美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Shining City' Is Packed With Timely Thrills

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

At a time when much of the country says that it hates Washington, D.C., politics, power brokers¹, spin doctors and compromise, not to mention the press, the executive director of the American Press Institute has written a novel that combines all of those elements into a thriller² - a little bit of sex, too. "Shining City" is the first novel from Tom Rosenstiel. He joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

TOM ROSENSTIEL: It's great to be here. Thank you.

SIMON: How did you arrange to have the new president appoint a new Supreme³ Court justice just in time for your novel that revolves⁴ around a Supreme Court justice being appointed to come out?

ROSENSTIEL: I really can't answer that question at this point.

SIMON: (Laughter).

ROSENSTIEL: It's classified. It'll be leaked to The New York Times, however, next week.

SIMON: Oh, all right, good. Now, your hero, and I'll call him that, is a spin doctor. Spin doctors are not lionized in our culture these days. Let's put it that way. His name is Peter Rena. He's a Republican enlisted⁵ by a Democratic president to scrub the nominee⁶. What does that mean?

ROSENSTIEL: When someone is going to be appointed or nominated to the Supreme Court, they are vetted⁷ within an inch of their life. Even if you have been appointed to the federal bench before, if it's a Supreme Court nomination⁸, you reset⁹ the clock and you scrub literally¹⁰ everything going back to high school. You look for almost innocuous things that could be depicted¹¹ as draconian¹².

SIMON: The nominee is Judge Roland Madison, and he doesn't fit the mold of a lot of nominees¹³.

ROSENSTIEL: If you go back to the Federalist Papers, Hamilton argues that you should pick people who are politically independent, not too close to one faction¹⁴ or another, because judges' only power is their judgment¹⁵. The whole process of advise and consent was designed so that you would pick somebody that most of the Senate would approve of, which would pull you in a moderate direction. The president in the story, a guy named Jim Nash, believes that everything about the judiciary is off the rails and that the court has become politicized and that it's eroded¹⁶ faith in the country and the notion of a country of laws and not men.

And so he decides he's going to try and set the ball in the other direction by picking an iconoclast¹⁷, someone who supports some conservative positions and someone who supports some liberal positions. He's not really beloved by any faction. This president thinks this is close to what the founders¹⁸ had in mind. But he also knows that a candidate or a nominee like that is going to have very soft support from anybody.

SIMON: They do come across a couple of things in his past, which, in deference¹⁹ to try and actually sell some copies of the book, I'm not going to give away here.

ROSENSTIEL: Thank you.

SIMON: But one of my favorite lines is when Peter Rena tells somebody, in my experience, ideology²⁰ says nothing about character. Any moron²¹ can buy a team shirt.

ROSENSTIEL: Yeah. Peter and Randy choose their clients based on who they trust, you know, who's moral. And they, in their experience, find that that is - has little to do with which party you're in. Peter was a soldier, he went to West Point, was in Special Forces. He rose up to a point in military intelligence and in his training, your politics are irrelevant²², and too much faith in any theory is irrelevant.

SIMON: How much did it hurt to make a political fixer the hero of this novel?

ROSENSTIEL: Oh, actually that was one of the first things that set in my mind. I thought the irony²³ of having, you know, someone who is derided²⁴ because they lack ideology as the hero - even before I realized that I wanted to tell a story about a Supreme Court nomination, I knew that the hero was going to be somebody who in the public eye is often viewed as amoral or immoral²⁵.

SIMON: One of the impressions I got when I finished the novel was that the author must think that - if I might put it this way - politics has become too politicized in the sense that compromise is just not brooked²⁶ on either side.

ROSENSTIEL: Yeah, yeah. And I worry. You know, we're sort of headed toward oblivion if we can't come to some places where we can compromise on things. I mean, the country - the whole design of the American system was based on compromise, based on not letting any factions²⁷ get too strong. And we have found ourselves on this dead-end road where not only are we not - unable to compromise, but we keep sort of circling like we're caught in a dead end, and we don't know how to get out. We can't find our way back.

SIMON: Is this not just a novel but some kind of warning call?

ROSENSTIEL: (Laughter) Well, I think - you know, Scott, you've written novels. You - if a journalist writes a novel, there's a couple of itches²⁸ that you're trying to scratch. One of them, I think, is to try and tell the truth about things that's very hard to get at as a journalist. And as journalists, we live in the world of evidence and proof. You write what you can prove, but you can't write everything you believe. So the hidden motivations of people are very hard to get at. And if you're trying to tell the story of why does our politics not work, you need to be in the hearts of the people who are talented and make decisions that turn out badly.

These are not evil people who populate our city. They're people who have found themselves in a situation where doing what they think is right keeps ending up in the wrong place. I wanted to get at that. I think I also felt like there was a part of me that as journalism²⁹ has changed and become disrupted you don't have the ability to go out and tell stories contemplatively with as much time as you need to get into character. Things move very swiftly. So I think the speed of journalism actually pushed me to a, shall we say, a much older medium.

SIMON: Tom Rosenstiel - his novel, "Shining City." Thanks so much for being with us.

ROSENSTIEL: Great pleasure.

1 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

2 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 revolves   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的第三人称单数 )；细想

参考例句：

• The earth revolves both round the sun and on its own axis. 地球既公转又自转。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Thus a wheel revolves on its axle. 于是，轮子在轴上旋转。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 enlisted   

adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• enlisted men and women 男兵和女兵
• He enlisted with the air force to fight against the enemy. 他应募加入空军对敌作战。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

7 vetted   

v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• The recruits were thoroughly vetted before they were allowed into the secret service. 情报机关招募的新成员要经过严格的审查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All staff are vetted for links with extremist groups before being employed. 所有职员录用前均须审查是否与极端分子团体有关。 来自辞典例句

8 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

9 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

10 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。

11 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

12 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。

13 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

14 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

15 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

16 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

17 iconoclast   

n.反对崇拜偶像者

参考例句：

• Cage was an iconoclast.He refused to be bound by western musical traditions of harmony and structure.凯奇是个反传统的人，他拒绝接受西方有关和声和结构的音乐传统的束缚。
• But he shows little sign of being an iconoclast.但他表现出他是一个信念很强的人。

18 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

19 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

20 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

21 moron   

n.极蠢之人，低能儿

参考例句：

• I used to think that Gordon was a moron.我曾以为戈登是个白痴。
• He's an absolute moron!他纯粹是个傻子！

22 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

23 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

24 derided   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His views were derided as old-fashioned. 他的观点被当作旧思想受到嘲弄。
• Gazing up to the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity. 我抬头疑视着黑暗，感到自己是一个被虚荣心驱使和拨弄的可怜虫。 来自辞典例句

25 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

26 brooked   

容忍，忍受（brook的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The tone in his voice brooked no argument. 他的声音里透露着一种不容争辩的语调。
• He gave her a look that brooked no further arguments. 他看了她一眼，表示不容再争论。

27 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

28 itches   

n.痒( itch的名词复数 )；渴望，热望v.发痒( itch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His wool shirt always itches him. 他的羊毛内衣总是使他发痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This wool shirt itches my back. 这件羊毛衫使我背上发痒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

29 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。