美国国家公共电台 NPR Author Adam Rubin wants kids to participate in his latest series of stories

Author Adam Rubin wants kids to participate in his latest series of stories

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Adam Rubin about his series of short stories all with the same title: The Ice Cream Machine. He's asking kids to write a story with that title and send them to him.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

How many ways are there to tell a story? Infinite, right? Adam Rubin believes so. He writes children's books. Maybe you've spent your fair share of nights reading "Dragons Love Tacos" with your kids? That's his. His newest collection is six completely different stories, but they all have the same title, "The Ice Cream Machine." But Adam leaves room for a seventh story, one that hasn't been told yet.

ADAM RUBIN: For 10 years, I was the guy that would show up at public school gymnasiums and try to convince 400 students that reading is fun. But after a while, it started to feel kind of self-serving. Like, hey, buy my books. Keep buying the books that I write. So really, what I wanted to do is try to figure out a way to show these kids that writing is where the real magic is.

MARTIN: Adam Rubin wants kids to write their own stories, also called "The Ice Cream Machine," and then send them to him. He's got big plans for those stories. When I talked with him recently, I asked Adam to read the beginning of one of the pieces in the new book. This one is about an ice-cream-eating contest. And he starts by building the scene of the seaside town where it takes place.

RUBIN: (Reading) A rhino² in a tank top jogged down the sidewalk and briefly³ joined in on a game of hopscotch⁴ with two young koalas. An ostrich⁵ in a sun hat thanked a frog on a bicycle for delivering her newspaper. Penelope observed the scene and couldn't help thinking what a lovely morning it was in Bayside. She wiped the sweat from her brow and went back to work.

MARTIN: I mean, that's good, Adam. I'm in.

RUBIN: Yeah, you like that?

MARTIN: There are, like, animals playing hopscotch.

RUBIN: and I should mention that the illustrations in this book are really spectacular. And they were done by six different illustrators. Each of the stories has a different artist.

MARTIN: And why did you want to do that?

RUBIN: Well, I think it plays into the whole idea that there are so many different ways to bring a story to life and that every person is going to tell it or draw it differently. So when people have this worry like, oh, you know, it's been done before. Or it's - somebody's going to steal my ideas. Like, well, if you are true to telling the story the way you believe or the way that you really feel it should be told, nobody else can do it exactly the same.

MARTIN: So the story about this ice-cream-eating contest - the main character is a young girl. There is a guy in this magical town who wins all the time this annual contest, and they call him The Machine.

RUBIN: They do.

MARTIN: Can you tell me more about this guy?

RUBIN: Yeah, so The Machine is a large pig, literally⁶ a pig that works down at the impound lot. He doesn't have a lot of joy in his life, and he's a pretty salty character. But every year, he comes out of his little shack⁷ to dominate at the annual ice cream-eating contest because none of the other animals in town can deal with the dreaded⁸ brain freeze that comes with eating ice cream too fast.

MARTIN: Right. You also write, like, an interior life for The Machine. He knows he should be friendlier, but he doesn't quite know how. How important is that in developing a character?

RUBIN: Gosh, I got some good advice from a writing teacher early on that said when you write a character, you've got to figure out who they are and what they want. Then if you love that character, you will make it hard for them to get what they want. And that's what makes the story interesting. This pig - he does want to be a friendly kind of guy, but he's kind of nervous because deep down, he's, like, this little nerdy dude that loves to watch the History Channel and talk about World War II. And somewhere along the line, he started making fun of people before they could make fun of him, and that's just become his de facto personality. And I think at some point, it becomes real hard to change that without a big effort.

MARTIN: Part of the concept of this book is to prove you can write a story about anything or the same thing in this case, just in different ways. So, Adam Rubin, are you willing to do a creative exercise with me? Totally putting you on the spot.

RUBIN: Oh, yeah, Rachel. Let's do it.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

RUBIN: Let's get creative. It's morning. No better time to be creative than morning time.

MARTIN: All right. Let's give this a go. So I'm going to give you a topic, and you have to come up with three different opening lines.

RUBIN: OK. Wow, OK. I'm glad I had some coffee.

MARTIN: Right? All right. Gerbil food.

RUBIN: Gerbil food. OK. Stan tucked his napkin into his collar and stroked his knife against his fork. I'm thinking in this story, he's about to eat gerbils and maybe doesn't know it.

MARTIN: You got another one?

RUBIN: Yeah, so now I'm thinking of a story maybe where, like, there's some lady. She loves her gerbil so much that she makes, like, little gourmet⁹ meals for it and stuff. So maybe it's like, Edna set the tiny table with tweezers¹⁰, a glass of tiny Chianti...

MARTIN: (Laughter).

RUBIN: ...A tiny slice of bread and a perfectly¹¹ seared veal¹² chop on an minuscule¹³ plate.

MARTIN: I love that. Like, she might be lonely, and her gerbil is like her confidante.

RUBIN: That's what brings her joy. Yeah, that's what brings her joy, maybe.

MARTIN: You got one more?

RUBIN: I know this is a little twisted, but I can't help but think of, like, gerbils flying through the air either through a catapult or, like, some sort of - like, maybe a blowgun or something.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

RUBIN: So Carl ducked into the bushes with the prey¹⁴ in sight. He loaded the gerbil into his blowgun and took aim.

MARTIN: That's grim.

RUBIN: Yeah.

MARTIN: I still like it.

RUBIN: We got a little dark, but this is what's fun - is the same idea could be an infinite different stories.

MARTIN: Yeah. OK, so this is the thing. The back of this book, the book jacket is an envelope. So explain what you want kids to do here.

RUBIN: At the back of the book, there is an invitation, a very explicit¹⁵ invitation to say, hey, write your story and send it to me. And I put my address in the book. It's printed in there. And if you peek¹⁶ underneath¹⁷ the dust jacket of the book, you will find that it is printed. And if you fold it according to the instructions, you can create an envelope to put your story into. And it's already addressed to me. All you got to do is add a stamp.

If I get enough good stories by the end of the school year, I'm hoping to include the best ones in the paperback¹⁸ edition of "The Ice Cream Machine." And it would be really cool because some of these fifth- and sixth-grade kids might become published authors. And I'm thinking, like, I could buy some big, ice-cream-shaped trophy¹⁹ they could put in the trophy case at the school. Like, maybe I'll fly out there, and we'll have a little ice cream party. I don't know. It's hypothetical right now. I don't know what's going to happen. But I am so intrigued²⁰ to see what comes out of the imagination of these kids.

MARTIN: So awesome²¹. The book is called "The Ice Cream Machine" by Adam Rubin, six wildly different stories with the exact same name. Adam, what a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much.

RUBIN: Always nice to see you, Rachel. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE ALBUM LEAF'S "AMBO")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 hopscotch   

n.小孩独脚跳踢石子的游戏，“跳房子”游戏

参考例句：

• The children squared off the sidewalk to play hopscotch.孩子们在人行道上划出方格，做“跳房子”的游戏。
• At hopscotch,the best hoppers are the children.在跳房子的游戏中，孩子是最优秀的单足跳者。

5 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

8 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

9 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

10 tweezers   

n.镊子

参考例句：

• We simply removed from the cracked endocarp with sterile tweezers.我们简单地用消过毒的镊子从裂开的内果皮中取出种子。
• Bee stings should be removed with tweezers.蜜蜂的螫刺应该用小镊子拔出来。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 veal   

n.小牛肉

参考例句：

• She sauteed veal and peppers,preparing a mixed salad while the pan simmered.她先做的一道菜是青椒煎小牛肉，趁着锅还在火上偎着的机会，又做了一道拼盘。
• Marinate the veal in white wine for two hours.把小牛肉用白葡萄酒浸泡两小时。

13 minuscule   

adj.非常小的；极不重要的

参考例句：

• The human race only a minuscule portion of the earth's history.人类只有占有极小部分地球历史。
• As things stand,Hong Kong's renminbi banking system is minuscule.就目前的情况而言，香港的人民币银行体系可谓微不足道。

14 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

15 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

16 peek   

vi.偷看，窥视；n.偷偷的一看，一瞥

参考例句：

• Larry takes a peek out of the window.赖瑞往窗外偷看了一下。
• Cover your eyes and don't peek.捂上眼睛，别偷看。

17 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

18 paperback   

n.平装本，简装本

参考例句：

• A paperback edition is now available at bookshops.平装本现在在书店可以买到。
• Many books that are out of print are reissued in paperback form.许多绝版的书籍又以平装本形式重新出现。

19 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

20 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

21 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.