TED演讲：多国口音英语模仿秀.doc

TED演讲：多国口音英语模仿秀 　脱口秀演员Sarah Jones莎拉琼斯在TED现场来了段精彩的单口秀，她惟妙惟肖地模仿了八国人说英语，惊为天人。里面包括了英式口音、美式口音、印度口音、法国口音、中式口音、阿拉伯口音、这短短的20分钟内，莎拉琼斯好像领着你去了一次环球旅行。莎拉琼斯一个人分别扮演了一位固执的犹太老太太、一个语速极快的多米尼加裔女大学生以及其他众多精彩角色。 　　被莎拉琼斯模仿的八个国家和地区为：英国、纽约皇后区、澳大利亚、多米尼加、法国、德国、 印度、中国、约旦。代表了八种不同的口音：英音、美音、西班牙音、法语音、德语音、印度音、汉语音、阿拉伯音。 　　当然从Sarah的本意出发，这次旅行的重点并不仅仅是口音，还有文化与交流的问题。我们生活在一个距离越来越短，联系越来越紧密的地球村里。一种语言就像是一把钥匙，打开地球另一边人们生活的大门。如果说你的语言是一个维度，它带来了一个角度，多一种语言能力就是多一个思考的维度，多了一扇看世界的窗，生活的厚度就这样叠加起来越发丰富多彩。 　　以下是演讲全文： 　　I should tell you that when I was asked to be here, I thought to myself that well, it’s TED. And these TED sters are - you know, as innocent as that name sounds - these are thephilanthropists and artists and scientists who sort of shape our world. And what could I possibly have to say that would be distinguished enough to justify my participation in something like that? And so I thought perhaps a really civilized sounding British accent might help things a bit. 　　And then I thought no, no. I should just get up there and be myself and just talk the way I really talk because, after all, this is the great unveiling. And so I thought I’d come up here and unveil my real voice to you. Although many of you already know that I do speak the Queen’s English because I am from Queens, New York. (Laughter) But the theme of this session, of course, is invention. And while I don’t have any patents that I’m aware of, you will be meeting a few of my inventions today. And I suppose it’s fair to say that I am interested in the invention of self or selves. We’re all born into certain circumstances with particular physical traits, unique developmental experiences, geographical and historical contexts. But then what? To what extent do we self-construct, do we self-invent? How do we self-identify and how mutable is that identity? Like, what if one could be anyone at any time? Well my characters, like the ones in my shows, allow me to play with the spaces between those questions. And so I’ve brought a couple of them with me. And we