导演:小黄人这么蠢只能是男孩

 　　For anybody who has ever questioned the lack of female Minions¹, filmmaker Pierre Coffin² has some answers for you.

　　为什么小黄人（Minions）中没有女孩子呢？如果你也曾这样质疑，就来听听电影导演皮艾尔·柯芬（Pierre Coffin）的回答吧。

　　The gender³ and sexuality of the tiny yellow troublemakers⁴ who first appeared in “Despicable Me" have been debated since the animated⁵ franchise’s original film was released in 2010.

　　小黄人最早出现在动画片《卑鄙的我》（“Despicable Me" ）中，自2010年这部系列动画最早的电影上映以来，小黄人的性别与性的问题便一直为人们所讨论。

　　One widespread theory was that Minions were gender neutral, since they don both traditionally male and female attire⁶.

　　一种普遍的观点认为小黄人是中性的，因为它们既穿传统的男性服装也穿传统的女性服装。

　　Other fans viewed them as boys who occasionally cross-dress: all of the Minions have male names, such as Stuart, Kevin, and Bob.

　　其他的粉丝认为它们只是偶尔男扮女装的男孩子。你看它们的名字都是男孩子的：斯图尔特（Stuart），凯文（Kevin）还有鲍勃（Bob）。

　　导演:小黄人这么蠢只能是男孩

　　Now, as the "Despicable Me" spinoff movie "Minions" hits theaters, the filmmaker has spoken, and it’s official: all Minions are, in fact, male.

　　当下《卑鄙的我》衍生电影《小黄人》正在各大影院热映，其制作人开口称，这次可是官方消息：实际上所有的小黄人都是男孩子。

　　Why make such a choice in a time when male-dominated children’s movies are so rare?

　　为什么在男性主导的儿童电影如此罕见的情况下做出这样的选择呢？

　　“Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldn’t imagine Minions being girls,” Coffin told The Wrap. According to the French animator, all of the title characters are voiced by male actors.

　　柯芬在接受The Wrap采访时说：“我无法想象这帮时常犯傻的小蠢货会是女孩子。”据这位法国动画制作人称，影片中所有小黄人角色都是由男演员配音的。

　　The film is not without female characters, of course: the villain⁷, Scarlett Overkill, is voiced by Sandra Bullock.

　　当然，这部影片还是有女性角色的：大反派斯嘉丽·奥佛吉尔（Scarlett Overkill），由桑德拉·布洛克（Sandra Bullock）为其献声。

　　But the gender imbalance has drawn⁸ criticism from some concerned parents.

　　但这一性别失衡的现象招致一些忧心忡忡的父母的批评。

　　“Why can’t we show children a fantasy world where gender equality exists? ‘Minions’ does the opposite, reproducing and in fact, managing to exaggerate sexism so that females have hardly any place or representation in the world at all,” writes one blogger, the mother of three girls. “I’m appalled⁹ and disgusted that movies like ‘Minions’ are allowed to be made in 2015 and shown to little kids, teaching a new generation to expect and accept a world where girls go missing.”

　　一名育有三个女儿的母亲在博客中写道：“我们为什么不能展现给孩子一个性别平等的梦幻世界呢？《小黄人》却正相反，重现（事实上是设法夸大）男性至上主义，女性在这样的世界根本没有任何地位及存在感。令我感到震惊和厌恶的是，像《小黄人》这样的电影在2015年居然还获许拍摄并放映给小孩子看，这只会教会新一代人去期待并接受一个没有女孩子的世界。”

　　Despite such concerns, “Minions” opened at the box office with record numbers this past weekend, garnering¹⁰ $115.2 million in North America and making it the second biggest animated film opening in history. The film has received mixed reviews from critics, earning a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

　　尽管人们有着这样那样的担忧，上周末开画，《小黄人》依然创下北美票房纪录，斩获1.152亿美元，创造动画电影开画史上第二高的好成绩。影评人对影片的评论褒贬不一，《小黄人》在烂番茄（Rotten Tomatoes）获得了54%的支持率。

　　Now only one question remains¹¹ on the minds of movie-goers: if there are no girl Minions, how does the species propagate?

　　现在只有一个问题令电影观众们百思不得其解了：如果小黄人都是男孩子，那小黄人是如何传宗接代的呢？

　　There are currently two competing fan theories to explain where the little guys come from.

　　这些小家伙们到底是哪儿来的？目前粉丝间主要有两种互相矛盾的说法对其作出解释。

　　One is that regular humans are turned into Minions by a Minionizer machine, a ray gun-like instrument similar to the one seen on the Minions ride at Universal Studios theme park. Another is that they are cloned from a single strand¹² of mutated DNA¹³, as suggested by one of the short films.

　　一种说法是小黄人是“小黄人制造机”将普通人类转变而来的。“小黄人制造机”是一个类似射线枪的机器，跟在环球影城主题公园的小黄人过山车那里可以看到的很像。另一种说法是根据其中一部小黄人短片推测，小黄人是由一个突变的DNA单链克隆而成的。

　　Coffin has declined to reveal the exact origin of the tiny yellow henchmen so far, but the Minions aren’t done telling their story yet: they’ll be back soon enough in “Despicable Me 3,” slated¹⁴ to open in June 2017.

　　柯芬至今还不愿向广大影迷们透露小黄人的确切起源，但是小黄人的故事并未告一段落，我们很快将会在《卑鄙的我3》中看到它们的身影，影片暂定于2017年6月份上映。

　　Vocabulary

　　sexism: 男性至上主义

　　henchman：忠实的追随者

1 minions   

n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者

参考例句：

• She delegated the job to one of her minions. 她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。 来自辞典例句
• I have been a slave to the vicious-those whom I served were his minions. 我当过那帮坏人的奴隶，我伺候的都是他的爪牙。 来自辞典例句

2 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 troublemakers   

n.惹是生非者，捣乱者( troublemaker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was employed to chuck out any troublemakers. 他受雇把捣乱者赶走。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers. 她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

6 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

7 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

8 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 garnering   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And at the forefront was Bryant, garnering nothing but praise from his coaches and teammates. 而站在最前沿的就是科比，他也因此获得了教练和队友的赞美。 来自互联网

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

13 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

14 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。