当年美剧《老友记》在中国受到热捧时，就有人出来泼冷水：那远远不是美国真实生活的写照。而国内年轻人了解甚少的百老汇音乐剧《Q大街》自2003年上演以来，因其贴近现实而在美国广受欢迎。原因也很简单，因为该剧反映的年轻人生活正是源自创作者的经历。现在我们来听听他们当初大学毕业后的挣扎。
美式发音 适合泛听
Host: Let me ask you what was the most depressing aspects of your lives when you got out of college and were trying to make that transition into figuring out what you were gonna do next, figuring out what your adult lives were going to be like?
主持人：我想问一下，在你大学毕业，想要顺利过渡，搞明白你下一步要做什么，想弄明白你的成年生活会是什么样的时候，你觉得生活中最让你焦虑的事情是什么？
Robert Lopez: Well, when I was in college I knew I wanted to write for the musical theater and I don’t think I knew exactly how stupid a dream that was because so few people get to do it and have a living at it. But I didn’t give myself a “plan B.” I didn’t give myself another…another career path that I might have in mind. I just decided I would move to New York and do it, and I ended up moving back in with my parents. So I was living in New York and I realized, “Well, nothing is going to be happening for me, I’m not going to have a Broadway musical for a while now.” And I was 1)temping and I was living with my parents, and that’s being on the bottom of a very, very tall 2)totem pole. You realize that, you know, suddenly you’re in the middle of this3)hierarchy. College is a very equal, 4)egalitarian society where everyone goes to the school; doesn’t matter how much money you make, doesn’t matter who you are, everyone…everyone’s a student. But when you get out of college you realize, “Oh, its all…it’s all about money, it’s all about success, and who you are. If you live with your parents and you want to be a Broadway composer, tough luck!” So I realized, “Oh well, I got a very long, difficult journey ahead of me.”
罗伯特·洛佩兹：呃，在上大学的时候，我就知道我要搞音乐剧创作。我想当时我并不知道那个梦想是多么的愚蠢，因为很少有人能以此谋生。可我并没有后备方案，我没有给自己设计另一条职业道路。我当时就决定到纽约去做这件事。可后来，我不得不搬回去跟父母一起住。我住在纽约那会儿就意识到，“哦，我会一事无成。在相当长一段时间里，我不可能弄出一部百老汇音乐剧来。”当时我在打临工，与父母一起住，这可是处于一个高不可攀的等级体系的最底层啊。你突然意识到，你未准备好就已身处这个体系之中。大学是一个非常平等的环境。学生到学校来，不管你有多少钱，不管你的出身是什么，你只不过是一名学生。但你一旦出了校门，你就会意识到，“哦，那是……所有都跟钱有关，与成功与否有关，与你的身份有关。如果你还跟父母一起住，又想成为百老汇的作曲家，那就没戏了！”那时我意识到，“哦，我脚下的路会很漫长，很曲折。”
Jeff Marx: I think, this is Jeff, when you come out of school and, in fact, the better the school—Bobby went to Yale—the better the school, the worse you feel it. You just have this vague notion that you’re talented and you’re smart and you’re gonna do something with your life that’s important or respectable. And when you get out of college, there just are not all these opportunities banging down your door like, I suppose, when you’re a college kid you, you dream that there will be. And the truth is that with time that you’re 5)thrust out into the world and you figure out how to make your own life. But those first few weeks, months and years out of college…college does not prepare you for real life, so you don’t know what the hell to do with yourself.
杰夫·马克斯：我觉得——我是杰夫——当你踏出了校门，实际上，你读的学校越好——博比（即罗伯特）读的是耶鲁大学——你读的学校越好，你的感觉就会越差。你在学校时有一种比较模糊的想法，觉得自己是有才华的，也很聪明，你会做点大事，做点让人刮目相看的事。等你离开学校，你才发现各种机会并没有挤破门槛——我想在你还是个大学生的时候，你就是这么想的。事实是，当你被猛的一下扔到社会上，要搞明白怎么过你自己的生活。开始的几个星期、几个月，甚至几年，你会意识到大学生活并没有为你如何面对实实在在的生活作好准备，所以你不知道该拿自己如何是好。
