纽约时报 莱瓦尔·伯顿谈他的新挑战(4)

I might sprinkle in another, so be ready. OK, your two great acting¹ roles were in "Roots" and "Star Trek²." In between those two shows, you started doing "Reading Rainbow." Those projects were all so indelible in their way that I could imagine being pigeonholed³ was a problem. Did being so closely associated with those three shows make it hard to achieve your full potential as an actor? Everything after "Roots" has been a process of figuring out, What does this mean? Or at least it used to be. What does it mean that I got this? What does it mean that I didn't get that? The what-does-it-mean game is one that I had to get over if I was ever going to achieve equanimity⁴ in my life. The real truth that I have come to recognize is that everything that is supposed to be for me comes to me. If it doesn't come my way, it wasn't meant for me. It's all perfect in its design and execution. I mean, the idea that I'm still here 45 years after "Roots"? I'm not only still here but I'm still making a contribution. Those times in the past when I felt like I wasn't getting my due, out of jealousy⁵ or ego⁶ — that's natural, but it's self-destructive. I learned how to minimize my response to those feelings to the point where I rarely have them anymore. When I didn't get certain acting jobs, it forced me to develop other skill sets, and that was obviously part of the plan because now I'm able to do what I do as an actor, writer, producer, director, podcaster, storyteller, public speaker. It all happened perfectly⁷ because here I am. I feel like this life is a gift. I used to wonder what it was that I did in previous lifetimes to deserve it. How did my soul get here? This is hard to put into words: There are times when I experience my life as having been for a specific purpose. I look at Kunta. I look at Geordi. I've been able to express humanity as enslaved in the past and as free in the future and do it as a completely liberated⁸ Black man. It's kind of mind-blowing.

我可能还会再问个问题，所以请做好准备。好，你在《根》和《星际迷航》中扮演了两个伟大的角色。在这两部剧集之间，你开始主持《阅读彩虹》节目。这些项目都是如此不可磨灭，以致于我可以想象被归类是一个问题。与这三部作品的联系如此紧密，是否让你很难充分发挥自己作为演员的潜力？答：《根》之后的一切都是弄明白“这意味着什么”的过程。或者至少以前是这样。我得到这份工作意味着什么？没有得到那份工作意味着什么？如果我要在在我的生活中获得平静，我就必须克服“这意味着什么”游戏。我逐渐认识到的真正事实是，所有应该属于我的东西都会来到我身边。如果我没有得到，那就不该属于我。它的设计和执行都非常完美。《根》播出之后45年我还在这个行业？我不仅在这个行业保持活跃，而且也在做贡献。过去有些时候，出于嫉妒或自负，我会认为自已没有得到应得的，这是很自然的想法，但这也是自我毁灭。我学会了如何最小化我对这些感觉的反应，以至于我很少再有这些感觉。当我没有得到某些表演工作时，这会迫使我发展其他技能，这显然是计划的一部分，因为现在我能够做的工作包括演员、作家、制片人、导演、播客主播、故意讲述者、演说家等。这一切都发生得很完美，因为我依然活跃。我认为这种生活是一份礼物。我曾经想知道我前世做了什么才配得到这种生活。我的灵魂是如何来到这里的？这很难用语言来表达：有时我觉得我的生活是为了一个特定的目的。我看着昆塔。我看着格奥尔迪。我能够作为一个完全解放的黑人来表达人性过去被奴役而未来会获得自由。这有点令人兴奋。

 

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

3 pigeonholed   

v.把…搁在分类架上( pigeonhole的过去式和过去分词 )；把…留在记忆中；缓办；把…隔成小格

参考例句：

• This document was pigeonholed for quite some time. 这份公文压了不少时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The scheme has been pigeonholed. 这个方案被压下来了。 来自辞典例句

4 equanimity   

n.沉着，镇定

参考例句：

• She went again,and in so doing temporarily recovered her equanimity.她又去看了戏，而且这样一来又暂时恢复了她的平静。
• The defeat was taken with equanimity by the leadership.领导层坦然地接受了失败。

5 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

6 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。