Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and her creative writing professor.

旁白：听一段学生和她创意写作老师之间的对话。

Student: Hello. Professor Thomson.

学生：你好，Thomson教授。

Could I talk to you for a minute?

我可以和你说会儿话吗？

Professor: Oh. Hi. Laura.

教授：你好，Laura。

We missed you last class.

上节课没看到你。

Student: Yeah. I was sick for a few days.

学生：是的。我病了好几天了。

Um…I was wondering...did I miss a lot of work?

我在想我是不是落下了很多？

Professor: Let's see…well, we discussed the story that you have been assigned to read for class.

教授：让我想想，我们讨论了布置给你们回家阅读的那篇故事——

A Memory by Eudora Welty.

尤多拉•韦尔蒂写的《记忆》。

And then we listened to a recording of an interview with Welty.

接着我们就听了一段对韦尔蒂的采访。

The recording is on reserve at the library.

采访记录在图书馆有储存。

You'll need to listen to it.

你需要去听一下这段采访。

So…did you have a chance to read the story?

所以……你读了这个故事了？

Student: Yeah. I did.

学生：是的，读了。

Professor: What did you think?

教授：你是怎么想的？

Student: Well…I was a little surprised.

学生：我有点惊讶。

I mean, the first time I read it anyway.

我的意思是，这是我第一次读。

Professor: What surprised you?

教授：什么使你感到惊讶的？

Student: You know, it just seemed like there was nothing going on in the story.

学生：在故事中好像什么也没发生。

I mean, a girl is just sitting at the beach thinking about one of her memories.

我指的是小姑娘只是坐在沙滩上思考她的记忆。

And at the same time, she is watching other bathers on the beach, and sort of just thinking about what they are doing too.

同时，她也看着其他在沙滩上的游泳者，想着他们在做什么。

And that's all that happens!

这就是所有发生的事情！

So at the end of the story, I thought, that's it?

因此，在故事的结尾，我想，这就结束了？

Professor: I know what you mean.

教授：我知道你的意思。

There's no surprise ending like in O. Henry's story The Gift of the Magi or some big adventure like in Faulkner's The Bear.

这样的结局并不像欧亨利故事《麦琪的礼物》或者福克纳写的《熊》里的大探险那样有惊喜。

So you didn't like the story?

所以，你不喜欢这个故事？

Student: Well, actually, while I was reading it the second time, I sort of realized that you don't need surprises or excitement to have a great story.

学生：事实上，我正在第二次阅读这个故事，我有点意识到一个好的故事不一定要有惊喜或者兴奋。

The girl's memory and the stuff she was thinking about while she was watching the other people on the beach were really interesting to read about.

读一读这个女孩的记忆以及当她在观察到在沙滩上的其他人时所思考的内容也是挺有意思的。

And you know, it made me think that when I write my story, the one we have to write for this class, I can maybe use my own memories to get me started.

你知道，这让我开始思考当我为我们课程写我的故事的时候，我也许可以从我自己的记忆开始写。

Professor: Well, in fact, I'd hoped you'd see that.

教授：事实上，我也希望你意识到这点。

Of course, there are many levels to the story.

当然，故事有很多标准。

But what I really wanted the class to take away from it was that you don't need to write about the great exciting world when you write you stories.

但是，我想让班级里的学生在写你们的故事时，去掉你们所不需要写的精彩的世界。

Even writing about a memory can work.

即使是写一段记忆也是可以的。

Student: Like I could write about one of the times I took a walk in the woods when I was a kid.

学生：就像是我描述一段当我还是孩子时在树林中散步。

Professor: Exactly! You know, as the due day of your stories approaches, I am hearing from a lot of students that they are worried because they don't have anything exciting enough to write about.

教授：非常正确！你知道，在你们截止日期快要临近时，我听到很多学生说他们很担心因为他们并没有什么激动人心的事情去写。

But Welty said in the interview we listened to and in her autobiography that her worst stories were the ones where she tried to write about people or places that were unfamiliar to her.

但是韦尔蒂在采访中和她的自传中说，她写的最糟糕的故事都是关于那些她所不熟悉的地方或者人们。

That's why a lot of her stories are set in Mississippi, where she is from.

这是为什么她很多的故事都是设定在她自己的故乡密西西比。

Welty stressed that, for her anyway, familiarity with her subject matter was the key to a successful story.

韦尔蒂说，对她来说一个成功的故事最关键的是熟悉度。

Student: Familiarity.

学生：熟悉度。

That makes sense.

有道理。

Thanks Professor Thomson.

谢谢Thomson教授。

Professor: No problem.

教授：不用谢。

Now, don't forget to listen to that recording.

现在，不要忘了听一下采访。