The Lake House《触不到的恋人》（视频精讲之四）

影片对白

Henry: Looks smaller. When did he complete it?

Alex: You weren't born yet and I was 8.

Henry: Corbusier meets Frank Lloyd Wright.

Alex: You know dad played cards with both of them, sharing a joint¹.

Henry: Yeah, well...

Alex: Can't swim. There should be a stairway down to the water, a porch, a deck. Here you're in a... in a box. A glass box with a view to everything that's around you, but you can't touch it. No interconnection between you and what you're looking at.

Henry: I don't know. You know, he's got this big maple² growing right in the middle of the house.

Alex: Containment³. Containment and control. This house is about ownership, not connection. I mean, it's beautiful. Seductive, even. But it's incomplete. It was all about him. Dad knew how to build a house, not a home. But you know. I think he wants us to do what he couldn't. But admitting that would mean admitting that he came up short in some way; that he could do more. And that tortures him.

Henry: You remember being here with mom?

Alex: I remember she tried to make it work here... with us... with him.

Henry: Hey, what about Visionary Vanguard?

Alex: What about it?

Henry: Come on. You can't convince me you're gonna be happy building saltboxes for tourists. Nobody's gonna admire you for that.

Alex: Admire me for that?

Henry: Yeah, Visionary Vanguard. That's your idea.

Alex: I can't. But you can keep the name.

Henry: No, come on. It's gonna be you and me.

Alex: Henry, I'm sorry I can't. I just...

Henry: What?

Alex: I've got other plans.

Henry: You have a girlfriend?

Alex: No... no.

Henry: What's that? You hesitated.

Alex: No, I didn't hesitate. Come on, man. I don't have any time for that.

Henry: What does time have to do with it?

Alex: Oh, you're gonna think I'm crazy.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. joint

这是一个我们都很熟悉的单词，表示“结合点，关节”等等。但是在这里如果我们按照这些意思去理解，就没办法理解这个句子的意思以及它和上面一句话的逻辑关系。上一句台词是：你知道的，老爸过去在这里和他们俩一起打过牌，如果joint取它的常用意思，“共享相关联的东西”好像说不过去。这里的joint表示一个特殊的意思：“大麻” 或者“含大麻的香烟”，表示他们曾在一起“打牌，抽大麻”。

2. seductive 诱人的

我们在电影里可以学到一些教科书上不太容易出现的单词，比如这一个。其实这个词可以表示非常好的意思，当然也可以是贬义的，尤其是在形容女人的容貌时。我们来看一些例子：

1) Her figure was slighter and therefore more seductive than Natalie.
她的身段比较苗条，因此比娜塔丽更加诱人。
2) She shouldn't wear her rather seductive purple dress for the journey.
她不应该穿这件相当诱惑人的紫衣服去。
3) This company gives us a seductive offer on engineering the merger⁴ with us.
这家公司在计划跟我们的合并时给我们提出了有诱惑力的条件。

3. come up (short)

这是一个有很多意思的短语，在口语中很常用，它的意思有：
1) 走近，靠近
He came up to me and said: "Come on, John!"
2) 发生，出现
I was late-something came up at home.
3) 讨论
This subject came up at a news conference in Beijing today.
4) 成为，出现
The silk dress came up beautiful. 这件丝绸衣服(洗后)显得很漂亮。

在电影里，come up的意思和我们上面提到的四种好像都不太一样，但是又有相似的地方。Come 和short连用，通常是表示“手头紧，缺钱”。但是在这里Alex是说他们的父亲在做父亲和丈夫方面“有欠缺，不合格”。

文化面面观

1. Corbusier

Le Corbusier, Swiss-born French architect and writer. The most powerful advocate of the modernist school, he designed numerous functional⁵ concrete buildings and high-rise residential⁶ complexes.
柯勃彦，瑞士裔法国建筑学家和作家，现代主义学派最有力的倡导者，他设计了大量的功能主义混凝土建筑和高楼住宅区。

代表作品：The Pilgrimage Church of Notre-Dame-du-Haut

2. Frank Lloyd Wright

A Scottish-born American reformer who lectured nationwide on women's rights, birth control, and public education and wrote Views of Society and Manners in America (1823).
莱特，弗兰克·劳埃德1869-1959, 美国建筑师，他基于自然形式的特殊建筑风格极大地影响了现代建筑业。他的设计包括私人住宅，在威斯康辛州的拉辛市的约翰逊制腊公司办公大楼(1939年），和纽约的古根海姆博物馆(1943-1959年）。代表作品：

Hills/DeCaro House in Chicago

Guggenheim Museum, New York

 

思想火花

这一段围绕着亚历克斯和父亲的关系展开，凸现了两人在事业（表层矛盾）和家庭（内在矛盾）这两方面上的分歧，而湖畔小屋则是这两个矛盾的联接点。从职业性质来看，父子俩虽然都是建筑师，但身为业界传奇人物的父亲，只建造精雕细刻，有艺术气息的高级建筑，儿子有才气却没野心，宁愿打造便宜实惠的低档住房，他俩的这种不同直接反射到了对湖畔小屋意义的理解上。对父亲而言，小屋是他造来给妻子的礼物，是他诠释爱的方式，可对儿子来说，他能给母亲的只是图有其表的艺术品，而非实实在在的家。

考考你

用今日所学将下面的句子译成英语。

1. 她的脸上露出迷人的微笑.
2. 不管他怎么尝试, 电话还是打不了.
3. 在医院工作几年以后, 约翰发现自己的确不是一个称职的医生.

The Lake House《触不到的恋人》（精讲之三）考考你 参考答案

1. 这辆摩托车真是棒极了！
This is a hell of a good motorcar.

2. －你真打算去西藏吗？
   －那是当然！
--Do you really plan to go to Tibet?
--You bet!

3. 要是有什么便宜货，她就去抢购。
If there are any bargains going, she'll snap them up.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

3 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

4 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

5 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。