In the late 1960s, a 23-year-old high-school dropout founded a theatre troupe in Pittsburgh's Hill District, the predominantly black neighbourhood where he had grown up. He took to writing. One of his earliest works was a play set in a ramshackle gypsy-cab office in which little happened: a bunch of guys trade stories, swap insults, talk about the world. At some point, however, it became plain that all this was not really the playwright's characters talking about the world so much as he, August Wilson, doing what great writers do: building a world through his characters' words.

   Revised and polished over two decades, that work became “Jitney”, part of an ambitious series of ten plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th century and all save one in the Hill District. These, known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, earned Wilson almost every award a playwright can win. To describe the plays as telling the story of the American black experience is true, but it sounds too high-minded. Wilson had a golden ear for the cadence and humour of everyday speech, and the way his characters reveal themselves through language provides a pleasure unmatched on the American stage.

   Radio Golf is the cycle's final chapter in two senses: it is set in the century's last decade, and Wilson died soon after completing it. Its protagonist, Harmond Wilks, is anomalous among Wilson characters: he is middle-class, politically ambitious and a true believer in the American legal and political systems. The play is a battle for his soul.

   On one side are his flashy business partner, Roosevelt Hicks, and Wilks's savvy wife, Mame. Hicks and Wilks want to “bring the Hill back” by building an apartment and retail complex on the site of some abandoned row houses. On the other side are two older neighbourhood guys: Old Joe, who has a claim on one of the houses Wilks wants to pull down, and who has a claim on one of the houses Wilks wants to pull down, and Sterling Johnson, a street-smart handyman.  Metaphorically, this is a battle for the black community in the late 20th century: a struggle to maintain black cohesion in the face of economic incentives and a sort of spiritual gentrification.

    Dramatically, this play may be Wilson's thinnest: the lines between good and evil are too starkly drawn, and the claim that redevelopment has been uniformly regrettable for black Americans is simply untrue.  But the plot is almost beside the point. Wilson has turned the Hill into a place as richly peopled and mythologically deep as Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha county: the house that Old Joe believes he owns belonged to Aunt Ester, who died at the great age of 349. Ester was the spiritual centre of Wilson's Hill neighbourhood. Though she appeared in only one play, she is spoken of in all of them. Sterling Johnson was a young hot-head in “Two Trains Running”, Wilson's 1960s play. In this one John Jelks gives him depth, toughness and wonderful comic timing. The outstanding performance, though, belongs to Anthony Chisholm, who invests Old Joe with a heartbreaking humanity. His recollection of having a flag torn off his army uniform mixes sadness, outrage and poetry in a manner that is quintessentially Wilsonian.

   注（1）：本文選自Economist, 05/17/2007

   注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象為2003年真題Text 3。

   1． According to the author, one of the reasons for Wilson’s winning lots of awards is _______.

    [A] Wilson writes about the black communities.

    [B] Wilson works hard on revising and polishing his works.

    [C] Wilson’s works captures everyday humor and language.

    [D] Wilson expresses his own views through his characters’ words.

   2． What is the public’s attitude towards Wilson’s work?

    [A] indifferent

    [B] detached

    [C] negative

    [D] enthusiastic

   3． It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that _______.

    [A] Wilson died before he finished Radio Golf.

    [B] Radio Golf is about how Wilks becomes a politician.

    [C] Radio Golf sets in the 1990s.

    [D] Radio Golf is the best of all the ten series of plays.

   4． The term “protagonist” (Line 2, Paragraph 3) probably means _______.

    [A] actor

    [B] the main character

    [C] fictitious man

    [D] political activist

   5． From the text we can see the author’s attitude towards Radio Golf is _______.

    [A] negative

    [B] supportive

    [C] indifferent

    [D] indignant

   篇章剖析

   本文主要在于介紹奧古斯特·威爾遜的比較后一部劇作《高爾夫電波》。文章第一、二段先介紹了該部作品所屬的系列戲劇的背景、作者的寫作風(fēng)格和特點等；第三、四段對《高爾夫電波》的主要人物和情節(jié)進行了概述；比較后一段則是作者對于這部作品的評價。

   詞匯注釋

   troupe [tru:p] n. 劇團                         handyman [`hAndimAn] n. 做零活的人

   predominant [pri`dCminEnt] adj. 支配的, 主要的 metaphorical [7metE`f`rikEl] adj. 隱喻的

   ramshackle [`rAm7FAkl] adj. 搖搖欲墜的       cohesion [kEu`hi:VEn] n. 結(jié)合, 凝聚

   swap [swCp] v. 易物交易                    incentive [in`sentiv] n. 動機

   cadence [`keidEns] n. 節(jié)奏, 韻律           gentrification [dVen7tifi`keiFEn] n. 貴族化      

   protagonist [prEu`tAgEnist] n. 主角, 領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者    stark [stB:k] adj. 刻板的,荒涼的

   anomalous [E`nRmElEs] adj. 不規(guī)則的, 反常的  outrage [`autreidV] n. 暴行, 侮辱

   flashy [`flAFi] adj. 浮華的             quintessential [`7kwintE`seFEl] adj. 精萃的, 精髓的

   savvy [`sAvi] adj. 有見識和精明能干的

   難句突破

   At some point, however, it became plain that all this was not really the playwright's characters talking about the world so much as he, August Wilson, doing what great writers do: building a world through his characters' words.

   主體句式  It became plain that …

   結(jié)構(gòu)分析  句子主干的that后面跟的是一個主語從句，從句的主干為all this was not really … so much as …，而冒號后面的部分是補充說明前面的“what treat writers do”。

   句子譯文  然而，我們卻可以清晰的看出，從某種意義上來說，所有這些與其說是作品中的人物在談?wù)搶�這個世界的看法,不如說是作者奧古斯特·威爾遜本人和其他偉大作家一樣,通過筆下人物之口來構(gòu)建起一個世界。

   題目分析

   1．C. 細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第二段比較后一句，顯而易見答案C比較符合題意。

   2．D. 態(tài)度題。文章第二段中提到Wilson獲得了一個作家能夠獲得的所有獎項，而且他的作品能夠給人一種無可匹敵的快感，因此說明了他的作品是廣受歡迎的。

   3．C. 細節(jié)題。文章第三段第一句說明了這部戲劇是以20世紀的比較后10年，即90年代為背景的。

   4．B. 語義題。從第三、四段的小說情節(jié)描述中，應(yīng)該可以發(fā)現(xiàn)Harmond Wilks是該作品的主角。

   5．A. 態(tài)度題。文章比較后一段的第一句話指出該部作本是作者的系列作品中比較薄弱的一部，由此可見作者的態(tài)度。

   參考譯文

   在二十世紀六十年代晚期，一名23歲的高中輟學(xué)學(xué)生在匹茲堡的希爾區(qū)創(chuàng)建了一個劇團。希爾區(qū)是他成長的地方，這里主要居住著黑人，正是這個地方使他迷上了寫作。在他的早期作品中，有一部以狹小陰暗的吉普賽個體出租汽車辦公室為背景,講述了發(fā)生在那里的瑣事：一群家伙在一起聊侃、漫罵、談?wù)撨@個世界。然而，我們卻可以清晰的看出，從某種意義上來說，所有這些與其說是作品中的人物在談?wù)搶�這個世界的看法,不如說是作者奧古斯特·威爾遜本人和其他偉大作家一樣，通過筆下人物之口建立起來的一個世界。

   經(jīng)過了20年的修改和潤色，這部作品成為了名為《五分硬幣》十部系列劇之一。每一部都對應(yīng)著20世紀的各個不同的年代，且除了一部以外，都以希爾區(qū)為背景。這個戲劇系列被稱為《匹茲堡圈子》，它們?yōu)橥�爾遜贏得了一個劇作家可以贏得的一切獎項。毫無疑問，我們可以認為這些戲講述了美國黑人的經(jīng)歷，但這種說法過于高尚。威爾遜能夠很好地捕捉日常對話的節(jié)奏和幽默，他筆下的人物通過語言來進行自我展示的方式給人帶來的快感在美國舞臺上是無可匹敵的。

    《高爾夫電波》在兩個意義上成為這個系列的比較后篇章，它以這個世紀的比較后十年為背景，且威爾遜在完成該部作品不久以后就去世了。這部戲的主人公哈蒙德·威爾克斯是威爾遜塑造的所有角色中比較性格反常的一位：他是一個中產(chǎn)階級，有著政治抱負，是美國立法和其政治體系的真正篤信者。這部戲是他的靈魂之戰(zhàn)。

   一方是庸俗的商業(yè)伙伴羅斯福·西克斯和威爾克斯精明的妻子瑪姆，西克斯和威爾克斯想通過在一排廢棄房子的舊址上建造公寓住宅和零售綜合樓來“恢復(fù)希爾區(qū)”。另一方是兩個老鄰居：老喬聲稱自己對威爾克斯想拆毀的其中一間房子擁有所有權(quán)，斯特林·約翰遜則是一個生活在社會底層的零活工。這部作品隱喻了二十世紀晚期為保存黑人社區(qū)的斗爭：一場針對經(jīng)濟刺激和中產(chǎn)階級化、保持黑人凝聚力的斗爭。

     戲劇性的是這部戲劇可能是威爾遜作品中比較為薄弱的一部：對于美好與邪惡的區(qū)別界定過于刻板，而他聲稱美國黑人都為經(jīng)濟的發(fā)展而感到扼腕嘆息的觀點并不真實。但是故事情節(jié)幾乎離題。威爾遜使得希爾區(qū)變成了有如�？思{筆下的Yoknapatawpha小鎮(zhèn)那樣人口聚集，并富有神奇的色彩：老喬認為他所擁有的房子曾經(jīng)屬于那個349歲高齡去世的埃斯特嬸嬸。埃斯特是威爾遜的希爾區(qū)社區(qū)中的精神領(lǐng)袖。盡管她只在一部戲里出現(xiàn)過,但她卻被所有人所提及. 斯特林·約翰遜在威爾遜1960年代的戲劇《兩列行駛的火車》里是一個沖動的年輕人。在這部劇中約翰·杰克斯讓這個人物變得更加深沉、堅強、以及很好的喜劇性。而比較精彩的表現(xiàn)屬于安東尼·啟思蒙，他對待老喬的方式中包含著令人感動的人性。他回憶在軍隊制服上扯掉國旗徽章的那刻，攙雜著悲傷、憤怒和詩意，某種意義上說，這便是威爾遜作品精髓所在。