中英双语新闻——206 Epic adaptation, or sex cliché

 　　The highly anticipated movie White Deer Plain, hit Chinese movie theaters on September 15, two days following its original release.

 

　　万众期待的电影《白鹿原》于在9月15号登陆各大影院，相比原定上映日期整整延后两天。

 

　　Directed by Wang Quan’an, the movie is an adaptation of Chen Zhongshi’s 1993 historical novel by the same title, which is an epic¹ tale of two peasant families in White Deer Plain, a peaceful village in the province of Shaanxi.

 

　　这部由王全安执导的电影改编自陈忠实1993年创作的同名历史小说。书中讲述了生活在陕西宁静村庄——白鹿原的两个农民家族之间史诗般的故事。

 

　　Tracing the Bai and the Lu families from 1910 to 1938, the movie observes, from a peasant’s point of view, the political changes that took place in the country.

 

　　这部电影以一名农民的视角讲述了白、鹿两家从1910年到1938年间的恩怨情仇，展现了中国的政治变革。

 

　　If you have seen the movie’s trailer, you will know that explicit² sexual scenes play a big role in it–a third of the two minute trailer is dominated by sex scenes involving the character of Tian Xiao’e (played by Zhang Yuqi), a beautiful, bold and capricious young woman.

 

　　如果看过这部电影的预告片，你会发现露骨的床戏成为该片的重头戏。在时长2分钟的预告片中，有三分之一的场景都是田小娥（张雨绮扮演）的床戏。剧中，田小娥这个角色是位大胆、刁蛮的美丽少妇。

 

　　Although there are few sex scenes toward the end of the 150-minute movie, Tian plays a key role in the story’s development, and her sexual attitude is constantly under scrutiny³ as she gets involved with a series of men.

 

　　尽管这部150分钟的电影从头到尾时几乎没出现过什么床戏镜头，但是田小娥这个角色却是推动故事情节发展的关键人物。当她周旋于几个男人之间时，她的性观念不断被审视。

 

　　It makes people wonder: what does sex have to do with such an epic piece of work?

 

　　人们不禁要问：性爱与这样一部史诗巨著到底有多大的关系？

 

　　To a certain extent, it is in accordance with the original novel. When Chen’s novel was first published in 1993, it sparked controversy⁴ for its frank sex descriptions.

 

　　在某种程度上，电影十分忠实于原著小说。1993年陈忠实的这部小说首次出版时，就因其中露骨的性爱描写而引发争论。

 

　　“It’s not an erotic novel, but there is a need for such characters, because marriage, family and sex are indispensable when deconstructing one’s life,” Chen explained during a Q&A session on the 20th anniversary of the book’s publication on September 12.

 

　　9月12日恰逢《白鹿原》出版二十周年庆典会，陈忠实在提问环节中解释道：“这不是一部色情小说，这些都是人物需要，因为当你解构一个人时，婚姻、家庭和性是必不可少的途径。”

 

　　Chen, who called the novel “an artistic⁵ experiment”, added that by showing the wildness and human desire of some characters, the sexual content gives more humanity to the historical background–but it is never the main focus.

 

　　陈忠实称这部小说是“一次艺术上的尝试”。他表示，通过展现一些角色的野蛮与人性欲望，这部分情色内容能够为这个大历史背景增添一些人性色彩。但情色绝非主要着眼点。

 

　　In the novel, which covers a longer time period than the movie (from the 1910s to 1950s), the character of Tian, who appears most in the sex scenes, dies halfway⁶ through the story.

 

　　小说比电影的时间跨度要大得多，电影中讲述的是发生在20世纪前十年到20世纪50年代的事情。原著中，出现在众多床戏场景中的田小娥在故事发展到一半时便去世了。

 

　　In the movie, however, director Wang focuses on Tian a little too much. Maybe this is because Zhang is his wife, but Wang unwittingly makes the movie fall into the “sex sells” cliché.

 

　　然而，在电影中，导演王全安增加了田小娥的戏份，有些过了头。尽管这或许是因为妻子张雨绮的关系，但是不经意间，导演王全安就让这部电影落入“情色噱头”的俗套中。

 

　　“To pull off such a long and complex story is not easy to do,” movie critic Wang Siwei commented on his Sina Weibo. “There are many details, characters and storylines in the novel that Wang had to skip given the limited time of the movie.”

 

　　影评人王思维（音译）在其新浪微博中写道：“把这样一部情节复杂的长篇故事拍成电影绝非易事。小说中有很多的细节、人物角色以及故事线索。考虑到电影的时长，王全安不得不有所取舍。”

 

　　“He has made his own version of White Deer Plain, aided by the book’s solid foundation. And he just decided⁷ to go with the main character of Tian.”

 

　　“在原著的基础上，王全安打造出了个人版本的《白鹿原》。他决定把田小娥设为主角。”

1 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

2 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

3 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。