听力来源：NPR，仅用于个人英语学习。
原文链接：https://www.npr.org/2019/06/06/730408514/happy-birthday-tetris-35-years-later-youre-as-addictive-and-tetromino-y-as-ever
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内容简介：风靡全球的游戏——俄罗斯方块，今年35岁了。听听俄罗斯方块之父的访谈。
纽约，1990年6月，任天堂游戏玩家正在玩俄罗斯方块。拍摄者：Richard Drew /Associated Press
Happy Birthday, Tetris. 35 Years Later You're As Addictive And Tetromino-y As Ever
June 6, 2019
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: If you had happened to peek into my college dorm room freshman year early '90s, you would have witnessed my roommates and me glued to our computer screens completely obsessed not with overdue term papers and problem sets but with a game called Tetris. Turns out we were not alone. Today Tetris is recognized as one of the most popular video games of all time. Thirty-five years ago, it was a side project for a Russian software developer working in Moscow. That software developer was Alexey Pajitnov, and he is here now. Welcome.
ALEXEY PAJITNOV: Hello.
KELLY: Hello. I suppose I should start by saying happy anniversary. Tetris is celebrating its 35th birthday today.
PAJITNOV: Could you believe it? It was like yesterday (laughter).
KELLY: Well, I want to hear the story of how you came up with it, but I guess I should start by explaining for people who, unlike me and my college roommates, were not completely addicted to it at some point in their life that Tetris is - it's a very simple game. There's no, you know, asteroids to dodge or aliens chasing you. It's blocks that fall from the top of the screen, and you manipulate them, spin them around to create lines. And if you do it fast enough, then you clear your screen. And if you don't, then game over. Have I basically explained that accurately?
PAJITNOV: More or less yes.
KELLY: Where were you when you came up with this idea?
PAJITNOV: I was in Moscow. I was young developer, young programmer. It was a very fascinating time for me because I got something which looks like a personal computer now.
KELLY: Yeah. What kind of computer were you working on?
PAJITNOV: It was kind of ugly Russian clone called Electronika 60. So my friends just made it up out of spare parts or something.
KELLY: (Laughter) OK.
PAJITNOV: The prototype of Tetris was the board game called Pentomino.
KELLY: Pentomino - go on.
PAJITNOV: Yeah. I love those puzzle all my life. And once I decide to put on computer some to play our game based on it. And when I start to program it, the idea of real-time game with those pieces came to my mind, and that's how Tetris was born.
KELLY: As I understand it - course you came up with this game. This is 1980s in the Soviet Union. You eventually - you lost the rights for a while and then eventually regained the rights after the Cold War ended. Is that right?
PAJITNOV: Well, I granted my rights for 10 years to the Soviets, to my job place. That's the only way the foreign agreement could be done.
KELLY: I should mention you in the intervening years have left the Soviet Union you live now in the United States. Do you own the rights to Tetris now? Or who does?
PAJITNOV: Yes, I do. It was my partner. Finally in '95, '96, the original right came back to me, and we maintain Tetris brand since.
KELLY: What do you think explains the ongoing popularity of this game given that now people can play games with incredibly complicated, you know, computer-generated graphics and yet people still love just spinning blocks around?
PAJITNOV: The software and hardware are changing dramatically, but our brains do not. So we still love what we used to love many, many centuries ago.
KELLY: We still like playing with blocks as little kids, I suppose. So why not do it on the screen?
PAJITNOV: So Tetris is very attractive because it has a constructed spirit. You feel that you create something rather than destroy, you know?
KELLY: Yeah.
PAJITNOV: Yeah.
KELLY: Do you still play?
PAJITNOV: Oh, yes, I do.
KELLY: How many hours would you wager you have spent on Tetris?
PAJITNOV: Not that much.
KELLY: No?
PAJITNOV: I have to catch up with the other games as well.(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: Alexey Pajitnov, thank you so much.
PAJITNOV: Thank you. Have a nice day.
KELLY: He joined us via Skype. He is the creator of Tetris, which, as you heard, turns 35 years old today.
知识点笔记
1.这个开头很精彩，读完脑子里就会浮现出90年代初年轻人痴迷俄罗斯方块的情景：If you had happened to peek into my college dorm room freshman year early '90s, you would have witnessed my roommates and me glued to our computer screens completely obsessed not with overdue term papers and problem sets but with a game called Tetris.
glue:胶水、粘
glued to computer screens/television:目不转睛、紧盯显示屏/电视
e.g.He was glued to the TV when the Olympics were on.
2.come up with: to think of an idea, answer etc:
e.g.1.Is that the best excuse you can come up with?
2.We've been asked to come up with some new ideas.
3.What is Tetris?俄罗斯方块是什么？
文中是这样描述的（向别人介绍俄罗斯方块时可以参考)：
"It's blocks that fall from the top of the screen, and you manipulate them, spin them around to create lines. And if you do it fast enough, then you clear your screen. And if you don't, then game over."
4.board game:棋盘游戏，是桌上游戏的一类，指将图文符号画在一块硬板上作为记录工具的游戏。除了必备的图版外，也可能用及棋子、骰子、筹码、卡片、小板块、数据栏等种类繁多的配件。
tetromino：四格骨牌（俄罗斯方块里的小方块就是这一类，所以这个游戏叫Tetris）
pentomino：五格骨牌
domino: 多米诺骨牌
5.prototype：原型、样本
e.g.1.That's half what we spent developing the prototype.
2.My partner, WaIter, is wearing our prototype racing gear.
6.intervening: An intervening period of time is one that separates two events or points in time.(时间段)介于中间的,发生于其间的
e.g.1.During those intervening years Bridget had married her husband Robert...
2.I had spent the intervening time in London, with Gretchen.
7.俄罗斯方块之父对于为什么人们一直喜爱他的这款游戏的解释，很有道理：
"The software and hardware are changing dramatically, but our brains do not. So we still love what we used to love many, many centuries ago.
...So Tetris is very attractive because it has a constructed spirit. You feel that you create something rather than destroy, you know?"
8.最后主持人问他，大概花多少时间在玩俄罗斯方块上？回答让人大吃一惊"Not that much." 而他的解释又让人会心一笑："I have to catch up with the other games as well."
catch up with:追上
e.g.At the moment our technology is more advanced, but other countries are catching up with us.
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