托福阅读材料：喜剧演员罗宾威廉姆去世

喜剧演员罗宾·威廉姆斯去世，生前患严重抑郁症

Robin Williams, the comedian and Academy Award-winning actor who imbued his performances with wild inventiveness and a kind of manic energy, died on Monday at his home in Marin County, Calif. He was 63.

周一，曾获奥斯卡奖(Academy Award)的喜剧演员罗宾·威廉姆斯(Robin Williams)在加利福尼亚州马林县(Marin County)的家中身亡，享年63岁。他的表演极富创造力，而且带有一种近乎狂热的能量。

The county sheriff’s office said in a statement that it “suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.” An investigation was under way.

马林县治安官办公室(Sheriff’s Office)在声明中称，“怀疑他是自杀，死因是窒息。”警方正在展开调查。

The statement said that the office received a 911 call at 11:55 a.m. Pacific time, saying that a man had been found “unconscious and not breathing inside his residence.” Emergency personnel sent to the scene identified him as Mr. Williams and pronounced him dead at 12:02 p.m.

声明中写道，太平洋时间上午11:55，治安官办公室接到911报警电话，有人称发现一名男子“在自己的住所内失去知觉，而且已停止呼吸”。赶赴现场的急救人员确认他是威廉姆斯，并于中午12:02宣布他已死亡。

Mr. Williams’s publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement that Mr. Williams “has been battling severe depression.”

威廉姆斯的公关代表玛拉·巴克斯鲍姆(Mara Buxbaum)在一份声明中说，威廉姆斯“一直在与严重的抑郁症作斗争”。

His wife, Susan Schneider, said in a statement, “This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings.” She added: “As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.”

他的妻子苏珊·施耐德(Susan Schneider)在声明中称，“今天上午，我失去了我的丈夫和最好的朋友，而世界失去了一位很受爱戴的艺术家和一个美丽的人。”她还说：“他已经离我 们而去，我们希望大家不要把注意力放在罗宾的去世上，而是要记住他给千百万人带来的无数欢笑时刻。”

Mr. Williams, who was raised in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and in Marin County, attended the Juilliard School in New York before breaking through as a hyperverbal comedian and a star of the 1978 ABC sitcom “Mork & Mindy,” playing a giddy alien unaccustomed to life on this planet.

威廉姆斯在密歇根州底特律市郊区的布卢姆菲尔德希尔斯，以及马林县长大。他曾在纽约茱莉亚音乐学院(Juilliard School)就读，后来成为一名口才超群的笑星，并因为在ABC电视台1978年的情景喜剧《默克与明蒂》(Mork & Mindy)中扮演一个不适应地球生活的滑稽外星人而成名。

He went on to earn Academy Award nominations for his roles in films like “Good Morning, Vietnam,” in which he played a loquacious radio D.J.; “Dead Poets Society,” playing a mentor to students in need of inspiration; and “The Fisher King,” as a homeless man whose life has been struck by tragedy. He won an Oscar in 1998 for “Good Will Hunting,” playing a therapist who works with a troubled prodigy played by Matt Damon.

随后，他通过在《早安越南》(Good Morning, Vietnam)、《死亡诗社》(Dead Poets Society)和《天涯沦落两心知》(The Fisher King)等影片中的角色，多次获得奥斯卡奖提名。他在这三部电影中的角色分别是滔滔不绝的电台主持人、为需要点燃的学生提供启迪的导师，以及一名命运悲 惨的无家可归男子。1998年，他凭借《心灵捕手》(Good Will Hunting)荣获奥斯卡奖。他扮演的是一名心理医生，在影片中为马特·达蒙(Matt Damon)饰演的陷入困境的天才提供治疗。

Beginning with roles in the 1977 sex farce “Can I Do It ’Til I Need Glasses?” and “The Richard Pryor Show,” a variety series hosted by one of his comedy mentors, Mr. Williams rapidly ascended the entertainment industry’s ladder.

通过1977年的性喜剧《需要戴眼镜之前，我能一直这样做吗?》(Can I Do It ’Til I Need Glasses?)，以及他的一位喜剧前辈所主持的综艺类节目《理查德·普莱尔秀》(The Richard Pryor Show)，威廉姆斯在娱乐行业的地位迅速上升。

Hired to play an eccentric alien in an episode of “Happy Days,” Mr. Williams caught the attention of the show’s creator, Garry Marshall, who cast him to reprise his career-making role of Mork from Ork in “Mork & Mindy.” Mr. Williams soon graduated into movie roles that include the title characters in “Popeye,” Robert Altman’s 1980 live-action musical about that spinach-gulping cartoon sailor; and “The World According to Garp,” the director George Roy Hill’s 1982 adaptation of the John Irving novel.

因为在《幸福的日子》(Happy Days)中客串一个举止怪异的外星人，威廉姆斯引起了该剧创作者加里·马歇尔(Garry Marshall)的注意。马歇尔让他在《莫克与明蒂》中重新饰演了来自欧克星(Ork)的莫克，该角色使他一举成名。很快，威廉姆斯就开始出演电影，其 中他还扮演过一些片名角色，比如《大力水手》(Popeye)和《盖普眼中的世界》(The World According to Garp)。前者是1980年罗伯特·奥特曼(Robert Altman)的一部真人音乐剧，讲的是爱吃菠菜的卡通人物水手波派的故事;后者是导演乔治·罗伊·希尔(George Roy Hill)于1982年根据约翰·欧文(John Irving)的小说改编的电影。

He also continued to appear in raucous standup comedy specials like “Robin Williams: An Evening at the Met,” which showcased his garrulous performance style and his indefatigable ability to free-associate without the apparent benefit of prepared material. Alongside his friends and fellow actors Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg, Mr. Williams appeared in an annual series of telethons for Comic Relief, a charity organization that helps homeless people and others in need.

他也继续在《罗宾·威廉姆斯：大都会歌剧院之夜》(Robin Williams: An Evening at the Met)等喧闹的单人脱口秀中登台表演，这些节目展示了他喋喋不休的表演风格，以及在仿佛无需准备的情况下，不断自由联想的能力。威廉姆斯还会与自己的朋 友，演员比利·克里斯托(Billy Crystal)和乌比·戈德堡(Whoopi Goldberg)一道，在喜剧救济(Comic Relief)的一次年度长篇电视节目中出镜。喜剧救济是一个为无家可归者和其他需要帮助的人提供救助的慈善组织。

Mr. Williams’s acting career reached a new height in 1987 with his performance in Barry Levinson’s film “Good Morning, Vietnam,” in which he played Adrian Cronauer, a nonconformist Armed Forces Radio host working in Saigon in the 1960s. It earned Mr. Williams his first Oscar nomination. He earned another two years later for “Dead Poets Society,” directed by Peter Weir and released in 1989, in which he played an unconventional English teacher at a 1950s boarding school who inspires his students to tear up their textbooks and seize the day. (Or, as Mr. Williams’s character famously put it in the original Latin, “Carpe diem.”)

1987年，威廉姆斯通过在巴里·莱文森(Barry Levinson)的电影《早安越南》中的演出，登上了演艺生涯的新高峰。他在其中扮演的角色是阿德里安·克洛诺尔(Adrian Cronauer)，上世纪60年代军方电台一名驻在西贡的特立独行的主持人。威廉姆斯凭借此片第一次获得奥斯卡奖提名。两年后，他因为在彼得·威尔 (Peter Weir)导演的《死亡诗社》中的表演，又获得一次提名。在这部1989年上映的影片中，他扮演的是上世纪50年代一所寄宿学校中的一名英语老师。这位敢 于打破教条的老师让学生撕碎教科书，抓紧每一天。(威廉姆斯的角色在说出这句著名的台词时，用的是拉丁语原文“Carpe diem”。)

In dozens of film roles that followed, Mr. Williams could be warm and zany, whether providing the voice of an irrepressible magic genie in “Aladdin,” the 1992 animated Walt Disney feature; or playing a man who cross-dresses as a British housekeeper in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” a 1993 family comedy, or a doctor struggling to treat patients with an unknown neurological malady in “Awakenings,” the 1990 Penny Marshall drama adapted from the Oliver Sacks memoir.

在接下来的几十个电影角色中，威廉姆斯都既热心又滑稽，无论是在1992年迪士尼(Walt Disney)创作的动画片《阿拉丁》(Aladdin)中，为一个难以驯服的会魔法的妖怪配音;还是在1993年的家庭喜剧《窈窕奶爸》(Mrs. Doubtfire)中饰演一名穿着异性服装，假扮成英国管家的男子;抑或是在1990年的影片《无语问苍天》(Awakenings)中出演一名医生， 奋力治疗患有一种不明原因的神经疾病的患者。由潘妮·马歇尔(Penny Marshall)执导的《无语问苍天》改编自奥利弗·萨克斯(Oliver Sacks)的回忆录。

Some of Mr. Williams’s performances were criticized for a mawkish sentimentality, like “Patch Adams,” a 1998 film that once again cast him as a good-hearted doctor, or “Bicentennial Man,” a 1999 science-fiction feature in which he played an android.

有人批评威廉姆斯的一些表演过于多愁善感，比如在1998年的影片《妙手情真》(Patch Adams)，以及1999年的科幻片《机器管家》(Bicentennial Man)。威廉姆斯在前者中又一次出演了一名好心肠的医生，而在后者中他饰演的是一个机器人。

But Mr. Williams continued to keep audiences guessing. In addition to his Oscar-winning role in “Good Will Hunting,” which saw him play a gently humorous therapist, his résumé included roles as a villainous crime writer in “Insomnia,” Christopher Nolan’s 2002 thriller; Teddy Roosevelt in the “Night at the Museum” movies; and Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 2013 drama “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”

不过威廉姆斯依然会让观众出乎意料。在《心灵捕手》中，他出演的是一名有些许幽默感的心理医生。除了这个为他赢得奥斯卡奖的角色外，他还在克里斯托 弗·诺兰(Christopher Nolan)于2002年执导的惊悚片《白夜追凶》(Insomnia)中，饰演过一名邪恶的犯罪小说作家;在《博物馆奇妙夜》(Night at the Museum)系列影片饰演过西奥多·罗斯福总统(Teddy Roosevelt);在李·丹尼尔斯(Lee Daniels)于2013年执导的影片《白宫管家》(The Butler)中扮演过德怀特·D·艾森豪威尔(Dwight D. Eisenhower)。