美国国家公共电台 NPR Charles And Ray Eames Made Life Better By Design; Their Home Was No Exception

 

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The Eames House has long been a mecca for enthusiasts¹ of midcentury modernism. Many of its design features are ubiquitous but were revolutionary 70 years ago. Using mass-produced, post-World War II materials, husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames designed their home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Now their heirs are working to preserve the house for generations to come. NPR's Mandalit del Barco has this report.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE²: Charles Eames was an architect, his wife, Ray, a painter. Together, they designed iconic office and lounge chairs. They devised toys and made innovative³ films about math and computers.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

DEL BARCO: On a bluff⁴ overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Eames' built their house and studio with off-the-shelf, prefabricated materials. Steel beams painted black frame the glass walls and doors. Panels composed like a Mondrian painting - a block of cobalt blue here, a bright red-orange insert there.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOME")

CHARLES EAMES: Ray and I worked on it. We designed it together.

DEL BARCO: That's Charles Eames in 1956. On the TV show "Home," he described their home to host Arlene Francis.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOME")

EAMES: It's composed of standard factory units.

ARLENE FRANCIS: Standard factory units that don't look very standard or very factory in those pictures. That's what your beautification has done for them, you and Ray.

DEL BARCO: It was known as Case Study House No. 8 for a program challenging architects to design modern, inexpensive residences in post-war Southern California. It's now a national historic landmark⁵. The Getty Conservation Institute, or GCI, has been helping⁶ plan for its future. Having preserved tombs in Egypt and ancient ruins in China and Latin America, the institute's turned to conserving⁷ modern architecture. Susan MacDonald is the GCI's head of buildings and sites.

SUSAN MACDONALD: Can we treat modern buildings the same way that we can buildings from the ancient world? And our thesis was, we can.

DEL BARCO: So far, that's meant repairing the flat roof, and replacing the asbestos floor tiles and installing a device to measure air particulates⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE BUZZING)

DEL BARCO: Meanwhile, the house remains⁹ open to visitors, who must enter without shoes.

JENNIFER POLITO: Welcome. First of all, thank you so much for coming. We love this house.

DEL BARCO: Eames House docent Jennifer Polito starts us in the kitchen.

POLITO: Everything you see in here came out of a catalog, and it was affordable¹⁰.

DEL BARCO: The Eames' added their flair¹¹, painting an exposed pipe red, installing sliding glass doors and creating artful assemblages.

POLITO: So you'll see very common things, like shells and little tiny objects. But together, they're beautiful. The candlesticks were important. They had breakfast by candlelight.

DEL BARCO: A spiral staircase leads upstairs to two bedrooms with movable walls. The 17-foot-tall living room is light and airy.

(SOUNDBITE OF CROW CAWING)

DEL BARCO: Glass doors open to a meadow connecting indoors and outdoors. The space is accented by exposed trusses, as well as layered rugs and cozy¹², low-slung couches. And everywhere - fabrics¹³, toys, folk art, books and souvenirs from their travels.

CAROLINA MIRANDA: This is not your sterile¹⁴, minimalist, unhappy hipsters' home. This is a home that is lived in by two people who've been all over the world and are sharing some of, you know, what they've harvested in those adventures in their home.

DEL BARCO: Carolina Miranda writes about art and architecture for the LA Times. She's here, too, admiring the 1,500-square-foot house nestled into the hillside. It stands in stark¹⁵ contrast to the neighborhood.

MIRANDA: It's so thoughtful and considered in terms of its design and its placement on the land, and then we walk up the hill, and we're looking at McMansion construction, essentially¹⁶, which is very unsympathetic. All they want are big bathrooms, and a giant rumpus room and the ocean view.

DEL BARCO: You can glimpse the Pacific from inside the Eames House, too. But unlike its supersized neighbors, it sits far back from the cliff's edge in a meadow dotted with eucalyptus¹⁷ trees.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

LUCIA DEWEY ATWOOD: The sound of the birds, the rustling¹⁸ of the leaves. And on a quiet night, you can even hear the ocean waves crashing.

DEL BARCO: Lucia Dewey Atwood grew up visiting her grandparents, Charles and Ray Eames. She says they lived in harmony with nature and were always creative, wondrous¹⁹ hosts.

DEWEY ATWOOD: One time I arrived, and Charles handed me a camera. And we spent the entire morning out in the meadow shooting images of daffodils.

DEL BARCO: Dewey Atwood is on the board of the Eames Foundation, whose goal, she says, is to show the way in which Charles and Ray lived.

DEWEY ATWOOD: And that does mean opening doors and windows. It means pulling curtains. It means having fresh bouquets²⁰ in the house and having even a living tree in the house.

DEL BARCO: Dewey Atwood admits this poses conservation challenges, but her family doesn't want the house to be a hermetically sealed up museum. She says the 250 Year plan she's directing takes into account the lifespan of the eucalyptus trees, and it incorporates her grandparents' modernist values.

DEWEY ATWOOD: You know, take your pleasures seriously. It's so amazing if you're working on an important project if you sort of make it be fun. The ideas are just so much more fantastic. I mean, Charles and Ray really had this wonderful ability to invite you into the fun.

DEL BARCO: And that was the point, according to the Eames' - to make life better by design.

Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

1 enthusiasts   

n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A group of enthusiasts have undertaken the reconstruction of a steam locomotive. 一群火车迷已担负起重造蒸汽机车的任务。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. 一群热心人计划修复这架飞机。 来自新概念英语第二册

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

4 bluff   

v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗

参考例句：

• His threats are merely bluff.他的威胁仅仅是虚张声势。
• John is a deep card.No one can bluff him easily.约翰是个机灵鬼。谁也不容易欺骗他。

5 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 conserving   

v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Contour planning with or without terracing is effective in conserving both soil and moisture. 顺等高线栽植，无论做或不做梯田对于保持水土都能有效。 来自辞典例句
• Economic savings, consistent with a conserving society and the public philosophy. 经济节约，符合创建节约型社会的公共理念。 来自互联网

8 particulates   

n.微粒，粒子( particulate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Techniques for controlling particulates include filtering, washing, centrifugal separation, and electrostatic precipitation. 控制颗粒污染物的技术包括过滤、洗涤、离心分离、静电沉降。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Only micronic particulates penetrate to the depth of the lung. 只有微细粒子穿透到肺深部。 来自辞典例句

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

11 flair   

n.天赋，本领，才华；洞察力

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design.他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• He had a natural flair for business.他有做生意的天分。

12 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

13 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

14 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

15 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

17 eucalyptus   

n.桉树，桉属植物

参考例句：

• Eucalyptus oil is good for easing muscular aches and pains.桉树油可以很好地缓解肌肉的疼痛。
• The birds rustled in the eucalyptus trees.鸟在桉树弄出沙沙的响声。

18 rustling   

n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的

参考例句：

• the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze 树木在微风中发出的沙沙声
• the soft rustling of leaves 树叶柔和的沙沙声

19 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

20 bouquets   

n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香

参考例句：

• The welcoming crowd waved their bouquets. 欢迎的群众摇动着花束。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• As the hero stepped off the platform, he was surrounded by several children with bouquets. 当英雄走下讲台时，已被几名手持花束的儿童围住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》