寂静中 我们需要一声声响

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StoryCorps is made possible through funding from State Farm, the Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and most importantly, through the support of participants and listeners like you nationwide.

Welcome to the StroyCorps podcast.

We are going to take a moment now to remember the legendary oral historian Studs Terkel who died last week.

 Terkel was an inspiration for us here at StoryCorps. He was the guest of honor(贵宾) back in 2003 when we opened our first booth in New York’s Grand Central Terminal(纽约中央车站) and in 2005 one of our mobile recording booths made a special stop in Chicago when we pulled into Studs Terkel’s driveway. It was the only time a StoryCorps booth has ever stopped at someone’s home.

Here’s a little bit of the recording we made that day.

What has happened to the human voice? Vox Humana(人的声音), hollering(叫喊), shouting, quiet talking, buzz. I was leaving the airport，this is in Atlanta. You know you leave the gate, you take a train that took you to concourse(中央大厅) of your choice. And I get into this train. Dead silence. Few people seated or standing. Up above, you hear a voice that once was a human voice, but no longer. Now it talks like a machine ”Concourse 1, Fort Worth, Dallas, Lubbock". That kind of voice. Just then the doors are about to close, the pneumatic(充气的) doors, when a young couple rush in and push open the doors and get in. Without missing a beat, that voice above says: ‘Because of late entry, we delayed 30 seconds.’ The people looked at that couple as the couple just committed mass murder, you know. And the couple is shrinking like this, you know.

 And I’m known for my talking. I’m gabby(健谈的). And so I say, ‘George Orwell, your time has come and gone.’ I expected a laugh. Dead silence. And now they looked at me, and I’m with the couple. The three of us are at the Hill of Calvary on Good Friday(耶稣受难节).

And then I say, ‘my God, where’s the human voice?’ And just then there’s a little baby, maybe the baby is about a year old or something. And I say, ‘Sir or Madam,’ to the baby, ‘what is your opinion of the human species?’ Well, what does the baby do? Baby starts giggling. I say, ‘Thank God; the sound of a human voice.’

The late Studs Terkel in a StoryCorps recording booth in his driveway in Chicago. The booth where he recorded that interview has been dedicated to Terkel. A portrait of him hangs just inside the doorway.

For photos and to make a reservation for your own interview, visit StoryCorps.net. While you are there, learn more about StoryCorps’s first book Listening is an Act of Love, out in paperback now.

Major support for StoryCorps is provided by State Farm and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Our podcasts are supported by the Fetzer Institute as a part of its campaign for love and forgiveness. Learn more at loveandforgive.org.

Our StoryCorps interviews are housed at the American folk life center at the Library of Congress and you can catch StoryCorps on the radio Fridays on NPR’s Morning Edition.

 This is Michael Grafullo for the StoryCorps podcast. Thanks for listening.