but if it’s a big hit, Mel said “So you’ll make a few

bucks”’

William: Somehow, I don’t think Young Frankenstein will be a flop. If you’ve seen the

film, you’ll know that it’s just too clever – and too silly – to be anything other

than a hit. Bye for now. 

1 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 desecrate   

v.供俗用，亵渎，污辱

参考例句：

• The enemy desecrate the church by using it as a stable.敌人亵渎这所教堂,把它当做马厩。
• It's a crime to desecrate the country's flag.玷污国旗是犯罪。

5 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

6 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网