美国国家公共电台 NPR 20 Years Ago, 'Buffy' Welcomed Us All To The Hellmouth (aka High School)

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Rachel, I'm taking us back to high school for a minute. Our big problems are not detention¹, not homework. Instead, they are demons², the undead and vampires⁴ that need to be slayed.

(SOUNDBITE OF NERF HERDER'S "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE³ SLAYER⁵ THEME")

GREENE: Oh, love it.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Love it.

GREENE: The theme music for "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," which debuted⁶ 20 - 20 years ago today.

MARTIN: Don't tell me.

GREENE: Yeah.

MARTIN: It was on TV for seven seasons and has become a cult⁷ classic. The main character Buffy, of course, was played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. In the show, she's this pint-sized blonde high schooler with lots of witty⁸ comebacks.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER")

SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR: (As Buffy Summers) Now, we can do this the hard way or, well, actually there's just the hard way.

JULIE BENZ: (As Darla) That's fine with me.

GELLAR: (As Buffy Summers) Are you sure? Now, this is not going to be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content.

MARTIN: That's Buffy holding her own against monsters, who often stand in as metaphors⁹ for high school problems. "Buffy" still has an audience, even though she hasn't slayed any new vampires since 2003.

JANE ESPENSON: I heard someone say recently it's not just that all TV now shows the impact of "Buffy," it's that all TV now is "Buffy." You see a lot more female protagonists¹⁰ on TV. I think you see a lot more genre¹¹ stuff now.

GREENE: That is Jane Espenson, who was a writer and producer on the show. She says there's still plenty for viewers to take away from "Buffy."

ESPENSON: There are a lot of ways in which maybe "Buffy" shows its age, you know, the technology in the episodes. But I think there are so many ways in which it's really quite timeless. Every generation needs to hear that anyone can be a hero.

(SOUNDBITE OF NERF HERDER'S "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER THEME")

GREENE: Anyone can be a hero. Love the message. Writer Jane Espenson talking to us 20 years after Buffy Summers began slaying¹² vampires at Sunnydale High.

(SOUNDBITE OF NERF HERDER'S "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER THEME")

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 demons   

n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念

参考例句：

• demons torturing the sinners in Hell 地狱里折磨罪人的魔鬼
• He is plagued by demons which go back to his traumatic childhood. 他为心魔所困扰，那可追溯至他饱受创伤的童年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

4 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

5 slayer   

n. 杀人者，凶手

参考例句：

• The young man was Oedipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father. 这位青年就是俄狄浦斯。他在不明真相的情况下杀死了自己的父亲。
• May I depend on you to stand by me and my daughters, then, deer-slayer? 如此说来，我可以指望你照料我和女儿了，杀鹿人？

6 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

7 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

8 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

9 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

10 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网

11 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

12 slaying   

杀戮。

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。
• He is suspected of having been an accomplice in the slaying,butthey can't pin it on him. 他有嫌疑曾参与该杀人案，但他们找不到证据来指控他。