美式发音 适合泛听
Danvers, Massachusetts, has known persecution and authoritarianism before. The small town was at the center of 1)the Salem witch trials in the 1690s. When locals petitioned King George for a town charter, the English sovereign rejected it and wrote back, “The King unwilling.”
This week, another unwilling administrator dealt a blow to a certain population of Danvers. Thomas Murray, principal of Danvers High School banned this word...
That’s right, the word “meep.” That was the 2)Road Runner. The word is also the sum total of the 3)Muppet Beaker’s entirevocabulary.
Host: Mike Spiewak is a senior at Danvers High School and he helped popularize the seemingly 4)innocuous word, and he’s on the line with us now. Hi, Mike.
MIKE: Hi.
Host: Why are students at Danvers using the word “meep”?
Mike: Well, it started off as, you know, just being a little joke between friends.
Host: Well, did you pick it up from Beaker or the Road Runner?
Mike: No. Actually, my friend Alex, he picked it up on Xbox LIVE. He was in a party with a couple of kids playing Call of Duty last year. One of the kids that were in the party, you know, he said “meep” and, you know, Alex picked it up and we started using it.
Host: So, what are a few examples of how you would use the word “meep” ?
Mike: Well, you can just say meep being a one-word sentence. You can say “How the meep are you?” “Shut the meep up.”
Host: Now, that sounds like a substitute for another word, a not-so-friendly word that some of our listeners might be familiar with.
Mike: Yeah, correct. It could, you know, you could replace “meep” with an 5)F-bomb so that way you’re not 6)swearing. But that’s not usually how we would use it; we’d just say it as a one-word sentence. And when the school told [us] we were unable to use this word and there would be consequences about it, kids have started using the word not knowing where it came from, why we were using it, what it means in protest of the school’s telling us that we couldn’t use it.
Host: Now, we tried to call your principal but we couldn’t get a hold of him. He told that your local paper, the Salem News, that it was more than just the use of the word, that it was also about the way students were behaving. Why do you think he banned the word?
Mike: We used to stand in front of this teacher’s room and we would use it, you know, “meep, meep,” whatever, when, you know, we all came into the school in the morning. We were asked to move, we were asked to stop using the word. More kids began using it, interrupting his classroom time during the school day, and he just felt that, you know, it needed to stop.
Host: Well, that sounds like a pretty reasonable request. I mean, if kids were doing it in the middle of class, you know, the guy was getting annoyed.
Mike: Right.
Host: So, you don’t have any problem with the ban?
Mike: I personally don’t. I just…I think it’s unfair that they banned a word that’s not even a real word.
Host: So, despite all of these problems, are you guys still meeping?
Mike: Absolutely. We mostly use it out of school now. So, you know, when we text each other, when we call each other. So, that’s the only time we really use it. But, you know, some of us still use it in school every so often.
Host: Mike Spiewak is a meeping senior from Danvers High School. Mike, thanks for your time.
Mike: You’re welcome. Thank you.
美国马萨诸塞州的丹弗斯镇以前就经历过迫害和强制政策。在17世纪90年代,这个小镇是塞勒姆驱巫案的聚集点。当年,镇上的人向英国乔治国王要求自治时,这位英国的统治者断言拒绝,并回复道:“国王不愿意。”
而在这个星期,另一位不情愿的行政官员得让丹弗斯镇里的一些人不高兴了。他就是丹弗斯镇高中的校长汤马斯·默里。他下令禁了这个词……
对了,正是“meep”这个词。那是走鹃发出的声音,也是《大青蛙布偶秀》里的天竺鼠的全部话语。
主持人:迈克·斯皮瓦克是丹弗斯镇高中高年级学生,他曾出手让这个似乎无伤大雅的词深入人心。现在他通过电话参与我们的节目。你好,迈克。
迈克:你好。
主持人:为什么丹弗斯镇高中的学生在用“meep”这个词?
迈克:呃,一开始,你知道嘛,它只不过是朋友之间的玩笑。
主持人:你们是从《大青蛙布偶秀》里的天竺鼠或走鹃这两个角色获得的灵感吗?
迈克:不是。实际上,我的朋友亚历克斯是从Xbox在线游戏上学到这个词的。去年他与几个小孩在参加聚会时玩了一个叫《使命召唤》的游戏。其中的一个小孩当时说了“meep”这个词,你明白了吧,亚历克斯就学会了。然后我们就开始用这个词。
主持人:那么,你们都是怎么样用“meep”这个词的,能给我举几个例子吗?
迈克:嗯,你可以单独用“meep”这个词作为一个句子。你还可以说:“How the meep are you?”或者是“Shut the meep up.”
主持人:这个嘛,听起来它很像另一个不怎么友善的词,这个词我们的不少听众可能也都熟悉。
迈克:是,没错。这可以,你也知道,你确实可以用meep来代替那个F开头的词,这样听起来就不像是在骂人了。不过,我们通常都不会这么用这个词,我们只是用它单独作一个句子。如今学校说我们不能再用这个词,否则要自己承担后果。于是,为了抗议学校的禁令,同学们就开始用这个词,尽管他们并不知道它的出处,也不知道用它的原因,以及它的含义。
主持人:嗯,我们试图打电话给你们的校长,但没能联系上他。他对你们当地的报纸《丹弗斯新闻》说,事情不仅仅是因为这个词的使用,而是与学生的行为有关。你觉得他们为什么要对这个词下禁令?
迈克:我们会在早上到学校的时候,你知道吗,站在教师办公室门口用这个词:“meep、meep”等等。他们会叫我们走开,叫我们不要再用这个词。可是有越来越多的学生用这个词,在上课的时候扰乱了课堂秩序,所以他觉得这一切不能再继续下去了。
主持人:哦,那听起来这是一个挺合理的要求啊。我的意思是,如果学生在上课的时候说这个词,你也知道,校长肯定会不爽。
迈克:对。
主持人:那么,你对这项禁令没有意见吗?
迈克:我个人没有意见。我只不过……我觉得他们禁止一个还算不上真正词的“词”并不公平。
主持人:那么,尽管有那么多的问题,你们还在用这个词吗?
迈克:当然。我们现在基本上是在校外用这个词。也就是说,比如我们在相互发短信时,在讲电话的时候。结果,这就是我们现在用这个词的场合。但你也知道,我们当中有些人仍然会时不时在学校里使用这个词。
主持人:迈克·斯皮瓦克是丹弗斯镇高中里用meep这个词的高年级学生。迈克,谢谢你能抽出时间。
迈克:不客气,谢谢。
翻译:旭文