My Job Special

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderMy Job Special
Yvonne: Hello, I’m Yvonne Archer¹ and this is Weekenderfrom bbclearningenglish.com!
　　In today’s programme, a ‘My Job’ special as we hearabout the work of a young woman named Sarah Niles. As youlisten, try to catch these three key words: ‘wrote’,‘scenes’ and ‘character’. They'll help you guess whatSarah’s job is. They're all words that we hear in theworld of theatre or film. A ‘scene’ is a section of aplay or a film and a ‘character’ is one of the people init – a person who someone has written about. But is Saraha writer or an actor – the noun that’s now used for bothmen and women?
　　Sarah NilesKay wrote Beauty for me and it was kind of collaborative.
　　She wrote verses and certain scenes and we’d talk about itand she got us to explore the character – for me, Beauty’
　　s character and what I thought her family background waslike and so forth².
　　Yvonne: So did you manage to work out whether Sarah is awriter or an actor? Well, we heard how she 'explored' thecharacter Beauty - worked on the type of person Beautymight be – and we heard that the character was written forher - so Sarah is an actor. Here’s another chance to hearthat clip again. This time,listen out for the word ‘collaborative’ - actor Sarahsays that Beauty’s character was written in a‘collaborative’ way. What do you think that adjectivemeans?
　　Sarah NilesKay wrote Beauty for me and it was kind of collaborative.
　　She wrote verses and certain scenes and we’d talk about itand she got us to explore the character – for me, Beauty’
　　s character and what I thought her family background waslike and so forth.
　　Yvonne: Beauty is a 14 to 16 year old maid in a play called“Bones” which was written and directed by Kay Adshead.
　　But Kay didn’t work alone when she was writing aboutBeauty; as we heard, the writing was ‘collaborative’ –so Kay and Sarah worked together to create that character.
　　The adjective is‘collaborative’ – meaning joint³ - and the verb is ‘tocollaborate’ – to work together. Listen out for them inthe future as people do use them to talk about their jobs.
　　Here are a few examples:
　　VOICE:
　　Our teams are working on a collaborative project at themoment. He’s collaborating⁵ with her on a new song.
　　It’s always fun to collaborate⁴ with people you like.
　　What we need is effective collaboration⁶ on this campaign.
　　Sarah and Kay worked collaboratively on the writing.
　　Yvonne: Do you ‘collaborate’ with other people in yourjob - and if not, would you like to? Why not use that verb‘to collaborate’ instead of the phrase ‘to work together’ when you next have a chance?
　　“Bones” is a play that’s set in post-apartheid SouthAfrica - so that’s after the country’s first democraticelection. During the play, thanks to Beauty’s clevertricks, the gruesome secret of the old couple she works foris revealed. The husband used to be an important policemanbut during his working life, many of the people hequestioned disappeared – and now, the entire communitywatches as human bones are dug up from the couple’s rosegarden.
　　This shocking story might seem unrealistic – likesomething that couldn’t possibly happen in real life - butunfortunately, during the apartheid regime, many people diddisappear and were never found. Now Sarah Niles’ familyare not from South Africa – they’re from Barbados in theWest Indies or theCaribbean – and Sarah has never been to South Africa orever worked as a maid. So how was it possible for her tocollaborate on the writing? Let’s find out…Sarah NilesI mean in terms of South Africa, I had to do a lot ofresearch in terms of reading books and that side of it, butI think Beauty’s life or her beliefs and ideas aren’t toofar from mine.
　　Yvonne: Sarah had to do a lot of ‘research’ – so she hadto study and read books to find out as much as she couldabout South Africa. And ‘doing research’ on places aswell as characters is a part of an actor’s job. Forexample, Sarah had to find out about the history of SouthAfrica, but as we heard earlier, she also had to find outabout the family, background and work of a young maid. Ofcourse, Sarah’s never been a maid like Beauty, but shefeels that they share similar beliefs and ideas – as Sarahput it, Beauty’s ideas ‘aren’t too far from’ hers.
　　Sarah continues to enjoy learning about the people ofAfrica and about South Africa through her role in the play“Bones”. Have you ever done any acting⁷ - perhaps atschool? Or maybe you know an actor. Why not visit us now atbbclearningenglish.com for a reminder⁸ of some of the wordsyou’d find useful to talk about that job after today’sWeekender!

1 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

5 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 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。

8 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。