美国国家公共电台 NPR Mall Of America Searches For Writer-In-Residence

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Who says nobody dreams big anymore?

MATT NEGRIN: I want to write about what it's like to never leave the Mall of America.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

That's Matt Negrin. He's a comedy writer in New York. This week, he learned that there is a job just right for him at this country's largest mall, the Mall of America.

CORNISH: Dan Jasper is vice¹ president there.

DAN JASPER: We're having a writer-in-residence contest.

CORNISH: The mall turns 25 this summer, and they're hiring a writer-in-residence as part of the celebration. They already have 500 entries.

SHAPIRO: As Thoreau once took inspiration from Walden Pond, one lucky writer will have the chance to go to the mall and live deliberately².

JASPER: Have five days on the mall. They can interact with shoppers or ride a roller coaster or swim with sharks, be immersed into the life and the excitement of the mall and get to write whatever they really feel like that pertains³ somehow to Mall of America.

CORNISH: Writer Matt Negrin put one additional condition on his application.

NEGRIN: I want to make sure, should you select me as your writer-in-residence, that a security guard is assigned to my person 24 hours a day. Not to protect me, but to stop me from trying to escape the Mall of America.

SHAPIRO: One note. The terms and conditions say that the writer's work must not be inaccurate⁴, derogatory, incompatible⁵ with, inconsistent with or otherwise contradictory⁶ to the Mall of America's desired presentation. Art isn't easy.

CORNISH: The application closes March 10. Good luck.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALLAH-LAS SONG, "FERUS GALLERY")

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

3 pertains   

关于( pertain的第三人称单数 )； 有关； 存在； 适用

参考例句：

• When one manages upward, none of these clear and unambiguous symbols pertains. 当一个人由下而上地管理时，这些明确无误的信号就全都不复存在了。
• Her conduct hardly pertains to a lady. 她的行为与女士身份不太相符。

4 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

5 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

6 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。