NPR 12-10:As First Dates Go, This One Was a Doozy 我和她不寻常的初次约

Sigmund and Bonnie Stahl's first date wasn't that unusual — a night out at the movies. But what they saw was ... a bit different.

This is Dave Essay, creator of StoryCorps, the project that records the stories of everyday Americans. StoryCorps airs each Friday on NPR's morning edition. Support for StoryCorps comes from AT&T, proudly bringing StoryCorps listeners of America's past, present and future. The new AT&T, your world delivered.

Welcome to the storycorps podcast, I'm Michael Graffiler ,a producer here at storycorp. In this episode¹, one family story that they never get tired of telling. Sigmund Stahl met Bonnie N. on a blind date. It was the early 70s in New York city, and Stahl was a college professor at the time. Here he tells his grandaughter about that first meeting.

The colleague of mine in my department decided² that he was gonna fix me up. He had a list of I don't know how many people, and he would ask me every week, 'Did you call anybody — did you?' I would say no because I wasn't particularly interested.

And I had to get him off my back really, so I said, okay, who's the No.1? I'll call that person. I decided we gonna have a drink and if i dont like it, I'm gonna say 'I have to go home", that'll be the end of it.

So we met and we sat down and we talked and I said to her, 'What would you like to do now if you could — anything you want.' And she said, 'Well, I'd go to an island in the Pacific somewhere where it's nice and sunny.' it was winter.

And I said, 'That we can't do. That's a little difficult.'

So she said, I'd like to go see a movie.

I said, that's reasonable.What's the name of the movie?

She said that did you hear of a movie called Deep Throat?

And I said no, never heard of it. I don't go to movies so I knew nothing. She looks like a respectable³ and she was a very well known public relations expert, well, must be a respectable movie for the line around the block .

It was a porno⁴ — it was the biggest porno of its time. I didn't have the guts⁵ to say, 'Let's go.' I was going to sit through that come hell or high water. And then we left and I took her home.

I went back to my apartment in the Village. I thought about... what gall⁶ of this woman. She doesn't know me from Adam — and take me to a movie like that. I wouldn't go to that movie if I'd known what it was if they'd paid me for it.

And then I thought, she has that chutzpa, that gall. I'll call her again.

And my granddaughter still laughs about it, that She probably heard that story for million times.

Sigmund Stahl with his granddaughter Elizabeth D, in New York city. That awkward⁷ first date led to a marriage for Sigmund and Bonnie, when they lasted over 30 years untill Bonnie passed away in 2005.

You can read more of these stories in the new Storycorps book, listening is an act of love,available now in your local book store. Also look for the companion CD featuring 20 stories recorded all cross the country. Major support for Storycorps is provided by AT&T and by the corporation for public broadcasting. This Storycorps archives is housed at the America Folklife center at the library of congress.

Tune⁸ into storycorps broadcast Tuesday on NPR's news and notes and Friday's on NPR's morning edition. I'm Michael Graffiler . Thanks for listening.

1 episode   

n.（作品的一段）情节，插曲，系列事件中之一

参考例句：

• The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
• This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 respectable   

n.品格高尚的人；adj.值得尊重的，人格高尚的，不少的

参考例句：

• She seems respectable enough.她看上去挺体面的。
• His savings were just enough to pay for a respectable funeral.他的存款刚好够办一个体面的葬礼。

4 porno   

n.春宫，色情画；色情文学，电影等

参考例句：

• They say she was in a porno movie,with a member of the local police department.他们说她跟本地警察局里的一个人拍过春宫电影。
• The local porno shop has been shut down for selling materials to minors.当地的色情商店因向未成年人出售色情物品而被关闭。

5 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 gall   

v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难

参考例句：

• It galled him to have to ask for a loan.必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。
• No gall,no glory.没有磨难，何来荣耀。

7 awkward   

adj.笨拙的，尴尬的，使用不便的，难处理的

参考例句：

• John is so shy and awkward that everyone notices him.约翰如此害羞狼狈，以至于大家都注意到了他。
• I was the only man among the guests and felt rather awkward.作为客人中的唯一男性，我有些窘迫。

8 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。