【英语听和读】憨豆先生

 William: Hello and welcome to Entertainment – I’m William Kremer.

[FX – canned laughter]

Well, the comedy that has made Mr Bean popular around the world doesn’t

quite work on the radio, since the main character – Mr Bean - doesn’t actually

say anything. It is what we call visual comedy – jokes that you watch, rather

than listen to.

This month sees the release of a new Mr Bean film, Mr Bean’s Holiday. It’s

been a long time since the first Mr Bean film – ten years! But it’s been over

fifty years since a film with a very similar name emerged¹ from France – Mr.

Hulot’s Holiday, or to give it its French title, Les Vacances de M. Hulot.

We’re going to listen to part of an interview with the creator of Mr Bean,

Rowan Atkinson. He describes his reaction to seeing M. Hulot when he was

seventeen… and he uses two really great descriptive expressions. See if you

can catch them:

R. Atkinson: Les Vacances de M. Hulot, I remember, I remember watching when I was

seventeen at school and it was a, it was an eye-opening and jaw²-dropping

experience for me.

William: It was a what…? 

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R. Atkinson: Les Vacances de M. Hulot, I remember, I remember watching when I was

seventeen at school and it was a, it was an eye-opening and jaw-dropping

experience for me.

William: An eye-opening and jaw-dropping experience – do you have the image of

someone’s eyes opening really really wide? Or the lower part of their mouth –

their jaw – dropping to the floor? Good! Now think about what might cause

this kind of reaction and you’ll get an idea of the meaning of these phrases. If

something is eye-opening, it makes you think in a new way or opens you to

very different experiences. For example, if you travel to another country, that

can be an eye-opening experience. We can use this image in a number of ways

– for example, ‘I went to see an interesting exhibition yesterday; it really

opened my eyes to some new things’. Or you might say, ‘It was a real eyeopener’.

 

If something is jaw-dropping, it is astonishing or amazing. For example, you

might say, ‘The Great Wall of China is jaw-dropping’. Or you could say, ‘Mt.

Kilimanjaro is jaw-droppingly beautiful’.

STING³

William: So Mr. Hulot’s Holiday was an eye-opener for Rowan Atkinson. In the next

clip⁴, Atkinson describes what he found so astonishing about the film, which

starred and was directed by Jacques Tati. He contrasts the French film with the

Hollywood comedies of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd:

R. Atkinson: I mean the very nature of the traditional silent comics in Hollywood – the

Chaplins and the Keatons and Harold Lloyd and people – is that what they did

was, you know, it was not just visual but physical, you know, lots of stunts⁵ and 

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falling over and dancing and… and what I liked about what Jacques Tati did, it

just had a slower, sort of more European flavour and tone⁶ and pace to it.

William: He said that American comedies were very physical, with lots of stunts and

falling over. Physical means, to do with the body, so the Hollywood comics

did things with their bodies to make people laugh, like falling over. Jacques

Tati, being a European, had a different style. I like the three words that

Atkinson uses to contrast M. Hulot from the American films.

R. Atkinson: … it just had a slower, sort of more European flavour and tone and pace to it.

William: Flavour, tone and pace. When we talk about tone in art, we usually mean a

work of art’s underlying⁷ emotion or feeling. For example, we can say that

something has ‘an optimistic tone’, ‘a serious tone’, ‘a happy tone’ and so on.

The word flavour, we usually use to describe the way something tastes – e.g.

‘The sauce had a spicy⁸ flavour’. Rowan Atkinson is using the word to mean

something similar to tone – the flavour of the film means the overall feeling

that the film gives the audience.

Pace is simpler. The pace of a film means how quickly things happen. If the

story moves very quickly it has a fast pace, and if it moves very slowly, it has a

slow pace.

European films, of course, have a slower pace than American ones. Rowan

Atkinson says that the new Mr Bean film is much closer in tone to European

films like Mr Hulot’s Holiday, than American ones.

R. Atkinson: And, and what I liked about what Jacques Tati did, it just had a slower, sort of

more European flavour and tone and pace to it. And that I think is, is, is what 

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distinguishes⁹ Mr Bean’s Holiday from the first Mr Bean movie – is that I think

it is something which is far more European in tone, whereas¹⁰ the first movie

was definitely American.

William: So – whether you like Mr Bean’s Holiday as much as the first Mr Bean film

will depend whether you like films with a fast pace or a slower one, with an

American tone or a European one. It’s released in the UK on 30th March.

Remember that you can download this programme, and hear today’s

vocabulary again by going to the Entertainment website on BBC Learning

English dot com. Goodbye. 

1 emerged   

vi. 浮现, (由某种状态)脱出, (事实)显现出来

参考例句：

• They emerged from the church into the bright daylight. 他们走出教堂来到明亮的日光下。
• The swimmer emerged from the lake. 游泳者从湖水中浮出来。

2 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

3 sting   

vt.激怒，刺痛，刺伤，蛰伤；n.刺痛，刺伤

参考例句：

• Most flies do not sting.大多数苍蝇不叮人。
• The scorpion has a sting that can be deadly.蝎子有可以致命的螫针。

4 clip   

n.夹子，别针，弹夹，片断；vt.夹住，修剪

参考例句：

• May I clip out the report on my performance?我能把报道我的文章剪下来吗？
• She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.她用曲别针把文件别在一起。

5 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 tone   

n.语气，音调，气度，色调；vt.（up）增强

参考例句：

• There was a tone of mockery in his voice.他说话的语气含有嘲笑的意味。
• Holmes used an informal,chatty tone in his essays.霍姆斯在文章中语气轻松随便。

7 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

8 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

9 distinguishes   

辨别，区别( distinguish的第三人称单数 )； 使出众； （凭任何感觉器官）识别出； 看清

参考例句：

• He has that je ne sais quoi that distinguishes a professional from an amateur. 他有那种难以言表的特质，体现出他是专业而非业余的。
• It is in a storm that a capable skipper distinguishes himself. 暴风雨中才识好船长。

10 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。