演好自己的角色

On a plane flying from Chicago to New York,my seat companion was a young girl who gave me a friendly smile as I sat beside her,but whose young face showed great sadness.Hesitantly,she told me she was on her way to the funeral of her seventeen-year-old brother,who had been killed in Korea.She also told me that her only other relatives were two brothers,both in the service,and that they had lost their eldest brother in the war in Europe.I wanted to say something to comfort her...I felt so useless...All I could say was “I’m so sorry”.And I thought,“Just what can I do to help bring order

一次，在从芝加哥飞往纽约的航班上，我坐在一个年轻女孩旁边。我坐下时，她对我友好地笑了一下，但她年轻的面孔流露出深切的悲痛。迟疑中，她向我道出了原委——她此行是要去参加弟弟的葬礼。弟弟只有17岁，死在朝鲜战场。她的另两位兄弟是她仅有的亲人，都在服役，而她的大哥也已战死在欧洲。我很想安慰她……我觉得自己无能为力……只能对她说：“我很难过。”我想，“为了世界有太平和希望，我能做什么呢？”突and hope into the world today？”And the thought came to me,“I can pray and my prayers will tune in with other sincere prayers to create a mighty force for good and for peace in the world.”

As a girl I was fortunate in having old-fashioned,religious parents,and I often think of the old hymn my good father sang so lustily as stood beside him in church,“I need thee every hour.” AsI’ve grown oldermy philosophy has changed—in a way.I don’t think of God now as an old man with a long gray beard sitting up on a throne.I believe in a practical religion.What good is it unless I can use it to help solve my daily problems,large or small？

I am grateful for what I consider the most worthwhile things in my life—a happy marriage,a good husband,and a son and daughter who become infinitely finer as they grow up.Success in my theatrical career has come second to these.However,no matter what my material blessings may be,I realize that my happiness must come from within myself.I can’t get back anything I don’t give out.Anybody knows a sure cure for the blues is to get out and do something nice for someone else.

I have had a wonderful opportunity,on my tours with my one-woman show,to meet fine,good people in every one of the seven hundred towns I’ve played.From them I know that good people predominate in every part of this country.

I love my work.I believe that laughter is a great soul cleanser,and I pray that my audiences may somehow be better off for having seen my show.I believe in blessing everything and everybody along the way.Sometimes I may have let stage fright and nerves rob me and my audience ofmy best performance.I have failed if I haven’t beforehand blessed everyone in my audience, everyone然我想到了祷告。“我可以祷告，我的祷告与其他虔诚的祷告一定能汇聚成一股巨大的力量，让世界充满美好与和平。”

我是个幸运的女孩。父母的思想很传统，笃信宗教。我常记起儿时在教堂里，站在我身边的父亲经常满怀激情地哼唱一首古老的赞美诗，“上帝啊，我时时刻刻需要你！”长大以后，我的人生信条在某种程度上有所改变。我不再认为上帝是一个坐在宝座上、留着长长白胡子的老头。我奉行的人生信条很现实。如果它不能帮助我解决日常生活中大大小小的问题，那它有什么用呢？

对我来说，演艺事业的成功是次要的，人生最重要的是美满的婚姻、一个好丈夫和一双越来越有出息的儿女。这些我都得到了，对此我心存感激。可是，无论我得到什么物质上的恩赐，真正的幸福必须源自我的内心。没有对他人的付出，就不可能有任何回报。众所周知，随时准备行善才是根除忧愁的良药。

我的个人巡回演出给了我一个大好机会，使我结识了我所到的700多个小镇上无数善良的人们。他们让我相信，在这个国家毕竟好人还是占大多数。

我热爱我的工作。我相信欢笑能净化灵魂，我祈祷我的演出能让人们更加幸福快乐。我相信一路上给每件事、每个人送去的祝福。有时我可能怯场、紧张，无法向观众呈现最精彩的表演。我演砸了，是因为没有事先为每位观众、每位后台的工作人员祈福，或是在电视台、广播电台工作，在backstage,and,when I’m working in television,radio or motion pictures,everyone in the studio—my fellow actors and the director and technicians.I admire their courage,their goodhearted generous qualities.

What do I mean by “blessing”？Well,I first have a deep sense of gratitude to an audience,and a feeling of good will and good wishes,so that I know there is complete harmony between them and me,and I know they will like me because I really like them—that we will tune in together.

My late brother,the great character actor and comedian,Charles “Chic”Sale,said to me one time we were talking aboutspiritualthings and about being perfect channels for expression：“ The thing to do,kiddo,is to stay in character—be God’s child.”And I try never to forget this.摄影棚拍电影时，没有为我的搭档、导演、技师等演职人员祈福。他们都那么勇敢、善良、慷慨，令我钦佩不已。

我所说的“祈福”是什么意思呢？首先我对观众充满深深的感激，然后对他们满怀美好的祝愿。这样一来，我就知道我能和观众和谐互动，因为我真的喜爱他们，他们也会喜爱我——这样我们就能产生心灵的共鸣。

我已去世的哥哥查尔斯·“奇克”·塞尔是一位了不起的性格演员和喜剧演员。有一次我们谈起精神世界的话题，讨论完美的演技。我记得他对我说：“小家伙，做上帝的子民——这就是你要演好的角色。”——这一点，我要永远铭记在心。

Tips for learning

1.tune n.调子；协调；v.调音；调整；如：He’d written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。

2.mighty adj.强有力的；巨大的；如：The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

3.hymn n.赞美诗；圣歌；如：They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。

4.infinitely adv.无限地；无边无际地；如：The universe is infinitely large.宇宙无限大。

5.theatrical adj.剧场的；演戏的；如：She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

6.blessing n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福；其复数形式为blessings。如：The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。

7.blues n.抑郁；沮丧；布鲁斯音乐；如：She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。

8.beforehand adj.事先；预先；提前地；如：They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他们提议事先做好安排。

9.gratitude adj.感激；感谢；如：I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。

10.comedian n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员；如：The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。

（Sarah整理）