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Jacqueline Susann
Jacqueline Susann (August 20, 1918, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - September 21, 1974, New York City) was an American author known for her mass-appeal novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned a movie and a TV series.
At school, Susann was a lazy student, but she scored a 140 on a fifth-grade IQ test. Writing was always something she was praised for, but Susann was determined to become an actress. After she graduated from high school, her mother wanted her to become a teacher, but she moved to New York to pursue her original dream.
Arriving in New York City she got bit parts in movies, plays (such as The Women), and commercials. After marrying Irving Mansfield, a press agent on April 2, 1939, she began to get better jobs. She was placed in news columns, and soon was a regular on The Morey Amsterdam Show. She then got a spot in the Broadway show A Lady Says Yes starring Carole Landis and Jack Albertson. In 1955, she acquired her poodle Josephine and a contract to be the fashion commentator for Schiffli
Lace on Night Time, New York which ran 1-7 a.m. weeknights. She wrote, starred in, and produced two live commercials every night. She continued as the "Schiffli Girl" until 1961.
She tried writing a show business/drug exposé that she was going to call The Pink Dolls, but instead she wrote her first successful book, Every Night, Josephine! which was based on her experiences with her poodle, whom she sometimes dressed up in outfits to match her own. Although the book was widely viewed as a novelty, it sold well enough for her to publish her second book, Valley of the Dolls.
The book was an instant smash, and broke many sales records (at around 19 million copies, it has been cited as the best-selling novel ever.) The book also served as a cultural touchstone; though some people
considered Susann's writing style to be loud, bombastic and brash (an assessment Susann herself would have agreed with) and the subject matter inappropriate, the mixture of soap-opera style storytelling with bold, non-traditional characters - a model, a singer and a bombshell actress - reaped huge sales. It may have also been successful because some of the story was a roman á clef - the character Neely O'Hara was said to be loosely based on Judy Garland, while the character of Broadway legend Helen Lawson appeared to be a take on Ethel Merman, and starlet Jennifer North on Carole Landis. In the subsequent movie, she played a reporter at the scene of Jennifer's suicide.
Once she was famous, Mansfield devoted himself to supporting and helping her, acting as her agent. Susann went on to publish several more novels, all in a similar vein to "Dolls".
考考你
用今日所學將下面的句子譯成英語。
1．我們把車泊在路邊，去觀賞日落。
2．她的父母希望她能結婚、組建家庭。
Sex and the City《欲望城市》（精講之九）考考你 參考答案
1. Although most of our employees are satisfied with their jobs, half of them would probably jump ship if something becames available elsewhere.
盡管我們的大部分員工對工作還滿意，但如果有其他機會的話，一半的人很有可能跳槽。
2. The original star of the TV series jumped ship after the first season.
最早出演這部電視劇的影星在第一季后跳槽了。
3. Players had crossed the line by attacking fans on the pitch.
運動員們襲擊場地內的粉絲們，做得過分了。
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(英語點津Annabel編輯)
