2021纽约时报社论个人叙事写作大赛获奖作品赏析！

纽约时报2021-2022年度推出的系列写作学术活动中，个人叙事写作(Personal Narravie Writing Contest)是含金量最高和影响力最大的国际英语写作学术活动之一。

个人叙事写作应该"基于生活、源于生活"，促动学习者在写作过程中更好地"探索自我"。以下作品是作者Rebecca基于儿童时期参演电视剧经历的片段，向你娓娓道来风光舞台上儿童演员背后的艰辛。

纽约时报社论个人叙事写作学术活动 2021获奖作品赏析！

【Backside of a gem】

by Rebecca Yao

Lights, camera, action! As the clapperboard dropped, the boisterous set seemed to be muted suddenly. Lines raced through my mind while I took a deep breath, silently counting down “Three, two, one.”. I turned to look at the flashing lenses, tears streamed down my face for the thirtieth time that day. “glance down and let out a sad smile, then twitch your mouth a bit, scream your lines with tears.” The directors’ instructions echoed in my ears. That moment, me and my character became one. Her emotions overtook mine, I ignored what I was told to do. The pain felt real: it was me who was hurt in all those nonstop arguments in the family, not her.

“CUT”

“I think this is it!”

“Acting was on point.”

“END OF SCENE!”

“That’s a wrap!”

In the waves of cheers, no one noticed me still sobbing unstoppably in the corner, where I couldn’t let go of the sadness.

It was the summer before grade 2. Just as I went to bed, my mom got a call from my manager. We were told that the director of a movie featuring several celebrities specifically wanted me for a role and they would cast me without an audition, but we were to go immediately. I couldn’t hide the excitement as I packed my belongings. We made it to the set at midnight after a long drive. After a short greeting by the door, to my surprise, we were brought straight to a meeting room full of people. The director talked for hours about the film, which was an eternity to me. My young body couldn’t take the sleepiness, I pinched myself under the table to stay awake as my manager shot me sharp looks across the table.Little did I know, it was only one of the many sleepless nights that I’ll have.

Dismissed at 3, I tiredly made my way to my room, the director shouted behind me.

“Be at makeup room at 5, your shoot begins at 6:30, try get some breakfast in!”

I immediately noticed the thick stack of scripts as I walked in the door, the cover written in bright red “FOR TOMORROW”. I shook awake, refusing to believe the amount of lines I have to memorize in just 2 hours. My naive brain thought that I would get some privilege as a kid actress. But the reality in the set was that whether you are in your eighties or still a baby, what needs to be done has to be done.

It was the longest, yet shortest two hours in my life. My brain was a mess of wires that couldn’t be sorted out; my eyelids were fighting to be open; my throat was burning after long, onerous reading. I felt helpless. I wanted to hide under the table and not come out so I didn’t have to memorize the script, I wanted time to stop. I looked at my mom, but she just shook her head “Let’s keep going.”. It was at that moment that I knew this wasn’t going to change just because of my tiredness. Mommy isn’t going to do the work for me so I can sleep.

Days after days, overnight filming and long tedious scripting filled my life. I realized that it’s the same for everyone, regardless of your age.

But no one sees all these, the actors were viewed like a gem being worshipped at. The sweats, bloods, and tears were all to ourselves. Nothing was easy, but results were phenomenal, it felt like it was worth it after all.

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