成名前的奥黛丽·赫本

⊙ By Darcey Bussell

翻译：旭文

成名前的奥黛丽·赫本

⊙ By Darcey Bussell

翻译：旭文

提起奥黛丽·赫本，我们总会想起她在《罗马假日》《蒂凡尼的早餐》《窈窕淑女》等作品中活泼甜美、优雅的迷人形象。可很少人知道，赫本在成名前也曾历经坎坷。不快乐的童年、孤独的寄宿生活和战时的苦难——这些都是赫本童年的真实写照。也许正是这些不快的经历，造就了日后我们认识的赫本。在庆祝赫本88岁诞辰的五月，我们一起来回顾一下她的早年生活。

Audrey was born in Belgium in 1929 to Ella, from a well-to-do2)Flemish family, and Joseph, an Anglo-Irishman. She liked to spend time with her father.

Sean Ferrer (Audrey’s Son): He was3)joyous, maybe not a warm father, but a4)joking father. He had his horses and spoke 13 languages, would take her5)gliding.

And then everything changed. When she was six, Audrey’s father walked out.

Sean: It was the major first blow in her emotional life. It played a vital role in making her probably more insecure than she needed to be.

From then on, Audrey’s childhood was6)unsettled. She was packed off to school in a small village in Kent.

Sean: Her mother decides that it might be a good idea for her to learn English, so they sent her to boarding school.

It was difficult for Audrey to fit in.

Sean: And she feels like an outsider, but she learns English. And very soon the war is declared. And the mother leaves for Holland, which is a7)neutral country.

On the outbreak of war, Audrey’s mother, Ella, sent for Audrey to join her and the8)extended family in the9)Dutch market town of Arnhem. They were taken in by Audrey’s wealthy grandfather. Within a year, the Nazis turned against the Dutch. In May, 1940, they crossed the border and marched into Holland.

Sean: Literally, everything you took for granted was gone. Your freedom

to cross the street. I mean, your most...the things you would never think about. And then there’s no heating. And there’s no school.

And then there’s no food.

Arnhem would not be liberated for five years. Audrey and her family were trapped in a10)brutal Nazi11)regime. And yet, her12)spirit13)shone through.

Sean: We’re talking about14)resilience. We’re talking about the ability to go onto the next thing, regardless. That’s resiliency. That’s15)wit and survival to live.

We may think of Audrey as an16)iconic actress. But she made her performance17)debut by dancing in wartime Holland.

Audrey: I didn’t know how long the war

1) stardom [΄stαːdəm] n. 明星的地位

2) Flemish [΄flemIʃ] adj. 佛兰芒人的，佛兰芒人是比利时其中的一个民族。

3) joyous [΄dʒɔIəs] adj. 充满快乐的

4) joking [΄dʒəʊkIŋ] adj. 开玩笑的

5) glide [ɡlaId] v. 滑翔

6) unsettled [ʌn΄set(ə)ld] adj. 易变的，不安定的

7) neutral [΄njuːtr(ə)l] adj. 中立的

8) extended family 大家庭

9) Dutch [dʌtʃ] adj. 荷兰的

10) brutal [΄bruːt(ə)l] adj. 残忍的，不人道的

11) regime [reI΄ʒiːm] n. 政权

12) spirit [΄spIrIt] n. 精力，活力

13) shine [ʃaIn] v. 发亮；过去式为shone。

14) resilience [rI΄zIlIəns] n. 恢复力，顺应力

15) wit [wIt] n. 智慧，才智

16) iconic [aI΄kɒnIk] adj. 偶像的

17) debut [΄debjʊ] n. 初次登台was going to last, so I went to the18)ballet school and learned to dance. And in about 1944, about a year before the end of the war, I was quite19)capable of performing. And it was a sort of some way in which I could...make some contribution and I did give performances to collect money for the underground, which always needed money.

Reporter: And what about the Germans, what did they do about it?

Audrey: They didn’t know about it!

Sean: That was her first true connection to what it means to perform and to be good. After the war ended, Audrey carried on her ballet training. In 1948, Audrey left the ruins of post-war Europe to take up a place at the Rambert Ballet School in Notting Hill. Audrey was20)scouted by the British film industry while dancing on stage in Ciro’s Nightclub. Just a few tiny British film roles were a21)springboard to Audrey’s international stardom.

In 1951, a famous French writer was seeking a leading lady for a stage version of her bestloved novel, when she spotted Audrey Hepburn. Pamela Church Gibson (Film Historian): She saw instantly that this was the22)embodiment of Gigi and she famously said, “I’ve found my Gigi!”

23)Colette recognised Audrey was the perfect person to play Gigi, a young,24)carefree25)courtesan.

Audrey was to26)take America by storm. Gigi opened to packed houses on Broadway. By the time the play finished, Audrey was under27)contract to Paramount Pictures.

18) ballet [΄bæleI] n. 芭蕾舞

19) capable [΄keIpəb(ə)l] adj. 有能力的

20) scout [skaʊt] v. 寻找，搜寻；被星探发掘

21) springboard [΄sprIŋbɔːd] n. 跳板

22) embodiment [Im΄bɒdImənt] n. 体现，化身

23) Colette 即茜多尼–加布里埃·科利特（Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette，1873–1954），法国作家。其作品包括《万物生灵》《葡萄藤》《琪琪》等。

24) carefree [΄keəfriː] adj. 快乐的，无忧无虑的

25) courtesan [΄kɔːtI΄zæn] n. 交际花

26) take by storm 使大为轰动，完全征服观众

27) contract [΄kɒntrækt] n. 合同，协议

动词短语

在英语里，有许多看似简单的常用动词，它们出现的频率高，会在各种场合露面，其含义却是千变万化，其中的奥秘就是与其合作的介词。本文就有不少这样的例子。

● walk out：离去，弃之不顾；指突然离开家人或伴侣；如要在后面加上具体的人，要再加介词on，如：He walked out on her after only two years of marriage.（仅仅结婚两年，他就离她而去。）

● pack (sb.) off：把某人打发走，让某人离开；强调的是让某人离开一段时间，而不只是离开，如：Soon, she is going to pack her son off to college.（她很快就会让儿子去读大学了。）

● fit in：适应；多指适应一个环境，如新学校、新的工作部门、新国家等，如：I can always fit in whatever situation I’m in.（不管在什么样的环境，我总是很容易适应。）

● leave for：去某地；后可跟目的地；注意：动词leave和这个短语表示的方向正好相反，如：She’ll leave for Hangzhou next week.（她下周去杭州。）

● send for：派人去叫，召唤；指动作的主体通过他人或通讯工具传达要求，如：The children sent for the doctor right away.（孩子们马上派人去请医生。）

● take in：收留，收容；指在某人因某种困难无处可去时，将其收留在自己家中、国家等，如：The church took in dozens of refugees.（教堂收留了几十个难民。）

● carry on：继续；指继续原来一直在做的事，可指小事（如：看书、听音乐），也可指大事或抽象的事（如学习、对某事的追求），如：Despite all the noise, he carried on reading.（尽管环境嘈杂，他还是继续看书。）

● take up：占用，占据；指开始在某个机构里有一个位置，后常跟具体地点或位置，如：I went to Shanghai and took up a position in a law firm.（我去了上海，在一家律师事务所里谋到一个职位。）

1929年，奥黛丽出生在比利时，母亲艾拉来自一个富裕的佛兰芒家族，父亲约瑟夫是一位英裔爱尔兰人。她喜欢与父亲相处。

肖恩·费勒（奥黛丽的儿子）：他是一个快乐的人，或许他算不上是慈父，但他爱开玩笑。他养了许多匹马，会13种语言，还带她坐滑翔机。

后来，一切都变了样。在她六岁时，奥黛丽的父亲离家出走。

肖恩：她的感情生活受到了第一次严重的打击。从此，她变得非常没有安全感，而这种毫无必要的情绪的关键成因正是她父亲出走一事。

从那时起，奥黛丽的童年一直动荡不安。她被送到英国肯特郡的小村子上学。

肖恩：她母亲认为让女儿学英语应该不错，所以他们把她送到寄宿学校。

奥黛丽觉得很难适应那里的环境。

肖恩：在那里，她觉得自己是一个外人，但仍然努力学习英语。没过多久，战争便到来了，她母亲前往中立国荷兰。

战争爆发后，奥黛丽的母亲艾拉派人把女儿接到一个名叫阿纳姆的荷兰贸易小镇。奥黛丽生活在这里的外祖父很富有，母女俩住进了他的房子。不到一年时间，纳粹对荷兰宣战。1940年5月，他们越过边境线，入侵荷兰。

肖恩：不夸张地说，一切你认为理所当然的事都不复存在了。比如说，过马路的自由。我是说，大部分……都是你以前想都不会去想的东西。随后没有了供暖，没有了学校，到了最后，甚至连食物都没有了。

阿纳姆被纳粹占领达五年之久，奥黛丽和家人身陷纳粹政府的残暴统治之中。然而，她活力四射。

肖恩：我们是指自我复原的能力，我们说的是无论发生了什么，都可以继续生活的能力。这就是韧性——一种生活智慧和生存能力。

在我们的脑海里，奥黛丽可能是一个偶像级女星。但她的第一次登台却是在战时的荷兰，当时她以一个舞者的身份登台亮相。

奥黛丽：我不知道这场战争还将持续多久，于是我去一所芭蕾舞学校，学习舞蹈。直到1944年左右，也就是离战争结束还有约一年的时间，我已经可以上台表演了。这是我可以尽绵薄之力的方式，我确实曾参加了一些演出，为地下抵抗组织筹集款项，因为他们一直很缺钱。

记者：那些德国人呢，对此他们怎么做？

奥黛丽：他们对此一无所知！

肖恩：那是她第一次真正明白表演与行善的意义所在。

战争结束后，奥黛丽继续着她的芭蕾舞训练。1948年，奥黛丽离开了战后一片狼藉的欧洲大陆，来到位于伦敦诺丁山的兰伯特芭蕾舞学院。

奥黛丽在圣西罗夜总会跳舞时被英伦影业的星探发现。随后，仅仅几个在英国电影中的小角色就成了奥黛丽向国际巨星发展的跳板。

1951年，一位著名的法国作家在看到奥黛丽·赫本时，正在为自己广受欢迎的爱情小说的舞台剧寻找女主演。

帕尔梅拉·丘奇·吉布森（电影历史学家）：科利特立刻就感觉到，奥黛丽就是琪琪的化身。然后她说了那句流传甚广的话：“我找到我的琪琪了！”

作家科利特知道，要演好琪琪这个无忧无虑的年轻交际花，奥黛丽正是最佳人选。

奥黛丽即将征服美国的观众。《琪琪》在百老汇的演出场场爆满。等到演出结束时，奥黛丽已经是派拉蒙影业公司的签约演员了。