美国国家公共电台 NPR John Oliver On Facts, Donald Trump And The Supreme Court For Dogs

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

John Oliver returns to HBO this weekend, starting a new season of his satirical news show "Last Week Tonight." Just to avoid any confusion, the program returns on Sunday, which technically¹ means that "Last Week Tonight" returns next week, not actually tonight. Oliver is struggling with how to cover President Trump². And he spoke³ this week about "Last Week Tonight" with NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. And we have the talk this morning.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE⁴: When we sat down at NPR studios in New York, Oliver was expansive, sharing his thoughts on his mentor⁵ Jon Stewart.

JOHN OLIVER: I kind of learnt at his feet. He is the L. Ron Hubbard to my Tom Cruise. Let me immediately retract⁶ that comparison.

FOLKENFLIK: And Oliver offered some enduring truths.

OLIVER: Teenagers falling off skateboards - funny. Nut shots - funny. Breaking wind - funny. The world cannot change those. Those three things are columns upon which humor is built.

FOLKENFLIK: You think flatulence - always funny?

OLIVER: Yes.

FOLKENFLIK: I'm kind of ambivalent⁷ on flatulence.

OLIVER: Always funny.

FOLKENFLIK: Really?

OLIVER: Always funny. When I heard that Hitler had problems with flatulence, it's funny. What - does that make him a funny man? No. It means he had funny moments when his rear end was speaking louder than his mouth.

FOLKENFLIK: Yet "Last Week Tonight" traffics in subjects that aren't immediately funny and aren't much funnier on second or third review.

OLIVER: One of the things that we looked at last year was the fiduciary⁸ rule and retirement⁹ savings¹⁰ - right? - which, again, sounds like not a half an hour of television that you would be anxious to fall over yourself to watch.

FOLKENFLIK: Oliver blends a distinctly liberal sensibility and a seriousness of purpose in his humor, as he did in this episode on civil asset forfeiture¹¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LAST WEEK TONIGHT")

OLIVER: Now, I know it sounds like a Gwyneth Paltrow euphemism¹² for divorce, but incredibly it's actually even worse than that.

EZEKIEL EDWARDS: Civil asset forfeiture is really a mechanism¹³ by which the state and federal government can seize people's property without having to convict them of a crime.

FOLKENFLIK: Other topics include school desegregation, opioid abuse, pharmaceutical¹⁴ pricing and Brexit.

OLIVER: When we feel we're doing what we do best, it's highlighting stories that perhaps are under-covered or have been underreported and where we can show people things they haven't seen before.

FOLKENFLIK: The show hasn't been seen in three months. When last spotted¹⁵ in his indigenous¹⁶ habitat, Oliver was sharing his perception of 2016 and what was to come - a dystopian hellscape. Now remember, it's on HBO, and there's a lot I just can't play from that show. Oliver was really angry. He had kept his distance from Trump for a while, but after mocking him last year the candidate responded by tweeting that Oliver had invited him repeatedly to appear on the show, but that he wouldn't because "Last Week Tonight" was so boring. Oliver rises to his own defense¹⁷.

OLIVER: By any rational metric, I am boring. I probably agree more than I disagree with him there.

FOLKENFLIK: Then Oliver turned to the meat of that allegation, a spurned¹⁸ invitation.

OLIVER: But the first half is just demonstrably a lie. And it's - I think even in one of our stories last year we tried to articulate just how confusing it is to be on the receiving end of a lie that confident because he seemed absolutely sure. I know it was as sure that I had never invited him.

FOLKENFLIK: Oliver says he asked every staffer is it possible that someone had invited him, someone had sent an invitation even by text. Oliver claims nothing.

OLIVER: Absolutely nothing. So it was just a totally empty lie, which doesn't matter at all except for the fact that person with the tendency, the tenacity¹⁹ and the confidence to make that lie is now leader of the free world.

FOLKENFLIK: My own inquiries²⁰ to two Trump aides went unreturned. The whole thing drives Oliver nuts. Oliver's segments are produced by a team of comedy writers and a team of researchers, many of whom are pulled from such journalistic outfits²¹ as The New Yorker magazine and the investigative site ProPublica

OLIVER: I care about facts the way I care about oxygen and imbibing²² enough water a day to live. Everybody should care about facts. That is something all of us should agree on.

FOLKENFLIK: Well, interesting you should say that.

OLIVER: Yeah?

FOLKENFLIK: We live in an age - don't know if you're aware of this - where we have a president and a presidency²³ that doesn't embrace that worldview.

OLIVER: Right.

FOLKENFLIK: How do you as a satirist²⁴ who cares about facts address a new administration that seems to be hostile to them?

OLIVER: Well, that is what we're wrestling with at the moment, right? It's a - like, it feels interminable to kind of talk about that in theory other than to say we're trying. We'll give it a go, and we'll see.

FOLKENFLIK: Oliver says Trump is a funny target, and he takes him dead seriously. David Folkenflik, NPR News, New York.

1 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

6 retract   

vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消

参考例句：

• The criminals should stop on the precipice, retract from the wrong path and not go any further.犯罪分子应当迷途知返，悬崖勒马，不要在错误的道路上继续走下去。
• I don't want to speak rashly now and later have to retract my statements.我不想现在说些轻率的话，然后又要收回自己说过的话。

7 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

8 fiduciary   

adj.受托的，信托的

参考例句：

• A company director owes a fiduciary duty to the company.公司董事应对公司负责受托人责任。
• He was acting in a fiduciary capacity.他以受托人身份行为。

9 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 forfeiture   

n.（名誉等）丧失

参考例句：

• Both face maximum forfeitures of about $1.2 million.双方都面临最高120万美元左右的罚金。
• If he should break his day,what should I gain by the exaction of the forfeiture?如果他到期不还我从这罚金中又能得到什么好处？

12 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

13 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

14 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

15 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

16 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

17 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

18 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

19 tenacity   

n.坚韧

参考例句：

• Tenacity is the bridge to success.坚韧是通向成功的桥。
• The athletes displayed great tenacity throughout the contest.运动员在比赛中表现出坚韧的斗志。

20 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

22 imbibing   

v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气

参考例句：

• It was not long before the imbibing began to tell. 很快，喝酒喝得有效果了。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• The soil expands upon imbibing water. 土壤会由于吸水而膨胀。 来自辞典例句

23 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

24 satirist   

n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人

参考例句：

• Voltaire was a famous French satirist.伏尔泰是法国一位著名的讽刺作家。
• Perhaps the first to chronicle this dream was the Greek satirist Lucian.也许第一个记述这一梦想的要算是希腊的讽刺作家露西安了。