Monalisa Smile《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》视频精讲之三

影片对白

Betty: What is that?

Katherine: You tell me. Carcass by Soutine. 1925.

Susan Delacorte: It's not on the syllabus¹.

Katherine: No; it's not. Is it any good? Come on; ladies. There's no wrong answer. There's also no textbook telling you what to think. It's not that easy; is it?

Betty: All right. No. It's not good. In fact; I wouldn't even call it art. It's grotesque².

Connie Baker³: Is there a rule against art being grotesque?

Giselle Levy⁴: I think there's something aggressive about it...and erotic.

Betty: To you; everything is erotic.

Giselle: Everything is erotic.

Katherine: Girls.

Susan: Aren't there standards? 

Betty: Of course there are. Otherwise a tacky velvet⁵ painting could be equated⁶ to a Rembrandt.

Connie: My uncle Ferdie has two tacky velvet paintings. He loves those clowns.

Betty: There are standards; technique; composition; color; even subject. So if you're suggesting that rotted side of meat is art... much less good art; then what are we going to learn?

Katherine: Just that. You have outlined our new syllabus; Betty. Thank you. What is art? What makes it good or bad? And who decides? Next slide; please. Twenty five years ago someone thought this was brilliant.

Connie: I can see that.

Betty: Who?

Katherine: My mother. I painted it for her birthday.

Katherine: Next slide. This is my mom. Is it art?

Susan Delacorte: It's a snapshot.

Katherine: If I told you Ansel Adams had taken it, would that make a difference?

Betty: Art isn't art until someone says it is.

Katherine: It's art!

Betty: The right people.

Katherine: Who are they?

Giselle: Betty Warren! So lucky we have one right here.

Betty: Screw you.

Katherine: Could you go back to the Soutine, please? Just look at it again. Look beyond the paint. Let us try to open our minds to a new idea. All right; back to chapter three. Has anyone read it? Okay.

妙词佳句，活学活用

1. grotesque

这是这部电影里经常碰到的一个单词，意思是“(风格)奇异，古怪，荒诞的”。我们来看个例子：Everything seemed strange, so tawdry and grotesque. 一切都很新奇，很花哨，有点滑稽可笑。

在口语中还有一些其它常用的词来表示“奇怪的”这一意思的词，出现频率都很高。比如 weird⁷，如：Sabrina went out with Linus? That's too weird. 莎宾娜和莱纳斯出去约会了？简直太奇怪了！

Strange，这是一个大熟词，就不举例子了。

Odd，如 It's odd that she should have kept such an ugly name as Ellen. 真奇怪她居然一直用埃伦这么个难听的名字。

Bizarre，如：For him, it was a bizarre and tedious experience. 对他来说这是一次奇特而又乏味的经历。

2. aggressive

这个单词不知道怎么回事，很容易被大家记住的意思是“侵略性的，攻击性的”，因而我们经常把它当作贬义词来使用。但是在英语中，尤其在美语中，这个词还有另一个常用意思是“大胆的，积极进取的”。所以这个词在本片段中的意思就不是侵略性的，而是“前卫的，大胆的”。
e.g. He is an aggressive young executive. 他是一个进取心很强的年轻管理员。

3. much less

这是一个固定表达，意思是“何况，更不要说……” 相当于let alone，例如：
1) I didn't even see your brother, much less speak to him. 我连见都没见过你弟弟，更别说跟他说话了。
2) I dare not speak to him, much less express my feelings to him. 我连话都不敢跟他说，更别说是表达感情了。

4. look beyond the paint

此句的意思是：别拘泥于图像本身。
很明显，这个句子中的关键词是beyond，在这里提出来是希望大家注意这个单词的意思在翻译的时候非常灵活，在本句里取的就是这个单词的基本词义：超越。我们可以看看一些其它的例子：
1）It's quite beyond me why she married such a heavy smoker⁸.
我实在无法理解为什么她会嫁给这样一个烟鬼。
2) Understanding this article is beyond my capacity. 我看不懂这篇文章。
3) The rumor⁹ is beyond belief. 这谣言不可信。

文化面面观

1. Soutine

 

Chaim Soutine， (1893-1943)，立陶宛裔的法国表现主义画家。他的作品多为令人不安的扭曲的人物或令人厌恶的主题。他的绘画作品有《牛肋肉》(1925年），即本片中的 Carcass of Beef，和《领班》（1928年）。

 

2. Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Ansel Easton Adams, American photographer, known for his black-and-white photographs of Yosemite National Park, the California coast, and other wilderness¹⁰ areas of the American West. Adams's painstaking¹¹ control of tonality and detail made him unequalled as a technical master of the black and white print.

Autumn moon by Ansel Adams

 

Adams published more than two dozen books, including My Camera in the National Parks (1950), Ansel Adams: Images 1923-1974 (1974), Photographs of the Southwest (1976), and Yosemite and the Range of Light (1979). Shortly after his death, Ansel Adams: An Autobiography¹² was published in 1985.

 

 

 

 

思想火花

影片中的这个片段是Katherine在影片中上的第二节课，因为第一次课上得相当狼狈，她是下定决心在这次课当中扳回一局。但是我们也能看到她并不是为了跟学生较劲才这样安排自己的课，这堂课的目的非常明确，就是为了告诉学生几句话：Look beyond the paint. Let us try to open our minds to a new idea. 艺术史不光是对艺术史死记硬背的一门课，也应该有自己对艺术的理解，所以从这节课开始，Katherine一直带着她的学生们体会近一百年来的艺术。

考考你

用今日所学将下面的句子翻译成汉语。

1) "It's grotesque", he muttered, "you can't expect me to accept this!"
2) Being passive and receptive rather than active and aggressive, Carrie accepted the situation. Her state seemed satisfactory enough.
3) This work is beyond my grasp.

Monalisa Smile 《蒙娜丽莎的微笑》精讲之二 考考你 参考答案

１. 阿甘发现捕虾是件十分困难的事情。
Forrest Gump found shrimping is very tough.

2. 我吓得瘫倒在她面前，语无伦次地嗫嚅起来。
I fell to the ground before her, babbling¹³ confusedly in my terror.

3. 我瞎说的，你别当真。
I'm babbling. Don't take it seriously.

４. 这家饭店很豪华。你想吃什么他们就有什么。
This restaurant is very fancy. You name it and they've had it.

1 syllabus   

n.教学大纲，课程大纲

参考例句：

• Have you got next year's syllabus?你拿到明年的教学大纲了吗？
• We must try to diversify the syllabus to attract more students.我们应该使教学大纲内容多样化，可以多吸引学生。

2 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

5 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

6 equated   

adj.换算的v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的过去式和过去分词 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• Production costs for the movie equated to around 30% of income. 这部电影的制作成本相当于收益的30%。
• Politics cannot be equated with art. 政治不能同艺术等同起来。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

9 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

10 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

11 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

12 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

13 babbling   

n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密

参考例句：

• I could hear the sound of a babbling brook. 我听得见小溪潺潺的流水声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Infamy was babbling around her in the public market-place. 在公共市场上，她周围泛滥着对她丑行的种种议论。 来自英汉文学 - 红字