美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Feel The Civility': Comedian Mike Myers On Canada — And 'Canada'

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Let's take a few moments to help a neighbor celebrate a big birthday. It is Canada Day tomorrow, the 150th birthday for the country that brought us hockey, time zones, the pacemaker and these many pop culture moments.

(SOUNDBITE OF MEDIA MONTAGE)

MIKE MYERS: (As Austin Powers, laughter) Yeah, yeah, baby, yeah (laughter).

RUSH: (Singing) Though his mind is not for rent, don't put him down as arrogant¹.

WILLIAM SHATNER: (As Captain James T. Kirk) Space, the final frontier.

JONI MITCHELL: (Singing) Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've....

DRAKE: (Singer) You used to call me on my cellphone late night when you need my love - call me on...

GREENE: So much talent from Canada - that was Drake, Joni Mitchell William Shatner, the band Rush and our next guest, comedian² Mike Myers as Austin Powers, the international man of mystery. Although a longtime resident of the United States, Myers remains³ proudly Canadian. He even wrote a book about it titled, appropriately, "Canada." It's sort of a love letter to his homeland as it turns 150. Our co-host Rachel Martin spoke⁴ with Myers about what it means to be Canadian.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Thanks so much for being with us, Mike.

MYERS: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: What do you love about Canada?

MYERS: Where do I begin?

MARTIN: (Laughter).

MYERS: When I get off the plane to visit my brother up in Toronto, my jaw⁵ unhinges. My shoulders drop to my hips⁶. And I just can feel the civility, like, on a cellular⁷ level. In a world where countries have more passion and more oomph, our civility is looking awfully⁸ sexy lately.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: I don't know of a country that is working as hard as Canada to try and get things right in terms of inclusion, in terms of a level playing field. And I think we don't get everything right, but we're certainly trying really hard up there.

MARTIN: You haven't lived there in a long time, but you grew up there. You spent the first 20 years of your life in...

MYERS: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Canada. You grew up outside Toronto. Is that right?

MYERS: I grew up in Scarborough, which is a suburb of Toronto. The relationship of Scarborough to Toronto is New Jersey⁹ to New York.

MARTIN: OK, got it.

MYERS: And at times, it can be a punchline¹⁰ - so a lot of donut stores, factory carpet outlets¹¹. And its nickname is Scarberia (ph). So that's...

MARTIN: (Laughter).

MYERS: Need I say more?

MARTIN: Yeah. Were both your parents from the U.K.?

MYERS: Both my parents are from Liverpool. They came to Canada in '56.

MARTIN: They're immigrants.

MYERS: Yeah.

MARTIN: Did they stake their futures¹² on a Canadian life? I mean what drew them to Canada?

MYERS: Both my parents were in World War II. My mom was in the Royal Air Force, and my dad was in the Royal Engineers of the British Army. And he got to know Americans, and he loved American movies and American entertainment. And I never really got a straight answer, but my understanding is that they - my dad thought he could just get a job in America (laughter) at this place go Dunlop's. It's a tire company. And my dad worked at Dunlop's in Liverpool after the war and just thought if he showed up and said, oh, I used to do this in Liverpool, mate; you know, could I get a job? And evidently it didn't work that way, and so he went back up to Toronto. That's what I believe.

MARTIN: That does kind of tie in to the central tension in your book, which is what it means to be a Canadian. I mean even as you tell this story, your dad had this idea about coming to America and making his fortune because that myth is really strong. The narrative¹⁴ of what it means to be an American and the American dream is a thing that people understand the world over.

MYERS: Yeah.

MARTIN: And Canada doesn't have that.

MYERS: Well, what's interesting - what's emerged is that statistically¹⁵, Canada has more of the American dream than America does now. There's a higher percentage of people that actually own their own homes than Americans per capita. People in Canada - the children tend to make more money than their parents did, who are children of immigrants.

MARTIN: So it's just bad marketing¹⁶.

MYERS: It is bad marketing, but that is Canada in a nutshell. We live next to - you know, if Rome ruled the world with the broadsword and if Britain with the three-masted ship, America has ruled the world with the moving image and the ability to tell stories. The American narrative is unbelievable. You know, Canada doesn't have that.

We're a country born without a mission statement. We're an anomaly of geography and history. But what we can be is a collection of progressive ideals. And I say in the book, you know, we may not have put a man on the moon, but we've been awfully nice to the man on Earth. And that is something I'm very proud of.

MARTIN: You write, although, that Canadians - be they nice and kind and civil, that they also have a morbid¹⁷ streak¹⁸.

MYERS: It's absolutely true. There is - it's an odd anomaly, but a lot of stories are, did you hear about my friend? He died, eh (ph), in front of his kids, eh.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

MYERS: Sad. It's almost every story (laughter) is - in front of his kids, eh.

MARTIN: Like, there always needs to be, like, an - and it was so bad that - it can't just be bad. It's got to be really bad.

MYERS: There's a joy in underplaying and having low affect as you describe horrible things. So it's like, did you hear about our teacher? He was up north. He was waterskiing. He hit the dock, yeah. His head broke open like a grape, and his brains went everywhere. It was really bad. They had to get, like, 75 body bags for it. And it's like, the more lower affect that you can describe something gruesome and horrible (laughter).

MARTIN: One more thing I have to ask you before I let you go - today, you are getting an award. You're actually getting the Order of Canada. It's I guess akin¹³ to being knighted...

MYERS: Yes.

MARTIN: ...In Great Britain. Congratulations. That's pretty huge.

MYERS: Thank you so much. I am insanely honored. The only tinge¹⁹ of sadness is that my mom passed away about three and a half months ago.

MARTIN: Oh, I'm sorry.

MYERS: She didn't live to see it. But as a child of an immigrant who was raised by Canada and the Canadian government, it is an unbelievable honor. And they called me on my birthday, which was fantastic.

MARTIN: Wow.

MYERS: It was, like, a perfect day - unbelievable.

MARTIN: Are you going to go for Canada Day this weekend? Are you going to go party?

MYERS: I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: I'm - I always deck my house out with Canadian flags and portraits of the queen and stuff and Mounties.

MARTIN: You do not. Do you really?

MYERS: Of course I do, yeah. There's nobody more Canadian than a Canadian who no longer lives in Canada, you know? And I will - as a joke, I'll often call the Fourth of July American Canada Day.

MARTIN: Well, congratulations.

MYERS: Thank you.

MARTIN: Mike Myers, thanks so much for taking the time. And happy Canada Day to you.

MYERS: Thank you. And happy American Canada Day to you as well.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "O CANADA")

WILLIE STRATTON: (Singing) O, Canada...

GREENE: So much getting along. Happy birthday, Canada. That was Rachel Martin talking to Mike Myers - actor, comedian and author of the book "Canada."

1 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 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。

5 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

6 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

8 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

9 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 punchline   

n.（笑话、故事等的）结尾警语，点睛之笔

参考例句：

• Even then,the magical pause can strengthen the punchline.即使这样，有魔力的停顿依然可以增强笑点。
• A good joke or a mystery novel has along wind up to the final punchline.好的笑话或神秘小说都是一路曲折，直至最后的笑料或真相。

11 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

13 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

14 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

15 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

16 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

17 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。

18 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

19 tinge   

vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息

参考例句：

• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
• There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.她声音中流露出一丝忧伤。