pbs高端访谈:用140个字或者更少的数字平台评论美国历史

 　　JEFFREY BROWN:And finally tonight: doling¹ out history lessons on Twitter.

　　Gwen Ifill has that.

　　GWEN IFILL:NewsHour regular Michael Beschloss has written eight books and countless² commentaries on the American presidency³, but recently he's discovered a new way to engage a different audience, taking us back through the nation's contemporary history in 140 characters or less.

　　Michael joins us now.

　　Michael, what is with the 140-character chunks⁴? When did you start doling out history this way?

　　1.jpg

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS,presidential historian: It is an antidote⁵ to all these long books I write.

　　It actually was during one of the debates right here in the studio we were watching, as you remember.

　　And Christina, our Christina Bellantoni, saw me looking at a search engine through Twitter comments on the two candidates. And she said, well, why don't you just go on Twitter yourself?

　　And I said, essentially⁶, I hadn't really thought of that. Why don't I try?

　　GWEN IFILL:So, as you started to post things you found along the way, I want to—before we show some of them, how do you come across these things that you find that you have been putting up?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Well, I'm not only generally interested in presidential history, but, for years, I have been fascinated in what images can evoke⁷.

　　You could see one picture, it asks a lot of questions, and I hope gets people curious about other larger issues that relate to it.

　　GWEN IFILL:Well, let's show the viewers what we are talking about.

　　This first picture I want to show here shows in the foreground the very familiar Lyndon Baines Johnson, but...

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:And that is not his third finger up there.

　　GWEN IFILL:And that is not his—that is his index figure in the air.

　　And if you see behind him, however, there is John F. Kennedy. They were not really very close, but there he is kind of reaching over to grab him. What is going on here and when was this taken?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:That was taken just before the election of 1960.

　　But you look at it and it looks like sort of an icon⁸ of the 1960s, Johnson aggressively getting into the Vietnam War maybe and Kennedy sort of trying to restrain him. That is why that picture particularly touches a nerve.

　　But what actually happened was a couple days before the election, Kennedy came to Amarillo for a rally with Johnson. Kennedy began speaking, was at the airport, and Republican pilots began turning on their jet engines to drown out Kennedy.

　　Johnson was furious. So you can see him going, turn those engines off. You know, that is exactly what is going on.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　GWEN IFILL:And this is 1960, before they were even serving together.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Absolutely.

　　GWEN IFILL:So, perhaps they were even friendlier at the time.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Indeed.

　　GWEN IFILL:I'm curious about what people thought about it when they saw it.

　　But let me show you another one. The next picture, which I was fascinated by, there is Richard Nixon. And someone appears to be pouring a beer over his head?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Yes, I put this out without telling what it was. And I said, what do all you think it is?

　　And one person wrote, it's Nixon celebrating his pardon by Gerald Ford⁹ in 1974.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:It wasn't.

　　This is Nixon actually at the Angel Stadium 1979. Angels won the division title. Bobby Grich, the second baseman, came over and poured champagne¹⁰ on Nixon's head. And it is novel because that is not exactly a scene that you normally see with Nixon. Some of the others who wrote in said, is this just Dick Nixon partying hard?

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　GWEN IFILL:But what is interesting about it is, it goes completely against what we think of when we see -- even if we think of him partying hard, it is not quite that way.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Against type. And that is why an image like this is so arresting.

　　And you get not micro. Nixon, it turns out, was absolutely delighted to have this done, because, five years after Watergate or so, he was trying to pull himself back. He was enough of a politician to know that a picture in the newspapers of him celebrating that victory with the champagne on his head was worth an awful lot.

　　GWEN IFILL:I believe that was beer.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　GWEN IFILL:I don't know if they make champagne in cans.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:No, well, it was champagne of bottled beers.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　GWEN IFILL:Exactly.

　　Now, this is the picture that first caught my attention of your tweeting, as I was going through my timeline, which is...

　　GWEN IFILL:It's very puzzling.

　　There is Bill Clinton clearly on the left, and in the center is George H.W. Bush. And next to him, he is shaking hands with George Wallace, the famous segregationist¹¹ governor of Alaska. And I just couldn't -- I turned it upside-down trying to figure out where could this have happened where these three men were together.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Well, it is sort of like the Kennedy and Johnson. A lot of people said, is this Photoshop-ed? It couldn't be possible that this picture exists.

　　And a lot of the people who tweeted about this to me said, this must have been Photoshop-ed, too, because, first of all, George Wallace is a figure out of the '60s, and Clinton and Bush '80s and 90s. So that doesn't fit. Plus, he was one of the worse segregationists in American history, so why would Bush and Clinton be sitting at a picnic with him eating lobster¹²?

　　And the other thing is that they didn't really sort of see it in terms of Bush and Clinton being at a picnic years before they ran against each other. Why would they have been so friendly? Plus, Bill Clinton looks as if he is about 12 years old.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　GWEN IFILL:Plus, Bill Clinton later went on to defeat George H.W. Bush. And then their famous relationship came around to now they refer to each other as father and son.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Yes. Now they are very friendly. But at the time of this image, George H.W. Bush was vice¹³ president, gave a picnic for American governors. Clinton was a governor. George Wallace was too. And by then, Wallace had recanted and apologized for a lot of his segregationist positions.

　　GWEN IFILL:So this was in Maine, in Kennebunkport.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:It was in Maine. Lobster, and Wallace is drinking some Mountain Dew, if you look closely.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Culturally appropriate.

　　GWEN IFILL:And another thing in that picture that we were looking at, there is a blonde woman sitting next to George Wallace. Who is that?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Wallace is sitting 1983 with his third wife. This was Lisa.

　　During the '68 Wallace campaign, there were two singers. One was Mona. One was Lisa. So he finally married her.

　　GWEN IFILL:And the famous wife that we all knew about, Lurleen Wallace, was by that time dead.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:Indeed. She had succeeded Wallace as governor. There was a one-term limit or four-year limit, so that Wallace could continue to try to pull the strings¹⁴. And she died in the middle of her term.

　　GWEN IFILL:Fascinating.

　　So, as you look back as you come across these images, and you come across some audio occasionally that you post and other things, do you get—take any heart at all from the kind of reactions you are getting from people who suddenly have discovered this through you on Twitter?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:I love it, because what I'm trying to do is get people interested in history and get them to think about some of the larger issues.

　　And these picture do this.

　　And the other thing is, you and I have talked about this. We're living this an age in which imagery in presidential politics has become all the more important. So people have become pretty good at deciphering what they are seeing in a picture. And, oftentimes, there is an awful lot of meaning packed in there. And I hear from it—from people about this on Twitter.

　　GWEN IFILL:So, are you spending all of your days now scrolling¹⁵ for the next interesting thing to get a reaction?

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:I am not spending all my days, my book publisher, please note.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:But it is an interesting sideline.

　　And since I'm not likely to write a book about political pictures, it is interesting for me to do.

　　GWEN IFILL:Michael Beschloss, thanks a lot for opening that window for us.

　　MICHAEL BESCHLOSS:My pleasure, Gwen.

　　JEFFREY BROWN:And, online,history buffs are tweetingon behalf of George Washington, Paul Revere¹⁶, and other historical figures. You can read about it on the Rundown.

1 doling   

救济物( dole的现在分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• "What are you doling?'she once demanded over the intercom. 有一次他母亲通过对讲机问他：“你在干什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• Many scrollbars are quite parsimonious in doling out information to users. 很多滚动条都很吝啬，给用户传递的信息太少。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

5 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

6 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。

7 evoke   

vt.唤起，引起，使人想起

参考例句：

• These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
• Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。

8 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

9 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

10 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

11 segregationist   

隔离主义者

参考例句：

• Recent federal action undermined the segregationist position. 近期的联邦行动消弱了隔离主义者的地位。

12 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

13 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。

14 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

15 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

16 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。