中英双语新闻——66 Why remaking TV classics stinks?

 　　Princess Huanzhu comes back on the small screen after a decade. But wait, it’s not the same old princess.

 

　　10年后，《还珠格格》重返荧屏！但别高兴的太早，此“格格”已非彼“格格”了。

 

　　The rehashed 90s classic, with a revised storyline and a new cast, is almost pissing off the whole country.

 

　　这部90年代经典剧集的翻拍版本，凭借改编的故事情节，全新的演员阵容，惹毛了几乎全国的观众。

 

　　A survey on Sina Weibo shows that 94 percent of respondents voted against the new version.

 

　　新浪微博的一项调查显示，94%的受访者对新版《还珠》投反对票。

 

　　“There can be only one Princess Huanzhu, and that is Zhao Wei,” claimed Jiang Yue, 24, a new graduate from Sichuan University.

 

　　四川大学24岁的研究生新生蒋越（音译）说道：“只有一个还珠格格，那就是赵薇。”

 

　　The new Princess Huanzhu is not the exception which proves the rule: as a general thing, remaking classic TV shows is a truly bad idea.

 

　　新版《还珠格格》毫无例外地证明了一条定律：一般来说，翻拍经典电视剧是个彻头彻尾的坏主意。

 

　　TV shows based on old classics can often end up falling flat.

 

　　翻拍经典老片而成的电视剧常常会落入平庸与俗套。

 

　　The remake of A Dream of Red Mansions¹ last year, for example, was savaged² by critics and savvy³ viewers across the country. In the United States, there was Knight⁴ Rider and Melrose Place. Neither of the modern remakes of the previous hits got a second season because of poor ratings.

 

　　例如，去年翻拍的电视剧《红楼梦》，就受到了全国上下的评论家以及心明眼亮的观众的猛烈抨击。在美国，同样的悲剧也发生在《霹雳游侠》和《飞跃情海》这两部剧集上。这两部曾经的畅销片，其现代翻拍版本都因收视率极差而与第二季无缘。

 

　　And it’s not because of bad talent or poor execution. Professor Robert J. Thompson of Syracuse University, New York, believed most TV remakes fail because the producers missed what it was about these shows that made them a hit in the first place.

 

　　而造成这种局面的罪魁祸首并不是差劲的明星或拙劣的制作。纽约雪城大学的罗伯特 J. 汤姆生教授相信，大多数翻拍剧集之所以失败是因为制片人忽视了那些最初让这些剧集火起来的因素。

 

　　“The identity of a hit TV series is so intimately tied to the original stars, style and attitude that made it a hit in the first place that any deviation⁵ from that creates a real sense of aesthetic⁶ dissonance,” said Thompson to The New York Times.

 

　　汤姆生教授在接受《纽约时报》的采访时说道：“一部热门电视剧的认知度和最初使其获得成功的原班演员，制作风格以及拍摄态度紧密相连，任何与这些因素相背离的因素都会造成审美上的不协调感。”

 

　　Jessica Rae, lead writer of the US TV blog Small Screen Scoop⁷, takes it further. She says much of the problem lies with romancing the past.

 

　　美国电视节目博客《影视特讯》的首席写手——杰西卡?瑞伊更为深入地探讨了这个问题。她说问题很大程度上源于对过去经典情节的过分渲染。

 

　　Even if an original show wasn’t that good, it can seem almost sacrilege to have new people playing these parts. “We remember it as better than it was, so it’s hard to compete,” Rae says.

 

　　即使原剧并不怎么样，让新演员来演绎这些故事仍然像是一种近乎亵渎的行为。瑞伊说道：“在我们的记忆中，那些老剧集显得比它们实际上的要好，所以新剧集很难与其竞争。”

 

　　When the entertainment industry constantly messes up our memories of classic shows, people question if there is a huge crisis of new ideas in the industry.

 

　　当娱乐业不停扰乱我们对经典剧集的记忆时，人们开始怀疑这个产业是否存在着巨大的创意危机。

 

　　“Remaking old shows because you have no new original ideas or innovation is cheesy,” said an Internet user named Alexandra Nakelski. “All of those remakes are a sad testimony⁸ to the death of creativity.”

 

　　“翻拍旧剧集要么是因为缺乏新创意，要么创新过头，沦为劣等，”一位名叫亚历山大?耐科斯基的网民说道，“所有的翻拍片无一例外，都悲怆地验证了创意已死这个事实。”

 

　　Well, there’s only one way that the entertainment industry can strike back: give us some really good, new, original shows, please.

 

　　这样一来，娱乐业唯一能反败为胜的方式是：请给我们一些真正优秀，新颖，原创的电视作品！

1 mansions   

n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their mansions. 第五大道上的富翁们已经出去避暑，空出的宅第都已锁好了门窗，钉上了木板。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! 啊，那些高楼大厦、华灯、香水、藏金收银的闺房还有摆满山珍海味的餐桌！ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

2 savaged   

（动物）凶狠地攻击（或伤害）( savage的过去式和过去分词 )； 残害； 猛烈批评； 激烈抨击

参考例句：

• The horse threw its rider to the ground and savaged him. 那马将骑马者摔在地上，乱踢他。
• The drink had savaged him. 酒使他变得野蛮。

3 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

4 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

5 deviation   

n.背离，偏离；偏差，偏向；离题

参考例句：

• Deviation from this rule are very rare.很少有违反这条规则的。
• Any deviation from the party's faith is seen as betrayal.任何对党的信仰的偏离被视作背叛。

6 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

7 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

8 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。