186: Prom - This American Life
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00:00 00:00 Transcript Share This American Life Life Partners How to Listen Episodes Recommended About Overview Staff Announcements Fellowships Jobs Music Make Radio On The Road FAQ Submissions Merch Contact Us Our Other Shows Merch Follow Us Life Partners Subscribe to our newsletter Full episode Toggle Audio and Transcript Sync Transcript | Episode #186 | May 3, 2024 186: Prom Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard.
00:00 00:00 文字记录 分享此 美国生活 生活伙伴 如何收听 剧集 推荐 关于 概述 员工公告 奖学金 工作 音乐 在路上制作电台 常见问题解答 提交 商品 联系我们 我们的其他节目 商品 关注我们 生活伙伴 订阅我们的时事通讯 整集 切换音频和文字记录同步 文字记录 | 内容第 186 集 | 2024 年 5 月 3 日 186：舞会注意事项：《This American Life》是为耳朵而制作的，旨在让人们听到。
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如果可以的话，我们强烈建议您收听音频，其中包括页面上没有的情感和重点。
Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
文字记录是使用语音识别软件和人工转录员结合生成的，可能包含错误。
Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
请在印刷版引用前检查相应的音频。
Prologue: Prologue Ira Glass It was junior prom.
序言：序言 Ira Glass 那是初中舞会。
David's date had ditched him and he wasn't doing so great.
大卫的约会对象抛弃了他，而他的表现也不太好。
As he walked to get some cigarettes, he explained to me that the prom was the culmination of a three-year campaign on his part to get in with the cool crowd, a mostly white crowd.
当他走去拿烟时，他向我解释说，这次舞会是他三年来努力融入时尚人群（主要是白人）的运动的顶峰。
It began when he arrived at Lincoln Park High School.
当他到达林肯公园高中时，一切就开始了。
See, there's a story between here, right?
你看，这之间有故事吧？
When I was a freshman, when I first got to Lincoln Park, I was a total nerd, geeko, right?
当我还是一名新生时，当我第一次来到林肯公园时，我是一个十足的书呆子，极客，对吧？
So of course I see all these glamorous, beautiful girls, and I'm like damn, wish I could-- only dream of having them, right?
当然，我看到所有这些迷人、美丽的女孩，我就像该死的，希望我能——只是梦想拥有她们，对吧？
Or just taking them out on a date, not even doing anything physical with them, right?
或者只是带他们出去约会，甚至没有和他们做任何身体上的事情，对吧？
First junior prom at Lincoln Park, the most gorgeous girl in school, I ask her to prom.
林肯公园的第一次初中舞会，学校最漂亮的女孩，我邀请她参加舞会。
She says yes.
她说是的。
So goddamn!
真该死！
You know, I changed a lot.
你知道，我改变了很多。
Since sophomore year, I got into this crowd and stuff, I just changed.
从大二开始，我进入了这个人群，我就变了。
I changed my speech, my dress, and all that stuff.
我改变了我的演讲、我的着装等等。
I'm still the same person.
我还是同一个人。
I changed.
我改变了。
This is the popular crowd.
这是受欢迎的人群。
I mean, I'm just popular now.
我的意思是，我现在很受欢迎。
So I end up going, right?
所以我最终还是去了，对吗？
And I know she has a history of being, like, incredibly moody.
我知道她有一个非常喜怒无常的历史。
She's so gorgeous, take her anyway.
这么漂亮，还是带她去吧。
You know, if I go with her this year, she's so gorgeous, then all these other girls are going to say, damn.
你知道，如果我今年和她一起去，她是如此美丽，那么所有其他女孩都会说，该死。
I have to go with him now.
我现在必须和他一起去。
If he's good enough for her, he's definitely good enough for me.
如果他对她足够好，那么他对我来说也绝对足够好。
I'm like fine, that's going to boost my rep a little bit.
我觉得很好，这会稍微提高我的声望。
And I'll tell you this.
我会告诉你这一点。
I wanted something physical.
我想要一些有形的东西。
I wanted to just fool around with her, meaning kiss her, kiss her, feel her up or whatever.
我只是想和她一起鬼混，意思是亲吻她，亲吻她，抚摸她或者其他什么。
Or even more, you know?
甚至更多，你知道吗？
Go all the way or whatever.
一路走下去还是什么。
But I wasn't counting on that.
但我并没有指望这一点。
I was here to have fun.
我来这里是为了玩得开心。
And that would be like a nice feature to it.
这对它来说是一个很好的功能。
That would be a bonus and all.
这将是一个额外的好处。
I wasn't pushing her or anything.
我没有逼她什么的。
Sure enough, her and her like alleged best friend get into a fight.
果然，她和她所谓的最好的朋友打了起来。
And here I am alone with my rum and Coke.
现在我独自一人拿着朗姆酒和可乐。
The prom.
舞会。
We don't make kids go into the army in this country.
在这个国家我们不会让孩子参军。
We don't make them go to college.
我们不让他们上大学。
We don't make them get married.
我们不会强迫他们结婚。
But if they're still in school when they're 18, they collide with the impenetrable fact that is the prom.
但如果他们 18 岁时还在上学，他们就会遇到舞会这个难以理解的事实。
If they go to a school with a junior prom, they get it twice.
如果他们去一所举办初中舞会的学校，他们会得到两次。
And then they have to take a stand.
然后他们必须表明立场。
Go.
去。
Not go.
不去。
Have some sort of experience.
有某种经验。
Use it to try to climb to a new group of friends.
用它来尝试攀登新的朋友群体。
Use it to try to get the girl.
用它来尝试得到女孩。
Just try to get through it.
试着克服它。
The stakes are weirdly high.
赌注出奇地高。
Good luck.
祝你好运。
As we get older, I think a lot of people tend to roll their eyes at the idea of prom.
随着年龄的增长，我想很多人都会对舞会的想法翻白眼。
I think because of the distance of years, there is something about it that just feels embarrassing.
我觉得因为年代的距离，有些东西让人感觉尴尬。
Certainly if you did not go, but even if you did.
当然，如果你不去的话，但即使你去了。
The clothes and the corsage and the corny music and the whole thing.
衣服、胸花、老套的音乐等等。
And I think we forget how thrilling it can be.
我想我们忘记了它是多么令人兴奋。
It could be embarrassing to think how thrilled we once were to go out that night.
想想那天晚上我们出去时多么兴奋，可能会感到尴尬。
How the whole thing just seems fraught with possibility to a lot of us.
对于我们很多人来说，整件事似乎充满了可能性。
So today, on the very tail end of prom season, we bring you four stories of the prom.
今天，在舞会季即将结束之际，我们为您带来四个舞会故事。
Let us understand it in its fullness, my friends.
我的朋友们，让我们充分理解它。
Now at last, as adults.
现在终于成年了。
From WBEZ Chicago and Public Radio International, it's This American Life.
来自芝加哥 WBEZ 和国际公共广播电台的《This American Life》。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Act one of our program today.
今天我们的节目之一。
Tornado Prom.
龙卷风舞会。
What happens when a natural disaster strikes the same tonight as the unnatural disaster that is the prom.
当今晚自然灾害与舞会非自然灾害一样发生时，会发生什么？
Act two.
第二幕。
Save the Last Dance For Me...
为我保留最后一支舞……
Again.
再次。
Francine Pascal, the nominal author of 700 books for teenagers, including the Sweet Valley High books, explains why teen stories always have to end at the prom.
弗朗辛·帕斯卡 (Francine Pascal) 是 700 本青少年书籍的名义作者，其中包括《甜谷高中》书籍，她解释了为什么青少年故事总是必须在舞会上结束。
Act three.
第三幕。
Only Two Things Are Certain in Life: Death and Tuxes.
生命中只有两件事是确定的：死亡和燕尾服。
In this act, you can experience over the radio a complete, typical prom.
在这一幕中，您可以通过广播体验一场完整的、典型的舞会。
And look at the time.
看看时间。
That just gives you half an hour to find a date.
那只给你半个小时的时间来寻找约会对象。
Act One.
第一幕。
Tornado Prom.
龙卷风舞会。
In Hoisington, Kansas, a tornado hit on prom night.
堪萨斯州霍辛顿的舞会之夜遭遇龙卷风袭击。
Hoisington is a small town of about 3,000.
霍辛顿是一个约有 3,000 人的小镇。
Nobody at the prom was hurt.
舞会上没有人受伤。
In fact, nobody at prom knew it happened.
事实上，舞会上没有人知道这件事发生了。
But when prom was over, a third of the town was destroyed.
但舞会结束后，小镇的三分之一被毁。
One older man was dead.
一名老人已经去世。
The seniors were left to figure out what to think of the whole thing.
长辈们只能思考如何看待整件事。
Susan Burton tells the story.
苏珊·伯顿讲述了这个故事。
On Friday nights, the teenagers in Hoisington drag Main Street.
每周五晚上，霍辛顿的青少年都会在大街上嬉戏。
Or they go to a party at someone's house, and the boys shoot baskets in the driveway, and the girls jump on the trampoline.
或者他们去某人家里参加聚会，男孩们在车道上投篮，女孩们在蹦床上跳跃。
Sometimes the parties are out the country, at ponds.
有时聚会会在国外的池塘边举行。
"At six in the sticks," they tell me.
“六点钟，”他们告诉我。
Since it's Kansas, there's weird weather.
因为是堪萨斯州，所以天气很奇怪。
High winds that make the power flicker on and off.
大风使电源时断时续。
They get a lot of tornado warnings, but they never thought one would actually touch down here.
他们收到了很多龙卷风警告，但他们从未想过龙卷风真的会在这里降落。
Hoisington just seemed too boring to be visited by natural disaster.
霍辛顿似乎太无聊了，不适合遭受自然灾害。
It's just like, nothing happens in Hoisington.
就像，霍辛顿什么也没发生。
Like everyone says, oh, there ain't nothing to do in Hoisington.
就像每个人都说的那样，哦，在霍辛顿没什么可做的。
Nothing happens here.
这里什么也没发生。
They're just like, why would a tornado come here?
他们就像，为什么龙卷风会来到这里？
Prom actually feels grand in Hoisington.
在霍辛顿，舞会实际上感觉很盛大。
The day of the dance, the girls drive down to Great Bend and get their hair done at Main Attractions.
舞会当天，女孩们开车前往大本德，在主要景点做头发。
They all wear long gowns.
他们都穿着长袍。
They shop for them at a store in Wichita that won't sell the dress you buy to anyone else in your town.
他们在威奇托的一家商店购买衣服，这家商店不会将你购买的衣服卖给镇上的其他人。
The dresses are elaborate, and like all prime finery, extremely difficult to explain.
这些礼服非常精致，就像所有高级服饰一样，极难解释。
It's like black and it's fitted, but when you look at it from other directions, it's silver and royal blue.
它就像黑色，很合身，但从其他方向看，却是银色和宝蓝色。
There's like two steps that go in the back and they cross.
后面有两级台阶，然后交叉。
I don't know.
我不知道。
It's hard to explain.
这很难解释。
Like people would ask me what it looked like, and it was so hard to explain to them, because it's just so unique.
就像人们会问我它是什么样子一样，很难向他们解释，因为它是如此独特。
All very long, tight-- not really any of them didn't have like a tight dress, or like, long-- they were just like one sheet, I guess.
都很长，很紧——实际上没有一个没有紧身连衣裙，或者类似，长——我猜它们就像一张床单。
I really don't know about dresses.
我真的不懂衣服。
But there's just like one cloth.
但就像一块布一样。
I don't know.
我不知道。
I think prom's more of the female.
我认为舞会更多的是女性。
You know.
你知道。
It's her night, you know?
这是她的夜晚，你知道吗？
Most ladies are like, you know, want prom to be everything.
大多数女士都希望舞会成为一切。
So I think they wanted it to kind of be something, a night they'll never forget.
所以我认为他们希望这是一个他们永远不会忘记的夜晚。
And some of them got it.
他们中的一些人得到了它。
I mean, I went through lots of prom magazines, just looking at themes and stuff.
我的意思是，我浏览了很多舞会杂志，只是看主题和内容。
And we had the whole junior class vote on which one they wanted.
我们让整个初中班投票决定他们想要哪一个。
And they came to be "Lost in the Moment." So it's kind of ironic.
他们变得“迷失在当下”。所以这有点讽刺。
We really were lost in what was happening.
我们真的迷失在所发生的事情中。
We didn't know what was going on.
我们不知道发生了什么事。
So, I mean, after it, it's lost.
所以，我的意思是，在它之后，它就丢失了。
What happens when a prom meets a tornado, when two events that often end in disaster collide?
当舞会遇到龙卷风时，当两个通常以灾难告终的事件相撞时，会发生什么？
The day that both the prom and the tornado came to Hoisington, everyone tells me, with ominous foreshadowing, started out sunny, looked stormy by dinner.
每个人都告诉我，舞会和龙卷风来到霍辛顿的那天，有不祥的预兆，开始时阳光明媚，晚餐时看起来暴风雨。
It was sprinkling by the time everyone parked their trucks outside the Knights of Columbus Hall on Main Street.
当每个人都把卡车停在大街上的哥伦布骑士大厅外时，天正下着小雨。
They ducked and ran inside to prom.
他们躲进屋内参加舞会。
There was just a crowd of people taking pictures, I mean, like I was at a basketball game or something.
我的意思是，只有一群人在拍照，就像我在看篮球比赛什么的。
Like ch-ch-ch-ch.
就像ch-ch-ch-ch。
Hurt my eyes after a little bit.
有点伤我的眼睛。
This is Sean.
这是肖恩。
He's a junior.
他是一名小学生。
He videotaped the prom, partly so he could show his mom what she missed.
他录制了舞会，部分原因是为了让他妈妈看看她错过了什么。
From here, he and his classmates tell the story.
从这里，他和他的同学讲述了这个故事。
It took a minute before people, you know, finally started dancing and stuff.
过了一分钟，人们终于开始跳舞之类的了。
We got there late.
我们到那儿已经晚了。
So like, as soon as it-- we got there right at eight o'clock.
就这样，我们八点钟就到了那里。
So as soon as we got there, the dance had already started.
所以我们一到那里，舞会就开始了。
We just started dancing.
我们刚开始跳舞。
And we danced for, like, an hour or so, you know?
我们跳舞了大概一个小时左右，你知道吗？
Yeah, about an hour.
是的，大约一个小时。
And then the lights started flicking off and on.
然后灯开始忽明忽暗。
Like, it didn't flicker.
就像，它没有闪烁。
It kind of went off, and then come back on, you know?
它有点消失，然后又回来，你知道吗？
And people just were-- some people, like my friend TyAnn is kind of scared of the dark, you know?
人们只是——有些人，比如我的朋友泰安，有点害怕黑暗，你知道吗？
So she's freaking out.
所以她吓坏了。
But some people, it was just fun, you know?
但有些人，这只是有趣，你知道吗？
So normal blackout thing, you know?
那么正常的停电事情，你知道吗？
There was just a lot of people screaming and yelling, you know?
当时很多人都在尖叫、大喊，你知道吗？
Just acting like fools and stuff.
只是表现得像个傻瓜之类的。
I was too.
我也是。
And I got yelled at one time.
而且有一次我还被骂了。
Hand me that beer, break out the keg, and stuff like that.
把啤酒递给我，打开小桶，诸如此类的事情。
And the lights back on.
灯又亮了。
Everybody just kind of looked around and went on their way, you know?
每个人只是环顾四周然后继续前进，你知道吗？
Wasn't even anything big.
本来也不是什么大事。
The door kept opening.
门一直开着。
And we could hear, we knew it was getting windy outside.
我们能听到，我们知道外面风很大。
And someone had said that it had started to rain.
有人说开始下雨了。
And people would go out and look, and it was like rain was just coming in horizontally.
人们出去一看，就像雨横着进来一样。
It was just blowing down the street.
风刚刚吹到街上。
And we didn't think anything of it.
我们什么也没想。
It was just oh, you know, we have to go out in this later.
只是哦，你知道，我们稍后必须出去。
Didn't think it was as bad as what it was.
没想到事情有那么糟糕。
They were playing "I'm a Survivor" from Destiny's Child.
他们正在演奏《命运之子》中的“我是幸存者”。
And that was like the next to last song before the lights blacked out.
这就像灯光熄灭前的倒数最后一首歌。
Who would know, you know?
谁会知道，你知道吗？
I mean, who would've thought that that song would be playing one of the last times that a tornado-- right before it rips through our town, you know?
我的意思是，谁会想到这首歌会在龙卷风最后一次播放——就在龙卷风席卷我们小镇之前，你知道吗？
Lights went out the second time.
第二次灯灭了。
And everybody just kind of stood around and everything, waiting.
每个人都站在周围，一切都在等待。
And we're like, hurry up.
我们就像，快点。
Turn the lights back on.
重新打开灯。
Come on, this sucks.
来吧，这很糟糕。
We're standing around at prom, you know?
我们站在舞会上，你知道吗？
DJs came out, and they had like a long stick, and they were trying to get everyone to do like a limbo.
DJ们出来了，他们就像一根长棍子，他们试图让每个人都像地狱一样做。
Just to keep us entertained while the lights were out, because they couldn't have any music or anything like that.
只是为了让我们在熄灯时保持娱乐，因为他们不能播放任何音乐或类似的东西。
So they had a line of limbo going through.
所以他们经历了一段不确定的时期。
And that was when our principal told us that we needed to go downstairs.
就在那时，我们的校长告诉我们，我们需要下楼。
Shortly after the lights went out, the door of the Knights of Columbus then was basically sucked open.
灯光熄灭后不久，哥伦布骑士团的大门就基本上被吸开了。
This is Mike Nolton, the principal of Hoisington High School.
我是迈克·诺尔顿，霍辛顿高中的校长。
At that point, I walked over, and you could feel the pane glass kind of vibrating a little bit.
就在那时，我走过去，你能感觉到窗格玻璃有点震动。
And it subsided a little bit.
并且稍微平息了一点。
I stepped outside, and as I stepped outside, an ambulance was coming down the Main Street with the PA saying, "Get in the basement,"
我走出去，当我走出去时，一辆救护车正沿着主街驶来，公共广播说：“到地下室去。”
"KSN news.
“KSN新闻。
Here's a break.
这里休息一下。
We've got bad weather outside.
我们外面天气不好。
They're locking us in.
他们把我们锁在里面。
We can't get out to get more beer and drugs.
我们不能出去买更多的啤酒和毒品。
So Hoisington's crowded.
所以霍辛顿很拥挤。
People are scared.
人们很害怕。
The wind is blowing, and the rain is coming down hard.
风在吹，雨下得很大。
Everybody go to the basement and take shelter.
大家都去地下室避难。
Get away from the windows.
远离窗户。
Get in your bathtub.
进入你的浴缸。
Pull a mattress over your head.
将床垫拉到头上。
Secure yourself.
确保自己安全。
This is serious, folks.
这很严重，伙计们。
I'm out."
我出去了。”
I was just taping and she just came up and just started saying that stuff.
我刚刚在录音，她就过来开始说那些话。
And I talked to her afterwards, and she had no idea there was a tornado.
后来我跟她聊过，她不知道有龙卷风。
She feels bad for even saying that stuff, so.
她甚至因为说出这些话而感到难过，所以。
It was like, whoa.
就像，哇。
She was right on the money.
她在钱上是对的。
"This is the best prom ever.
“这是有史以来最好的舞会。
Ever!
曾经！
The basement.
地下室。
Right here."
就在这里。”
"Oh my God, I can't see.
“天哪，我看不见。
There you are."
你在这儿。”
"Are you serious?" Girl 5 "I can smell it!"
“你是认真的？”女孩5“我闻到了！”
It was dark, and we were having troubles seeing everybody.
天很黑，我们很难见到每个人。
And Mr. Nolton said that we weren't allowed to go-- our principal said we weren't allowed to go upstairs until the cops came and told us that everything was OK.
诺尔顿先生说我们不被允许去——我们的校长说我们不被允许上楼，直到警察来告诉我们一切都好。
And I asked him, I was like, well, are we down here because of hailstorm, thunderstorm, tornado, what's going on?
我问他，我想，好吧，我们来这里是因为冰雹、雷暴、龙卷风，发生了什么事吗？
He's like, well, right now, everything would be speculation.
他说，好吧，现在一切都只是猜测。
"Right now it'd be speculation on my part.
“现在这只是我的猜测。
All I know is that it did some damage to some homes.
我所知道的是它对一些房屋造成了一些损坏。
Quiet, please.
请安静。
We will keep you here until it's safe to turn you loose.
我们会把你留在这里，直到可以安全地释放你为止。
And then we will make the decision on whether to reschedule prom.
然后我们将决定是否重新安排舞会。
Must be a popular decision.
一定是一个受欢迎的决定。
I'm sorry."
对不起。”
I made the call that prom would be cancelled.
我打电话说舞会将被取消。
Two hours later, I looked back on that statement and I thought, boy, that was a silly statement.
两个小时后，我回顾那句话，我想，天哪，那是一个愚蠢的说法。
I didn't even have to make that statement.
我什至不必发表这样的声明。
There wasn't even going to be a kid there that wanted to stay at prom.
那里甚至没有一个孩子愿意留在舞会上。
It just goes to show how little we knew.
这只是表明我们所知甚少。
And we were four blocks away from the storm.
我们距离风暴只有四个街区。
And so that's when like, people that would have cellphones, they started getting on those.
因此，当人们拥有手机时，他们开始使用手机。
And a lot of rumors were flying through, and people were saying-- I mean, it was like OK.
很多谣言四起，人们说——我的意思是，这还好。
All of a sudden, someone pops up and says, Zack, your house is gone.
突然，有人出现并说，扎克，你的房子不见了。
Or like, Jacob, your sister's house is gone.
或者就像，雅各布，你姐姐的房子不见了。
And then it was like, all of 5th Street's gone.
然后整个第五街就消失了。
All of 6th Street's gone.
整个第六街都消失了。
I was just like, don't jump to conclusions, because you don't know what's true, and what's a lie, and what's a rumor.
我只是想，不要急于下结论，因为你不知道什么是真的，什么是谎言，什么是谣言。
There was rumors flying everywhere.
到处都是流言蜚语。
That Dairy Queen was gone, and everybody that was in it was dead.
那个冰雪皇后不见了，里面的人都死了。
And I mean, that was where we were going to have breakfast at, after prom.
我的意思是，那是舞会结束后我们要去吃早餐的地方。
There's people crying, because we can't leave.
有人在哭泣，因为我们无法离开。
We don't know where our families are at.
我们不知道我们的家人在哪里。
We didn't know how to get a hold of anybody.
我们不知道如何联系到任何人。
It was-- I don't even know if I can explain the feeling.
是——我什至不知道我是否能解释这种感觉。
It was just like-- I was just so scared.
就像——我真的很害怕。
It was almost-- you couldn't even really talk.
几乎——你甚至无法真正说话。
All I could do was cry.
我能做的就是哭泣。
That's all I could do.
这就是我所能做的。
"I'm about ready to cry, so I'm going to turn out again."
“我快要哭了，所以我要再次出来。”
All of a sudden, everybody just started walking upstairs, you know?
突然间，每个人都开始上楼，你知道吗？
And it was still dark.
天还很黑。
And I was looking for my coat, because I'd taken it off and set it on a chair.
我正在寻找我的外套，因为我把它脱下来放在椅子上。
And me and this other guy, Luke Patton, we both had the same looking bouttoniere.
我和另一个人，卢克·巴顿，我们都有同样的胸花。
So we were looking at it, and he was like, that looks like mine.
所以我们看着它，他说，这看起来像我的。
And his girlfriend was like, yeah, that's yours.
他的女朋友说，是的，那是你的。
I can tell by that one.
我可以从那一个看出。
I was like, are you sure?
我当时想，你确定吗？
He's like, I don't know how the can of chew got in here, but you can have it.
他说，我不知道咀嚼罐头是怎么进来的，但你可以拿走它。
So I kept it, and I was looking for it, and I couldn't find it, I couldn't find it.
所以我就保留着它，我一直在寻找它，但我找不到它，我找不到它。
And then I heard somebody yell my name, and I thought, that's my brother.
然后我听到有人喊我的名字，我想，那是我的兄弟。
No. What would he be doing up here, you know?
不，他会在这里做什么，你知道吗？
And then he's like, Will, you've got to talk to mom.
然后他说，威尔，你必须和妈妈谈谈。
So I figured, oh, she's overreacting.
所以我想，哦，她反应过度了。
She wants to talk to me, make sure I'm OK.
她想和我谈谈，确保我没事。
And I could kind of see her.
我好像能看到她。
You know?
你知道？
There's a little bit of light coming from the doorway, where you can make out somebody's figure.
门口有一点光亮，可以看清某人的身影。
And I could kind of tell it was my mom.
我可以看出这是我妈妈。
So I walked up to her.
于是我走到她面前。
She started crying.
她开始哭泣。
And my sister was sitting there crying.
我妹妹坐在那里哭。
And I just kind of was like, oh no. The last time I heard her sound that worried and scared was when my dad died.
我只是想，哦不。我最后一次听到她如此担心和害怕的声音是在我父亲去世的时候。
That was the last I ever heard my mom sound that bad.
那是我最后一次听到我妈妈的声音这么糟糕。
I kind of sat there.
我有点坐在那里。
And I didn't believe it at first.
一开始我并不相信。
Because I was like, tornado?
因为我想，龙卷风？
What tornado?
什么龙卷风？
There's no tornado.
没有龙卷风。
We didn't know about any tornado.
我们不知道有龙卷风。
I didn't think there was, because I didn't see it, you know?
我不认为有，因为我没有看到，你知道吗？
I was right here.
我就在这里。
You know?
你知道？
How could there be a tornado without us knowing?
龙卷风怎么可能在我们不知情的情况下发生呢？
Will and his mom went outside.
威尔和他妈妈出去了。
Everyone from prom was standing on the sidewalk.
舞会的每个人都站在人行道上。
Main Street looked fine.
主街看上去还不错。
None of the buildings seemed to have been touched.
似乎没有一座建筑物被触及。
The air felt nice and cool.
空气感觉凉爽宜人。
At first Will thought the cars were pockmarked, like from hail.
起初威尔以为汽车上坑坑洼洼，就像是冰雹造成的。
But then he realized the storm had just covered them with little white flowers.
但随后他意识到暴风雨刚刚把白色的小花覆盖在了它们身上。
No one, like, actually came up and said, oh, it was a tornado.
没有人真正站出来说，哦，这是一场龙卷风。
It was.
是的。
There was someone saying, like, "him, come here.
有人说，“他，过来。”
You, come here.
你，过来吧。
You, come here." And it was weird, because you were like kind of listening for your name if it was coming up.
你，过来一下。”这很奇怪，因为如果你的名字出现，你就像在听。
And it was just like that.
事情就是这样。
One row, a street, like 6th and 7th.
一排，一条街，比如第六和第七。
I mean, that's where, like, all the kids they were naming off that lived on that street.
我的意思是，那是他们命名的所有孩子都住在那条街上的地方。
And it was like, wait a minute, you know.
就像，等一下，你知道。
Did it hit up there?
是撞到那里了吗？
Oh, there was like so many fire trucks and so many cops.
哦，有那么多消防车和那么多警察。
Ambulances.
救护车。
I mean, they were just going north, just kept on going north.
我的意思是，他们只是向北走，只是继续向北走。
Didn't turn or nothing.
没有转或者什么也没有。
It just went north.
它刚刚向北行驶。
And they kind of like lit the whole town when they went through.
当他们经过时，他们就像照亮了整个城镇。
And then you look on the other side of town, it's like totally dark.
然后你看向城镇的另一边，周围一片漆黑。
It was weird.
很奇怪。
Because it was like pitch black, basically, down there.
因为那里基本上一片漆黑。
it was kind of like, if you drove north, you're going to fall into a black hole or something.
有点像，如果你向北行驶，你就会掉进黑洞之类的东西。
We drove around for a while, and I couldn't believe.
我们开车绕了一会儿，我简直不敢相信。
When I saw, like, houses-- like the one house had, like, a big chunk ripped out of the top of it.
当我看到房子时，就像那栋房子的顶部被撕掉了一大块。
Like a T-rex walked up and just took a bite out of the top of the roof and stuff.
就像一只霸王龙走上来，咬了屋顶之类的东西。
My cousin had a separate car from my aunt, so he took me as close as he could get me to my house.
我表弟和我姨妈有一辆不同的车，所以他尽可能地把我带到我家。
And then I just got out and I ran to my house.
然后我就下了车，跑回了家。
I was jumping over power lines and tree limbs and everything in my prom dress and flip flops.
我跳过电线、树枝以及我穿着舞会礼服和人字拖的所有东西。
But I got there.
但我到了那里。
This is Elana.
这是埃拉娜。
She lived on 6th Street, right where the tornado hit.
她住在第六街，就在龙卷风袭击的地方。
My mom said she cooked us supper that night.
我妈妈说那天晚上她给我们做了晚饭。
She had a crystal pitcher of like iced tea sitting our table.
她在我们的桌子上放了一壶像冰茶一样的水晶。
And it was still fine.
一切都还好。
After the tornado, it was still sitting like right there, on the exact spot on the table.
龙卷风过后，它仍然坐在那里，就在桌子上的那个位置。
It hadn't been touched at all.
根本就没有被触动过。
And the roof was completely off the kitchen.
屋顶完全脱离了厨房。
You could stand in our kitchen and look up and you'd be looking up at the sky.
你可以站在我们的厨房里抬头看，你就会仰望天空。
That night kids walked all over Hoisington with flashlights.
那天晚上，孩子们拿着手电筒在霍辛顿走来走去。
All the places they could think to go.
他们想到的所有地方。
The Dairy Queen, the bowling alley, the grocery store, the football field were gone.
冰雪皇后、保龄球馆、杂货店、足球场都消失了。
It wasn't just that something had finally happened in Hoisington.
这不仅仅是因为霍辛顿终于发生了一些事情。
Hoisington had become an entirely different town.
霍辛顿已经变成了一个完全不同的城镇。
Where we're in right now is Ground Zero.
我们现在所在的地方是归零地。
My house is in Ground Zero.
我的房子在归零地。
I arrived in Hoisington about two weeks after the tornado, and Elana took me on a tour.
龙卷风发生大约两周后，我到达了霍辛顿，埃拉娜带我参观了一番。
Everything is normal on the side.
侧面一切正常。
You can't even tell anything ever happened.
你甚至无法说出曾经发生过什么。
Whole sections of the town were still perfect.
整个城镇的各个部分仍然很完美。
There were people on porches and shiny party balloons tied to mailboxes.
门廊上有人，邮箱上绑着闪亮的派对气球。
Then we crossed over.
然后我们就穿越了。
A lot of the west side had already been bulldozed.
西侧的很多地方已经被推平了。
Now it was just dirt and basements and house parts.
现在只剩下泥土、地下室和房屋部件。
Someone's front steps or a kitchen cut away like a room in a dollhouse.
某人的前台阶或厨房像玩具屋中的房间一样被隔开。
And of course, this is Kansas.
当然，这是堪萨斯州。
The main street in town is a red brick road.
镇上的主要街道是一条红砖路。
Lots of people had spray painted their cars and houses and boarded-up windows with references to the Wizard of Oz.
许多人在他们的汽车和房屋上喷漆，并用木板封住窗户，以纪念《绿野仙踪》。
Everybody writes stuff about Dorothy and Toto on their house.
每个人都在他们的房子上写关于多萝西和托托的东西。
It's like our house-- we had all the windows boarded shut, and we had all kinds of sayings on there.
就像我们的房子一样——我们把所有的窗户都用木板封住了，上面写着各种各样的谚语。
We had, like, "We're coming for you, Toto," and like, "Dear Dorothy, I miss you.
我们说，“我们来找你了，托托”，“亲爱的多萝西，我想你。
If somebody finds me, please pack me and send me to Oklahoma.
如果有人找到我，请打包我并送我去俄克拉荷马州。
Love, Toto."
爱你，托托。”
To the kids in Hoisington, it started to seem like the Tornado made choices.
对于霍辛顿的孩子们来说，龙卷风开始似乎做出了选择。
Why would it knock down a house but not even break the glass on a framed photograph of bridesmaids in purple dresses?
为什么它会推倒一座房子，却连一张镶在镜框里的身穿紫色礼服的伴娘照片上的玻璃都没有打碎？
All kinds of weird stuff has happened.
各种奇怪的事情都发生过。
Like when they went in Adam's room, the only thing that they found left in the room was the movie Twister.
就像当他们进入亚当的房间时，他们发现房间里唯一留下的就是电影《龙卷风》。
And some people found a prom glass in their cupboard, and it's from 1963.
有些人在他们的橱柜里发现了一个舞会玻璃杯，它是 1963 年的。
And they didn't have any kids.
而且他们没有孩子。
They're an old couple.
他们是一对老夫妻。
They didn't have any kids that graduated that year.
那年他们没有孩子毕业。
They have no idea where it came from.
他们不知道它从哪里来。
But they found it in their cupboard.
但他们在橱柜里发现了它。
Some teenagers started to look for a logic in who was hit and who was spared.
一些青少年开始寻找谁被击中、谁幸免的逻辑。
I'm told that the junior class got it the worst, and that it's a known fact they've been jinxed since the fourth grade.
有人告诉我，初中班的情况最糟糕，众所周知，他们从四年级起就被诅咒了。
Addie, who lost her house, and Brooke, who didn't, tell me that Addie has bad luck and Brooke has good luck, that they joke about this all the time.
艾迪失去了房子，布鲁克却没有，他们告诉我艾迪运气不好，布鲁克运气好，他们总是拿这件事开玩笑。
That even at the moment the tornado destroyed Hoisington, Brooke was winning a prize at prom.
即使在龙卷风摧毁了霍辛顿的那一刻，布鲁克也在舞会上赢得了奖品。
Seems like, you know, that we just can't get a break.
看来，你知道，我们就是无法休息。
That we just can't get lucky.
我们只是不能幸运。
Will's dad died several years ago-- had a heart attack on his birthday.
威尔的父亲几年前去世了——在他生日那天心脏病发作。
And then last fall, the house Will had lived in since he was little got too expensive for his mother and the family had to move out.
去年秋天，威尔从小就住的房子对他母亲来说太贵了，全家不得不搬出去。
The house was on the east side and the tornado didn't touch it.
房子在东边，龙卷风没有触及它。
Even still, when I drive by there, I look at the house and wonder what it would have been like if the tornado hit and we still lived at that house, you know?
即使如此，当我开车经过那里时，我看着那所房子，想知道如果龙卷风来袭而我们仍然住在那所房子里会是什么样子，你知道吗？
And I wonder, if I still lived there, would the tornado have come that way and hit us there?
我想知道，如果我还住在那里，龙卷风会不会从那边过来并袭击我们呢？
You know?
你知道？
Because maybe it was hit because there was somebody that it was going after, you know?
因为也许它被击中是因为它正在追击某人，你知道吗？
And if I did live in that other house, that maybe I would have-- you know, the tornado probably would have came out over on the east side.
如果我确实住在另一所房子里，也许我会——你知道，龙卷风可能会从东边出来。
That it probably still would've come through and done something to the houses.
它可能仍然会穿过并对房屋造成影响。
Just the way I believe.
正如我所相信的那样。
I think it was meant to teach me a lesson in a couple ways.
我认为它是为了在几个方面给我一个教训。
Like I always thought, oh, it would be cool if we had a tornado in this town.
就像我一直想的那样，哦，如果这个镇上有龙卷风那就太酷了。
You know?
你知道？
To have something exciting going on.
发生一些令人兴奋的事情。
And now it's like, well here.
现在就像是，好吧。
Have a tornado.
来一场龙卷风吧
Now how do you feel about it?
现在你感觉如何？
Elana felt like she caused the storm, too.
埃拉娜觉得这场风暴也是她造成的。
Friday night before the tornado, me and Addie, we were driving to Claflin to hang out with some friends.
龙卷风来临之前的周五晚上，我和艾迪开车去克拉夫林和一些朋友一起出去玩。
And I was like, "you know, Addie?" I was like, "I've never seen a tornado.
我当时想，“你知道吗，艾迪？”我当时想，“我从来没有见过龙卷风。
I really want to see one sometime." She's like "oh, Lanie, they're really scary." She's like, "I've seen a couple, but I've never actually been in one." I was like, "I know.
我真的很想找个时间去看看。”她就像“哦，兰妮，他们真的很可怕。”她说，“我见过一对，但我从未真正去过其中之一。”我当时想，“我知道。
Wouldn't that be crazy if it really did happen?"
如果真的发生了，那不是很疯狂吗？”
And then like 24 hours almost exactly later, you know, the next night, a tornado comes and takes out our houses.
然后大约 24 小时后，你知道，第二天晚上，龙卷风来了，摧毁了我们的房子。
It was pretty freaky.
这真是太奇怪了。
I was just like, oh my gosh.
我当时就想，天哪。
I remember after the tornado, when I got home, I was crying.
我记得龙卷风过后，当我回到家时，我哭了。
I was talking to my mom.
我正在和妈妈说话。
And I was just like, "I swear I made this happen." And my mom was like, "no, Lanie.
我当时想，“我发誓我让这一切发生了。”我妈妈说：“不，兰妮。
You didn't make it happen."
你没有让这件事发生。”
But I mean, it's pretty scary.
但我的意思是，这非常可怕。
Saying, "I've never seen one, I really want to see one," the night before it takes out my house.
在它摧毁我的房子的前一天晚上，我说：“我从来没有见过一个，我真的很想见一个。”
I ask Sean if he thinks the storm singled people out.
我问肖恩，他是否认为这场风暴把人们挑出来了。
I don't think so, really.
我不这么认为，真的。
Because if that was true, it would have come straight to my house and would have found me at prom.
因为如果这是真的，它就会直接来到我家，并在舞会上找到我。
But it didn't.
但事实并非如此。
I don't know.
我不知道。
I have, like, bad luck all the time.
我总是运气不好。
I mean like, two sisters, the first one was the littlest one.
我的意思是，就像两个姐妹，第一个是最小的。
She said, "oh, I'll go to prom with you," and she dumps me.
她说：“哦，我要和你一起去参加舞会。”然后她就把我甩了。
Her sister asked me to prom, then she's like, "well, I don't want to go with you.
她姐姐邀请我去参加舞会，然后她说：“好吧，我不想和你一起去。
I want to go with someone else." So it was like I got rejected by sisters.
我想和别人一起去。”所以就像我被姐妹们拒绝了一样。
So it's like, [SIGH].
所以就像，[叹息]。
So it should have found me and like, sucked me up by myself, just to be like, ha ha ha, you know?
所以它应该找到我并喜欢，自己吸我，只是为了像，哈哈哈，你知道吗？
And then hit my car, and then hit my room.
然后打我的车，然后打我的房间。
So just hit my house.
所以就来我家吧。
Just my room and my car.
只有我的房间和我的车。
So I'd scratch that bad luck idea with some people.
所以我会和一些人一起消除这个厄运的想法。
It was just a twist of fate that that happened.
这只是命运的转折。
That was definitely the prom of all proms.
那绝对是所有舞会中的舞会。
I mean, it was a horrible, horrible experience to go through.
我的意思是，这是一次非常非常可怕的经历。
But it was definitely a prom of all proms.
但这绝对是所有舞会上的舞会。
I mean, it's like something that everybody's going to remember.
我的意思是，这就像每个人都会记住的事情。
Like some people, they look back on prom and it's just a prom night.
像某些人一样，他们回顾舞会，发现这只是一个舞会之夜。
You know?
你知道？
Everybody knows what's going to happen at prom, and they know what prom is.
每个人都知道舞会会发生什么，他们也知道舞会是什么。
But now we can say what happened on prom night, and it's a really big event now, you know?
但现在我们可以说出舞会之夜发生的事情，现在这是一件非常大的事情，你知道吗？
I guess it's one that you'll never forget, really.
我想这是一个你永远不会忘记的，真的。
I mean, you think of prom night, now you think of tornado.
我的意思是，你想到舞会之夜，现在你想到龙卷风。
I mean, everybody's going to remember it for that.
我的意思是，每个人都会因此记住它。
Usually the story of prom is one of disappointment.
通常舞会的故事都是令人失望的。
You're in the bathroom crying during the slow dance, or you throw up at the hotel room party, or you go home feeling silly for having been so excited about something so meaningless.
你在浴室里跳慢舞时哭泣，或者你在酒店房间的派对上呕吐，或者你回家后因为对毫无意义的事情如此兴奋而感到愚蠢。
The teenagers in Hoisington got the kind of prom story everybody wants.
霍辛顿的青少年们得到了每个人都想要的舞会故事。
They got a legendary prom-- the night that actually did change their lives.
他们举办了一场传奇的舞会——那个夜晚确实改变了他们的生活。
I mean, it's like-- I went to prom my sophomore and junior years.
我的意思是，就像——我大二和大三的时候就去参加舞会了。
And it was a dance.
这是一场舞蹈。
It was a prom.
那是一场舞会。
It was nice, and it was fun to get all dressed up.
很好，盛装打扮也很有趣。
But it was like a prom that taught a lesson, you know?
但这就像一场舞会，给我们上了一课，你知道吗？
It wasn't just-- it became our cars and clothes weren't more so important, and family and friends, and-- it taught a big lesson about humanity, I think, to everybody there.
这不仅仅是——它让我们的汽车和衣服不再那么重要，还有家人和朋友——我认为，它给那里的每个人上了关于人性的一课。
Everybody had a new perspective of life, walking out of that prom.
走出舞会后，每个人都对生活有了新的看法。
We were in, like, a whole different world.
我们就像在一个完全不同的世界。
Just having fun, when actually outside it's like totally opposite.
只是玩得开心，但实际上在外面却完全相反。
People are in their basements.
人们都在他们的地下室里。
Stuff's falling down.
东西掉下来了
Houses are gone.
房子不见了。
People are actually losing stuff.
人们实际上正在失去东西。
And we're in prom still, dancing, when the tornado hits and after it hits.
当龙卷风来袭时和袭击后，我们仍然在舞会上跳舞。
We're still just, you know, free of everything.
你知道，我们仍然摆脱了一切。
Still having a good time.
还是玩得很开心。
It's like totally different when you walk outside.
当你走到外面时，感觉完全不同。
Like you step out of the safe zone and you go into another world where reality hits.
就像你走出安全区，进入另一个现实世界。
Prom doesn't usually chaperone you into the world so quickly.
舞会通常不会这么快地陪伴你进入这个世界。
Suddenly a lot of kids in Hoisington have to act like grownups.
突然间，霍辛顿的许多孩子不得不表现得像大人一样。
Will's going to college in the fall, but he sometimes thinks it would be better to get a job on an oil rig, give the paychecks to his mother.
威尔将于秋季上大学，但有时他认为最好在石油钻井平台上找到一份工作，把工资交给他的母亲。
A senior named Zack actually pulled his parents out of the rubble of their own home on prom night.
一位名叫扎克的大四学生实际上在舞会之夜把他的父母从自己家的废墟中救了出来。
But everyone's looking forward to rebuilding, and they're all getting used to the idea that anything can happen.
但每个人都期待着重建，而且他们都已经习惯了任何事情都有可能发生的想法。
Even in Hoisington.
即使在海辛顿。
Susan Burton in New York.
苏珊·伯顿在纽约。
Since we first broadcast that story back in 2001, Will, the teenager who talked about how doomed he felt, how his family couldn't get a break, whose father died and whose house was destroyed-- he died in July in a car accident, just a few months after prom and just weeks after our story was broadcast.
自从我们在 2001 年第一次播出这个故事以来，威尔，这个少年，讲述了他的感受是多么注定，他的家人如何无法休息，他的父亲去世了，他的房子被毁了——他于 7 月在一场车祸中去世，当时距离舞会结束几个月，也是我们的故事播出几周后。
Well, coming up.
嗯，快来了。
They've been juniors in high school since 1982.
自 1982 年以来，他们一直是高中三年级学生。
So when they say-- and this is a direct quote-- "We've been dreaming about prom night for years"-- they mean it.
因此，当他们说——这是直接引用——“多年来我们一直梦想着舞会之夜”——他们是认真的。
In a minute on Public Radio International when our program continues.
国际公共广播电台将继续我们的节目。
It's This American Life.
这就是美国生活。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Each week on our program, of course, we choose some theme, bring you a variety of different kinds of stories on that theme.
当然，每周我们的节目都会选择一些主题，为您带来关于该主题的各种不同类型的故事。
Today's program, at the very end of prom season, stories about the prom.
今天的节目，在舞会季节结束时，讲述有关舞会的故事。
We've arrived at act two of our program.
我们已经进入了计划的第二幕。
Act Two.
第二幕。
Save the Last Dance For Me...
为我保留最后一支舞……
Again.
再次。
So Pretty in Pink, and Carrie, and Back to the Future, and the Cosby Kids, and Buffy, and too many other movies and TV shows to name-- they all eventually end up at the prom.
《红粉佳人》、《魔女嘉莉》、《回到未来》、《考斯比一家》、《巴菲》，以及太多其他电影和电视节目，不胜枚举——它们最终都出现在舞会上。
But why?
但为什么？
Why the prom?
为什么是舞会？
Why is it so omnipresent?
为什么它如此无所不在？
Well, for answers we turn to Francine Pascal, who has written or invented the plot lines for 700 books in the Sweet Valley High series.
好吧，我们向弗朗辛·帕斯卡寻求答案，她为《甜谷高中》系列的 700 本书撰写或发明了情节主线。
Which, of course, is the adventures of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, twins and-- well, seemingly permanent high school juniors.
当然，这是伊丽莎白和杰西卡·韦克菲尔德这对双胞胎和——嗯，看似永久的高中三年级学生的冒险故事。
She spoke to us from her home in France.
她在法国的家中接受了我们的采访。
Well, I have to tell you that the prom is probably the quintessential glory of high school.
好吧，我必须告诉你，舞会可能是高中最典型的荣耀。
It's the moment that comes closest to the romantic vision of life.
这是最接近浪漫人生愿景的时刻。
I think it's repeated again only one other time, and that would be marriage.
我认为这种情况只会重复一次，那就是婚姻。
I mean, it's that important in the high school life, in the teenager life, in that pre-life before adult.
我的意思是，这在高中生活、青少年生活、成年前的生活中都很重要。
That's interesting.
那很有意思。
So as in a traditional drama where you'd want the characters to end up in marriage, if you're writing about teenagers, all you've got is the prom.
因此，就像在传统戏剧中你希望角色最终结婚一样，如果你写的是青少年，你所拥有的就是舞会。
That's about it.
就是这样。
That's right.
这是正确的。
And out of the 700 books, I probably-- prom is mentioned in at least 500 of them.
在这 700 本书中，我可能至少有 500 本书提到了舞会。
But I would say it's probably a major goal in almost 30.
但我想说这可能是近 30 年来的一个主要目标。
35.
35.
You mean 35 or so books actually take place at the prom?
你的意思是舞会上实际上有 35 本书左右？
There's an actual prom in them?
他们里面有一个真正的舞会吗？
Yes.
是的。
There is a prom as the plot goal, or a very important part of the plot.
有一个舞会作为剧情目标，或者说是剧情中非常重要的一部分。
I can give you just ideas of it.
我只能给你一些想法。
I think in the second book I did a plot about who is going to be the king and queen of the prom?
我想在第二本书中我做了一个关于谁将成为舞会国王和王后的情节？
And there was, you know, rigging the election.
你知道，还有操纵选举的行为。
And just to give you an idea.
只是为了给你一个想法。
Plots on getting a date for the prom, somebody who has no date to the prom, the wrong day to the prom, the wrong date that turns that our right for the prom.
关于为舞会寻找约会对象的阴谋，没有约会对象的人，参加舞会的错误日期，错误的日期使我们失去了参加舞会的权利。
And I know there was a plot about this poor girl, her brother had to take her.
我知道这个可怜的女孩有阴谋，她的兄弟不得不带走她。
I mean, that's permanent trauma.
我的意思是，那是永久性的创伤。
And then the other thing, but there's no money for the prom dress.
还有另一件事，就是没钱买舞会礼服。
And there's the one about, you think he's going to ask you, but he asks someone else.
还有一种情况，你以为他会问你，但他却问别人。
And every-- I mean, when you're involved in as many plots as I am, they begin to fall into some categories.
我的意思是，当你参与到和我一样多的情节时，它们就会开始分为某些类别。
And there are things like the bet plot.
还有打赌剧情之类的东西。
The what plot?
什么情节？
Francine Pascal The bet.
弗朗辛·帕斯卡 赌注。
Wager, like a wager.
赌注，就像赌注一样。
A bet plot, or the pledge plot.
打赌情节，或者说是誓言情节。
Where the boy asks the girl on a bet to go to the prom.
男孩邀请女孩打赌去参加舞会。
Or the pledge is, he has to ask the least popular girl in the class to go to the prom, and then she finds out, and then he really wants to go with her, but it's too late because she's furious.
或者承诺是，他必须邀请班上最不受欢迎的女孩去参加舞会，然后她发现了，然后他真的很想和她一起去，但为时已晚，因为她很生气。
And that takes a whole book to settle down.
这需要一整本书才能解决。
It seems like one of the common prom plots is that the prom forces a choice between potential dates.
舞会的常见情节之一似乎是舞会迫使人们在潜在日期之间做出选择。
And often it'll be the good-looking unattainable boy or girl is one possibility and the smart, funny best friend is the other possibility.
通常，一种可能是长得漂亮、遥不可及的男孩或女孩，另一种可能是聪明、有趣的最好的朋友。
Exactly.
确切地。
Exactly.
确切地。
I've used that sort of thing.
我用过这样的东西。
It's also perfect, because though these people are not going to be living for the rest of their lives, they're not legally married or anything, but they do have to make that first important choice of the person they are going to spend that momentous evening with.
这也是完美的，因为虽然这些人不会度过余生，他们也没有合法结婚或其他任何东西，但他们必须做出第一个重要的选择，选择与他们一起度过那个重要夜晚的人。
And it's a mini-marriage kind of choice.
这是一种迷你婚姻的选择。
In book number 142 in the Sweet Valley series, a story called The Big Night, you have not one, not two, not three, but four characters who end up switching their dates at the prom.
在《甜谷》系列的第 142 本书中，有一个名为《大夜》的故事，其中的角色不是一个、不是两个、不是三个，而是四个，他们最终在舞会上交换了约会对象。
Then one girl tries to kill her date.
然后一个女孩试图杀死她的约会对象。
Courtney tries to push Todd off of a boat railing into the water.
考特尼试图将托德从船栏杆上推入水中。
And Elizabeth is in a speedboat following.
伊丽莎白则乘坐快艇尾随其后。
Yes, right.
是的，没错。
Well, you know, that's just a variation on a theme.
嗯，你知道，这只是主题的变体。
That's all.
就这样。
You have to do something slightly different with them when you're on 140.
当你达到 140 时，你必须对他们做一些稍微不同的事情。
Listening to you talk about this, it seems like what the prom does, and what it gives you as writer, is it gives you a natural arena where there can be a conflict over love and an outcome.
听你谈论这个，舞会的作用以及它给你作为作家的作用似乎是它为你提供了一个自然的舞台，在那里可以发生关于爱情和结果的冲突。
And without the prom, you'd have to invent some situation which would feel like it has weight, whereas the prom just has the weight.
如果没有舞会，你就必须创造一些感觉有重量的情况，而舞会只有重量。
Exactly.
确切地。
Because the prom is-- it's a natural.
因为舞会是很自然的。
It comes filled with all kinds of emotion.
它充满了各种情感。
Just the mention of the prom-- you don't have to create something, and build it up, and give it terrible importance.
只要提到舞会——你不必创造一些东西，建立它，并赋予它极其重要的意义。
You don't have to do any of those things.
您不必做任何这些事情。
Did you go to prom yourself?
你自己去参加舞会了吗？
Francine Pascal I never went to my own prom.
弗朗辛·帕斯卡 我从来没有参加过自己的舞会。
I was not interested.
我不感兴趣。
Strangely enough.
真奇怪。
I didn't like high school very much at all.
我一点也不喜欢高中。
It's funny that I ended up writing so much about it.
有趣的是我最终写了这么多关于它的文章。
I really was not interested.
我真的不感兴趣。
I felt that I was too sophisticated and mature for that sort of stuff.
我觉得我太世故和成熟了，不适合做这类事情。
And I just didn't-- I never really participated.
我只是没有——我从未真正参与过。
Beyond writing speeches for the political candidates and being on the newspaper.
除了为政治候选人撰写演讲稿和上报纸之外。
That's what I liked.
这就是我喜欢的。
But beyond that, I just didn't have an interest in it.
但除此之外，我对此不感兴趣。
You never cared to go to the prom, and so you've now, somehow fate has put you in a situation where you've had to revisit it over 35 times.
你从来不想去参加舞会，但现在你却不知何故，命运让你不得不重温超过 35 次。
That's right.
这是正确的。
Yes, it's my punishment.
是的，这是对我的惩罚。
But it's different because I don't have to show up there.
但情况有所不同，因为我不必出现在那里。
The charming Francine Pascal, creator of Sweet Valley High.
迷人的弗朗辛·帕斯卡，甜谷高中的创始人。
Act Three.
第三幕。
Death and Tuxes.
死亡和燕尾服。
So let's go to the prom, you and me.
那么，我们去参加舞会吧，你和我。
Back in 1994, when I was a reporter for NPR'S All Things Considered, I covered the senior prom at Taft High School here in Chicago.
早在 1994 年，当我还是 NPR 的 All Things Thoughd 记者时，我就报道了芝加哥塔夫脱高中的毕业舞会。
We play this story now because, in contrast to the proms in Francine Pascal's books, it captures on tape what the prom usually is.
我们现在播放这个故事是因为，与弗朗辛·帕斯卡书中的舞会相反，它在磁带上捕捉了舞会通常的情况。
Here is the very old recording.
这是非常古老的录音。
All year long, the teachers see students who slouch and gossip.
一年到头，老师们都会看到无精打采、八卦的学生。
Students who wear clothing that teachers don't understand.
学生穿着老师不理解的衣服。
Students who need prodding and discipline and constant surveillance.
需要激励、纪律和持续监督的学生。
And then on prom night, the students reappear, transformed, as in a dream.
然后在舞会之夜，学生们又出现了，就像在梦中一样。
And the teachers wander around remarking to each other, can you believe how well-behaved they are, how grown up they seem?
老师们四处走动，互相评论，你能相信他们是多么乖巧，他们看起来多么成熟吗？
Math teacher Jerry Pad has helped plan the prom for years.
数学老师杰里·帕德多年来一直帮助策划舞会。
Aren't they really great?
他们不是真的很棒吗？
They really are.
他们确实是。
Having fun.
玩得开心。
Never having any trouble.
从来没有遇到任何麻烦。
They're just great kids.
他们只是很棒的孩子。
Plus these are the seniors that have made it.
另外，这些都是成功的前辈。
All the [BLEEP] are out.
所有的[BLEEP]都消失了。
Carla Revedinero's date, George Bork, hadn't bothered with a tux.
卡拉·雷维迪内罗 (Carla Revedinero) 的约会对象乔治·博克 (George Bork) 并没有在意穿晚礼服。
He were a black shirt, skinny black tie, black pants, no jacket.
他穿着黑色衬衫、黑色紧身领带、黑色裤子，没有穿夹克。
They were having fun, except for one small hitch.
他们玩得很开心，除了一个小问题。
Can't dance, bro.
不会跳舞啊兄弟
Carla He won't dance with me because he can't dance.
卡拉 他不会和我跳舞，因为他不会跳舞。
It's not that I won't.
并不是我不会。
It's like I can't, you know?
好像我不能，你知道吗？
He can't, yeah.
他不能，是的。
Ira Glass Maybe if they played some metal, he said, he could slam dance.
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass）：也许如果他们演奏一些金属乐，他说，他就能跳劲舞。
'94!
'94！
Whoo!
呼！
'94!
'94！
'94.
'94。
Ira Glass This couple was having a different kind of prom.
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass）这对夫妇正在举办一场不同类型的舞会。
We're going to Niagara Falls tomorrow morning.
明天早上我们要去尼亚加拉大瀑布。
But tonight, we're just going to party.
但今晚，我们只是去参加派对。
My girlfriend isn't telling me yet where we're going to go to the hotel room.
我女朋友还没告诉我我们要去哪里酒店房间。
I went to a special place and I got him a special hotel room somewhere, and it's a surprise.
我去了一个特别的地方，给他安排了一个特别的酒店房间，这真是一个惊喜。
Well, my mom gave me the, you know, mother-daughter sex talk.
嗯，我妈妈给了我，你知道，母女性谈话。
But it's a little too late for that, so.
但现在有点太晚了，所以。
Kind of in one ear, out the other.
有点像一只耳朵在里面，另一只耳朵在外面。
But she was still very worried, and she didn't want me to do this, thought I was making money.
但她还是很担心，她不想让我这么做，以为我是为了赚钱。
But you know.
但你知道。
Your mother gave you a mother-daughter sex talk?
你妈妈给你讲过母女性爱谈话吗？
Yeah.
是的。
Saying that-- something maybe she might-- because I'm leaving for college, OK?
这么说——也许她可能会这么说——因为我要去上大学，好吗？
And since we've been together this long, it's going to be very dramatic between us two to leave each other.
既然我们在一起这么久了，我们两个离开彼此将会是一件非常戏剧性的事情。
So she's like all, he's going to bust the moves on you, he's going to try to do sex acts to try to keep you here.
所以她就像所有人一样，他会破坏你的行动，他会尝试做性行为，试图把你留在这里。
But--
但是——
Too late for that.
太晚了。
Ira Glass On the dance floor, there was a certain amount of copping feels and kissing.
艾拉·格拉斯 (Ira Glass) 在舞池里，有一定程度的应对和接吻的感觉。
But the sexual tension of the prom hit a kind of surreal zenith when the DJ told the boys to bring chairs down to the dance floor.
但当 DJ 要求男孩们把椅子搬到舞池时，舞会的性紧张达到了一种超现实的顶峰。
Girls were seated in the chairs.
女孩们坐在椅子上。
And the garter ceremony began.
吊袜带仪式开始了。
Over a hundred teenage girls presented bare legs with garters.
百余名少女裸露双腿，戴着吊袜带。
All men have to put your hands behind your back.
所有男人都必须把手放在背后。
Meaning, grab the garter with your teeth.
意思是，用牙齿抓住吊袜带。
All right.
好的。
We're going to count backwards from ten.
我们将从十开始倒数。
Ten, nine--
十、九——
This is the kind of activity that separates the "just friends" prom dates from the real dates.
这种活动将“只是朋友”的舞会约会与真正的约会分开。
And dozens of "just friends" stood around the edges of the hall in various states of discomfort.
几十个“只是朋友”站在大厅的边缘，表情各异。
Four, three, two, one.
四，三，二，一。
Ira Glass A hundred million teenage boys bring their faces up against the slightly sweaty thighs of their dates, rip multicolored garters with their teeth, and drag them off the leg.
艾拉·格拉斯 (Ira Glass) 一亿十几岁的男孩把脸贴在约会对象微微出汗的大腿上，用牙齿撕开彩色吊袜带，把它们从腿上拖下来。
It's a shocking and amazing sight, but when I asked teachers about it later, they all say, "where have you been?
这是一个令人震惊和惊奇的景象，但当我后来问老师这件事时，他们都说：“你们去哪儿了？
They've done this for years!" At homecoming, apparently, things get even more explicit.
他们这样做已经很多年了！”显然，在返校节上，事情变得更加明确。
All right!
好的！
OK.
好的。
Let's move the chairs and we'll have a slow dance.
我们搬开椅子，跳一支慢舞。
As evening wore on, George and Carla, the couple that didn't dance, did go out for a couple of slow numbers.
随着夜幕降临，乔治和卡拉这对不跳舞的夫妇确实出去跳了几首慢节奏的歌曲。
Well, I want to get everyone to the floor.
好吧，我想让大家都发言。
Later, when it was time to leave, they picked up their prom favors and took some balloons from the centerpieces and joined another couple, Mark and Charlotte, in Mark's father's Ford Tempo.
后来，到了离开的时候，他们拿起了舞会礼物，从中心装饰品上拿了一些气球，和另一对夫妇马克和夏洛特一起，开着马克父亲的福特 Tempo。
They searched for a radio station.
他们寻找广播电台。
Put it on CKG!
把它放在CKG上！
Mark Jeez, nothing but a whole bunch of hippie rock.
Mark Jeez，只不过是一群嬉皮摇滚。
No, man!
不，伙计！
It's a bunch of hippie rock.
这是一群嬉皮摇滚。
Everybody pitched in a dollar for gas.
每个人都投入一美元购买汽油。
Carla waved to people in other cars and inhaled the helium from her prom balloons.
卡拉向其他车里的人挥手，并吸入舞会气球中的氦气。
Fuzzy bunny, fuzzy bunny.
毛茸茸的兔子，毛茸茸的兔子。
Ira Glass They argued about directions, discussed who Winona Ryder is going out with these days.
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass） 他们争论了方向，讨论了薇诺娜·瑞德（Winona Ryder）这些天要和谁约会。
And finally, after nearly an hour, we ended up at a party.
最后，近一个小时后，我们参加了一个聚会。
A pretty lively party, but mostly we stood around outside.
聚会相当热闹，但大多数时候我们都站在外面。
Matt, where's my liquor?
马特，我的酒呢？
Ira Glass Charlotte repeated this about, oh, 20 times.
艾拉·格拉斯·夏洛特重复了大约 20 次。
Nobody else seemed too interested in getting drunk.
似乎没有人对喝醉太感兴趣。
But finally someone organized a liquor run.
但最后还是有人组织了一次卖酒活动。
They'll sell to me.
他们会卖给我。
If they don't sell to me, the'll sell to someone else.
如果他们不卖给我，就会卖给别人。
What do you want?
你想要什么？
Kiwi Lime Mad Dog, baby.
猕猴桃酸橙疯狗，宝贝。
Boy 2 Mad Dog?
《男孩2》疯狗？
What kind?
什么样的？
Kiwi Lime?
猕猴桃酸橙？
Wait!
等待！
He needs something.
他需要一些东西。
Give me that 5-pack.
把那个 5 件装给我。
Here, I'll give you 10.
在这里，我给你10个。
One thing you forget when you're not a teenager is how much time teenagers spend just standing around, waiting.
当你还不是青少年时，你会忘记的一件事是，青少年花了多少时间站在那里等待。
Waiting to get organized.
等待组织起来。
Waiting for everyone to show up.
等待大家的出现。
Waiting for the person buying liquor to return.
等待买酒的人回来。
Percentage-wise, this was the largest part of the evening.
从百分比来看，这是当晚最大的部分。
Invariably, during this time, someone starts to get on someone else's nerves.
总是在这段时间里，有人开始让别人感到不安。
For Charlotte and George, the feeling was mutual.
对于夏洛特和乔治来说，这种感觉是相互的。
She always yaps, man.
她总是狂吠，伙计。
She never shuts up.
她从不闭嘴。
She just keeps on talking and talking.
她只是一直说个不停。
It's like-- I wonder if she'll shut up!
就像——我不知道她会不会闭嘴！
And it's like the tone of voice she uses, too.
这也就像她使用的语气。
She's like a whiny-- ehhh!
她就像个爱发牢骚的人——呃！
Tone of voice, you know.
语气，你懂的。
It's like, I don't want to hear it.
就好像，我不想听。
I don't put up with her-- when she first started going to Taft, man, and I hated it then and I hate it now.
我不能忍受她——当她第一次去塔夫脱的时候，伙计，我当时讨厌它，现在也讨厌它。
It's like something that's bringing me down, you know?
这就像让我沮丧的事情，你知道吗？
Go on, man.
继续吧，伙计。
Go on!
继续！
Charlotte You're coming with us?
夏洛特 你跟我们一起去吗？
Around 1:30, a decision was made to go to the beach-- one of Chicago's downtown Lake Michigan beaches.
1点30分左右，决定去海滩——芝加哥市中心的密歇根湖海滩之一。
And after much debate and four attempts to get a dozen people into cars, we finally drove to Belmont Harbor and walked out to the big rocks on the water.
经过多次争论和四次尝试让十几个人上车后，我们终于开车到贝尔蒙特港，走到水面上的大岩石旁。
Everyone stared at the lake.
所有人都盯着湖面。
The city lights made the clouds glow orange.
城市的灯光使云彩发出橙色的光。
In the distance you could see some fog and the lights of the water pumping rig.
远处可以看到一些雾气和抽水机的灯光。
Those pumping stations, man.
那些泵站，伙计。
How'd do you like to work out there?
你觉得在那里锻炼怎么样？
You'd get to work out there for three days.
你可以在那里锻炼三天。
Three-day shifts.
三天一班。
24 hours.
24小时。
The boats would be out there.
船会在那里。
And they feed you.
他们喂你。
You work and you get paid and you just hang around there.
你工作并获得报酬，然后你就在那里闲逛。
And it's like a real cool city job that you get paid through the ass for.
这就像一份真正很酷的城市工作，你可以通过屁股得到报酬。
It'd be so scary to be on a boat.
要是在船上的话就太可怕了。
You know, it's so dark.
你知道吗，天太黑了。
Unless I'm really smashed, I really feel uneasy around open water.
除非我真的被击垮了，否则在开放水域我真的会感到不安。
Water, open water.
水，开放水。
George The lake, man.
乔治湖，伙计。
Cool, man.
酷，伙计。
Space.
空间。
It's free, man.
这是免费的，伙计。
Best you can go.
最好你能走。
Mark then applied fairly dire speech which, coming from him, is surprising.
马克随后发表了相当可怕的言论，这出自他之口，令人惊讶。
He's college-bound, a good student, on the football team, usually easy-going and self-confident.
他即将上大学，是一名好学生，是橄榄球队的成员，通常很随和且自信。
Seriously, man, there is no [BLEEP] freedom in this goddamn place, man.
说真的，伙计，在这个该死的地方没有[哔]自由，伙计。
There's always some cop or somebody asking what you're doing.
总会有警察或其他人问你在做什么。
There's always somebody who owns the place.
总有人拥有这个地方。
They're always going to come to you and ask you, you know, especially when you're underage.
他们总是会来找你问你，你知道，尤其是当你还未成年的时候。
Then they're going to really get on your back.
然后他们就会真正对你不利。
Lectures about what you're not supposed to know, what you're supposed to.
关于你不应该知道什么，你应该知道什么的讲座。
Blair and Charlotte go off for cigarettes.
布莱尔和夏洛特出去抽烟。
Carla takes her shoes off.
卡拉脱掉鞋子。
We talk about this and that.
我们谈论这个、那个。
And then we look behind us and see the blue lights through the trees.
然后我们回头看去，看到蓝色的灯光透过树林。
Cops.
警察。
Ira Glass No evening like this could be complete without a run-in with the police.
艾拉·格拉斯 如果不与警察发生冲突，这样的夜晚就不算是完整的。
They're perhaps 100 yards away in the parking lot in their squad car.
他们开着警车在 100 码外的停车场里。
Are they getting out?
他们要出去吗？
Ira Glass The police hover there a few minutes, put a ticket on one kid's car, and drive off.
艾拉·格拉斯（Ira Glass） 警察在那儿盘旋了几分钟，给一个孩子的车开了罚单，然后开走了。
No big deal.
没什么大不了的。
Next stop, naturally, is an all-night restaurant.
下一站，自然是通宵餐厅。
But the time we hold the big plastic Denny's menus in our hands, it's four in the morning.
但当我们手里拿着大塑料丹尼菜单时，已经是凌晨四点了。
You ready to order?
您准备好订购了吗？
Charlotte I want salad.
夏洛特 我想要沙拉。
You know what I'm going to have?
你知道我要吃什么吗？
The Flanagan slam.
弗拉纳根大满贯。
They gossipped.
他们闲聊。
They floated pleasantly from topic to topic.
他们愉快地从一个话题转到另一个话题。
Fate had handed them a prom, and they knew they were supposed to stay out all night, and they kept wandering from place to place, waiting for something to happen.
命运给了他们一场舞会，他们知道自己应该在外面呆上一整夜，他们不断地从一个地方徘徊到另一个地方，等待着发生什么事情。
Nothing much did, but nothing bad did, either.
没有做什么大事，但也没有做什么坏事。
People have got to get going soon.
人们必须尽快行动起来。
I'm going to sleep all day.
我要睡一整天。
I can't sleep all day.
我一整天都睡不着觉。
Ira Glass Back in the car, George said that the best moment of the problem was when he got to slow dance with Carla.
艾拉·格拉斯 (Ira Glass) 回到车上，乔治说，问题的最佳时刻是他和卡拉跳慢舞的时候。
Mark said it was when he missed getting a ticket from those cops.
马克说，当时他错过了那些警察开罚单的机会。
Charlotte said it was when she looked around at all the people at the prom and realized that she no longer had to return to Taft High School.
夏洛特说，当她环顾舞会上的所有人时，她意识到她不再需要返回塔夫脱高中。
Every year for the past 50 years, on the third weekend in May, all the high schools in Racine, Wisconsin hold their problems.
过去 50 年来，每年五月的第三个周末，威斯康星州拉辛市的所有高中都会举行他们的问题。
On that same night, after all the proms have ended, kids from all seven schools drive a parade route through town in convertibles and limos and antique cars, ice cream trucks and semis, to the post-prom party, which in Racine is actually bigger than prom itself.
当天晚上，所有舞会结束后，来自所有七所学校的孩子们开着敞篷车、豪华轿车、古董车、冰淇淋车和半挂车沿着游行路线穿过城镇，前往舞会后派对，在拉辛，舞会实际上比舞会本身还要大。
Hosted by the local Rotary Club, it goes from 9:30 in the evening until 3:30 the next morning.
由当地扶轮社主办，活动从晚上 9:30 持续到第二天凌晨 3:30。
People set up lawn chairs to watch the procession of cars.
人们支起草坪椅观看汽车的游行。
It is a huge, huge big deal.
这是一件非常非常大的事情。
And then 19 years ago it got bigger.
然后19年前它变得更大。
Wendy Dorr tells the tale.
温迪·多尔讲述了这个故事。
The good people of Racine loved their prom, and they were always looking for ways to make it better.
拉辛的善良人们热爱他们的舞会，他们总是在寻找让舞会变得更好的方法。
And so they added to it a force even more powerful than the prom itself.
因此，他们给舞会增添了比舞会本身更强大的力量。
They added live television coverage.
他们增加了电视直播报道。
Last year, 60,000 eyes were watching a rite of passage.
去年，有六万双眼睛观看了一场成人仪式。
Seven schools.
七所学校。
One great location.
一个优越的地理位置。
One night only.
仅限一晚。
It's prom.
这是舞会。
Prom.
舞会。
Live.
居住。
Saturday, May 19, 9:30 PM.
5 月 19 日星期六晚上 9:30。
What will you be wearing?
你会穿什么？
It's a really, really incredible atmosphere in there with an $8,000 laser show, $5,000 to $10,000 worth of balloons and flowers--
那里的气氛真的非常非常令人难以置信，有价值 8,000 美元的激光表演，价值 5,000 到 10,000 美元的气球和鲜花——
Craig Haskins has been running the Rotary Club's post-prom for the past couple of years.
过去几年，克雷格·哈斯金斯一直负责扶轮社的舞会后活动。
He was voted into the job by his fellow Rotarians simply because he is 27 years old and by far the youngest Rotarian in Racine.
他被其他扶轮社员投票任命为该职位，只是因为他今年 27 岁，是拉辛迄今为止最年轻的扶轮社员。
And he looks young.
而且他看起来很年轻。
On prom night he has to wear a special badge so the high school kids know not to ask him to dance.
在舞会之夜，他必须佩戴特殊徽章，这样高中生就知道不要邀请他跳舞。
There's screaming people.
那里有人尖叫。
The red carpet.
红地毯。
Television crews.
电视台工作人员。
Two talented-- you know, like the host and hostess that interview you when you walk through the door.
两个才华横溢的人——你知道，就像当你进门时面试你的主人和女主人。
Just like Joan Crawford.
就像琼·克劳馥一样。
That's her name, right?
这是她的名字，对吗？
Joan Rivers.
琼·里弗斯。
Craig Haskins Joan Rivers.
克雷格·哈斯金斯琼·里弗斯。
Just like Joan Rivers.
就像琼·里弗斯一样。
When you walk through, what are you wearing?
当你走过的时候，你穿什么？
You know, that's a beautiful tux, or nice dress.
你知道，那是一件漂亮的礼服，或者漂亮的裙子。
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Time Warner Cable's coverage of the 2001 Rotary Post-Prom Parade, live from Festival Hall on Racine's Lakefront.
大家晚上好，欢迎收看时代华纳有线对 2001 年扶轮舞会后游行的报道，该节目在拉辛湖畔的节日大厅进行现场直播。
My name Deb Silverton--
我的名字是黛布·西尔弗顿——
When I was walking down the red carpet, I felt like I was-- you feel like a celebrity.
当我走上红地毯时，我感觉自己像个名人。
Zach Fishbain was a senior at Horlick High this year.
扎克·菲什贝恩 (Zach Fishbain) 今年是好立克高中 (Horlick High) 的高年级学生。
And there's fans.
还有粉丝。
People of all ages.
各个年龄段的人。
There's bleachers, packed bleachers, hundreds of people around the arrival area.
到达区周围有露天看台，挤满了人，有数百人。
And people screaming your name, taking pictures, holding their hands out.
人们尖叫着你的名字，拍照，伸出双手。
Feels like the paparazzi are like following me around with television, cameras in your face?
感觉就像狗仔队拿着电视、摄像机对着你的脸跟着我？
We went down to the country club and ate with the rest of everybody.
我们去了乡村俱乐部，和其他人一起吃饭。
The whole school did.
全校都这么做了。
Announcer 2 OK.
播音员 2 好的。
So you all ate together and then came down here.
所以你们一起吃完饭然后就到这里来了。
There's people on the left of the carpet interviewing and watching all these limousines and friends coming in.
地毯左边有人采访并看着所有这些豪华轿车和朋友进来。
Everyone feels like a celebrity and everyone sees everyone else as a celebrity.
每个人都觉得自己是名人，每个人都将其他人视为名人。
You walk in and you see the strobe lights flashing.
你走进去，你会看到闪光灯闪烁。
And the celebrity feeling is even multiplied when you get there.
当你到达那里时，名人的感觉甚至会成倍增加。
And that feeling doesn't go away until-- well, I still have it three weeks later.
这种感觉不会消失，直到——嗯，三周后我仍然有这种感觉。
And I'm still like a celebrity, watching it all again on television.
我仍然像名人一样，在电视上再次观看这一切。
So as long as you keep watching it and everyone knows how big of a deal it is, it really isn't downplayed.
因此，只要你继续关注，每个人都知道这件事有多大，它确实没有被低估。
Once you kind of lose that feeling, you think about prom and start talking about it again.
一旦你失去了这种感觉，你就会想到舞会并再次开始谈论它。
And people want to hear about it.
人们想听听它。
People who didn't go and watching it have so many questions for you.
没有去看的人有很多问题要问你。
Did you do this?
你这样做了吗？
Did you see this person?
你看到这个人了吗？
What kind of music did they play?
他们演奏什么样的音乐？
You are the center of attention when prom is the topic.
当舞会成为话题时，您就是关注的焦点。
So you maintain that celebrity feeling.
这样你就能保持名人的感觉。
Here's what it looks like to the home viewer.
这是家庭观众看到的样子。
Because this is low-budget local cable programming, it's mostly just one camera shot.
由于这是低预算的本地有线电视节目，因此大部分都只有一张摄像机镜头。
Couples enter the festival hall, passing two by two in front of the camera, whoo-hooing and hi-Momming straight into the camera, one after the next.
情侣们进入节日大厅，在镜头前两两擦肩而过，一前一后地直接对着镜头欢呼雀跃。
And this goes on for four hours.
这持续了四个小时。
In Zach's house, this footage has become a kind of video wallpaper.
在扎克的家里，这段视频已经成为一种视频壁纸。
While I was there interviewing him, a copy of the cable broadcast played the whole time in the living room.
当我在那里采访他时，客厅里一直播放着有线广播的副本。
Sometimes a family member would drop out of the conversation to stare at it for a while.
有时，家庭成员会退出谈话，盯着谈话看一会儿。
Now and then, Zach's mom Susan would call our attention to the screen.
扎克的妈妈苏珊时不时地会让我们注意屏幕。
We have been so excited that we've watched it numerous times.
我们非常兴奋，以至于我们看了很多遍。
It's great.
这很棒。
You know, we have two copies of it.
你知道，我们有两份副本。
It's in two TVs.
两台电视都有。
And every time you watch it when you see somebody different.
每次你看它时，你都会看到不同的人。
And it's so much fun when you run into the parents and the kids in the study.
当你在书房里遇到家长和孩子们时，真是太有趣了。
You know?
你知道？
To say, your pink dress and your matching tux was just great.
可以说，你的粉红色连衣裙和配套的礼服真是太棒了。
And it's great.
这很棒。
If you ask the local television studios what's the biggest--
如果你问当地的电视演播室最大的是什么——
Agian, Craig Haskins.
阿吉安，克雷格·哈斯金斯。
Craig Haskins The Oscars, Super Bowl, or Prom, they would hands down say "Prom." Because it's the highest-rated anything in town.
克雷格·哈斯金斯 奥斯卡、超级碗或舞会，他们毫无疑问会说“舞会”。因为它是城里评价最高的东西。
And that's a good way to judge people's interest, is what they're watching on TV.
这是判断人们兴趣的好方法，就是他们在电视上观看的内容。
Proms everywhere are all about hype.
各地的舞会都是关于炒作的。
And so it's no surprise that once you have a prom as a TV show that the ratings would be hyped, too.
因此，毫不奇怪，一旦你将舞会作为电视节目，收视率也会大肆宣传。
The cable company's commercial says that 60,000 eyes were watching the prom.
该有线电视公司的广告称有 60,000 只眼睛观看了舞会。
But by that, they actually mean 30,000 viewers.
但他们实际上指的是 30,000 名观众。
Two eyes per viewer.
每个观看者有两只眼睛。
And really, even that number is just a guess.
事实上，即使这个数字也只是一个猜测。
For sure one person who wasn't watching the problem was Kirsten Hitzky.
毫无疑问，克尔斯滕·希茨基（Kirsten Hitzky）就是一个没有关注这一问题的人。
I spoke with her at job at Desmond's Formal Wear, a tuxedo rental store at the Regency Mall.
我在 Desmond's Formal Wear 工作时与她进行了交谈，这是一家位于 Regency Mall 的燕尾服租赁店。
It is also safe to say that Kirsten was the only person in the mall that night who was reading Plato's Phaedrus for fun.
可以肯定地说，克尔斯滕是那天晚上商场里唯一一个以阅读柏拉图的《斐德罗篇》为乐的人。
I'm rereading it.
我正在重读它。
It was the last thing I read in school, and it was really wonderful, and I wanted to keep reading it.
这是我在学校读的最后一本书，它真的很棒，我想继续读下去。
And also, I can practice my Greek.
而且，我可以练习我的希腊语。
You didn't go to prom.
你没有去参加舞会。
Kirsten Hitzky No, no, I didn't.
克尔斯滕·希茨基 不，不，我没有。
Prom is a beautiful illusion.
舞会是一个美丽的幻觉。
If you're someone who hates the prom, there's no better way to refuel your hatred than by working at a tux shop.
如果你讨厌舞会，没有比在燕尾服店工作更好的方式来加剧你的仇恨了。
Kirsten says everyone at the store despises the prom.
克尔斯滕说店里的每个人都鄙视舞会。
The worst part being when the kids bring their sweaty suits back.
最糟糕的是当孩子们把汗湿的衣服带回来时。
Sometimes they'll come out stuffed into a little grocery bag, tied really tight.
有时，它们会被塞进一个小杂货袋里，绑得很紧。
And you have to pretty much disinfect the whole thing and pick it up very lightly.
你必须对整个东西进行几乎所有的消毒，然后轻轻地把它捡起来。
The boss here got fungus underneath her fingernails one time from dealing with someone's socks.
这里的老板有一次因为处理别人的袜子而导致她的指甲底下长了真菌。
Do you get suits with, like, grass stains?
你买的西装有草渍之类的吗？
Oh yeah.
哦，是的。
Grass.
草。
Puke.
呕吐。
Mud.
泥。
For people that say that prom is there for people feel special for once in their lives, I don't know about that.
对于那些说舞会是为了让人们在一生中感到特别的一次的人来说，我不知道这一点。
I mean, find me one high school senior who really needs an ego boost.
我的意思是，给我找一位真正需要自我提升的高中生。
It's the time to be cocky and prideful.
是时候骄傲自大了。
And I think it's kind of indulgent of that.
我认为这是一种纵容。
And if they say that they feel like a celebrity, it doesn't surprise me at all.
如果他们说他们感觉自己像名人，我一点也不感到惊讶。
Because they, you know, they do get treated like celebrities, even though their personality might be less than beautiful.
因为他们，你知道，他们确实受到像名人一样的待遇，尽管他们的个性可能不太漂亮。
And I'm certainly glad I didn't take part in it.
我当然很高兴我没有参与其中。
To truly enjoy the Racine prom, and maybe to enjoy any prom, you have to be the sort of person who enjoys the hype leading up to it.
要真正享受拉辛舞会，也许要享受任何舞会，你必须是那种喜欢舞会前的炒作的人。
Zach certainly did for basically his whole life.
扎克基本上一生都在这样做。
I have been watching prom on television every spring.
每年春天我都会在电视上观看舞会。
Every May.
每年五月。
And it's only natural middle schoolers, elementary school, grade school, high school-- all ages are watching this.
而且只有自然的中学生，小学，小学，高中——所有年龄段的人都在看这个。
So every year we watch it.
所以每年我们都会看。
And as a kid, I thought I was going to come in a helicopter, or with a yellow tuxedo.
当我还是个孩子的时候，我以为我会乘坐直升机，或者穿着黄色燕尾服来。
Actually this year there was a kid in a yellow tuxedo.
事实上，今年有一个穿着黄色燕尾服的孩子。
But no helicopters, unfortunately.
但不幸的是没有直升机。
Watching it on TV-- I just never realized how glorious this festivity really was until I actually was a part of it.
在电视上观看——我从来没有意识到这个节日到底有多么光荣，直到我真正参与其中。
I mean, it seems great.
我的意思是，看起来很棒。
You look so forward to it.
你太期待了。
And it was even better when I got there.
当我到达那里时，情况甚至更好。
Because it was the real thing.
因为那是真实的事情。
I was experiencing it.
我正在经历它。
The realization, the fact that I knew I was actually there and no longer looking forward to it made it that much better.
我意识到我确实在那里并且不再期待它，这一事实让一切变得更好。
Prom, after all, is just a dance.
毕竟，舞会只是一场舞蹈。
Plus a whole lot of hype.
再加上大量的炒作。
Racine understands this so well that it's possible they've created the greatest prom in the world.
拉辛非常了解这一点，因此他们有可能创造了世界上最伟大的舞会。
They've hyped it to the point that when I asked a bunch of junior high school girls if they were looking forward to the prom, all of them look at me as if I'd just ask them if they were, in fact, of the human species.
他们大肆宣传，以至于当我问一群初中女生是否期待舞会时，她们所有人都看着我，好像我只是在问她们是否真的属于人类。
Because they explained, by the time they reach senior year, who knows how big it could get.
因为他们解释说，当他们进入高年级时，谁知道它会变得有多大。
Wendy Dorr.
温迪·多尔.
Special thanks to OVO Incorporated, an arts collective in New York.
特别感谢纽约的艺术团体 OVO Incorporated。
It is from them that we heard about the prom in Racine.
我们就是从他们那里得知拉辛舞会的消息的。
They made a film about it called World's Best Prom.
他们制作了一部关于它的电影，名为“世界最佳舞会”。
They were very helpful.
他们非常有帮助。
For information about them and their films, visit their website, www.worldsbestprom.com.
有关他们及其电影的信息，请访问他们的网站 www.worldsbestprom.com。
Well, our program was produced today by Starlee Kine and myself with Alex Blumberg, Wendy Dorr, and Jonathan Goldstein.
好吧，我们今天的节目是由 Starlee Kine 和我本人以及 Alex Blumberg、Wendy Dorr 和 Jonathan Goldstein 制作的。
Our senior producer is Julie Snyder.
我们的高级制片人是朱莉·斯奈德。
Production help from Todd Bachmann, Paul McCarthy, Seth Lind, and Emily Yusef.
Todd Bachmann、Paul McCarthy、Seth Lind 和 Emily Yusef 为制作提供了帮助。
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS] This American Life is heard every week by over four million ears.
[致谢] 每周都有超过 400 万耳朵听到《美国生活》。
This American Life is distributed by Public Radio International.
《美国生活》由国际公共广播电台发行。
[FUNDING CREDITS] WBEZ management oversight for our show by our boss Mr. Torey Malatia, who describes his job this way:
[资金来源] 我们的老板 Torey Malatia 先生对我们的节目进行 WBEZ 管理监督，他这样描述他的工作：
You work and you get paid and you just hang around there.
你工作并获得报酬，然后你就在那里闲逛。
And it's like a real cool city job that you get paid through the ass for.
这就像一份真正很酷的城市工作，你可以通过屁股得到报酬。
I'm Ira Glass.
我是艾拉·格拉斯。
Back next week with more stories of This American Life.
下周我们将带来更多《美国生活》的故事。
This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.
《This American Life》与 WBEZ Chicago 合作制作，并由 PRX 公共广播电台传送到各电台。