中国人眼中的美国浪漫之都

 　　Seattleis rarely the first US city that comes to Chinese minds. In fact, few people could probably tell Washington state from Washington DC.

　　一提起美国的城市，很少有中国人会首先想到西雅图。其实，很多中国人可能根本分不清华盛顿州和华盛顿特区的区别。

　　Two romantic comedy films have irrevocably shaped the image of Xiyatu, as the city is known in Mandarin¹, among the Chinese public, and as a result it would not be a stretch to say Seattle is seen as the American capital of romance, somewhat akin² to how the world perceives Paris.

　　两部浪漫喜剧无疑塑造了西雅图在中国公众心里的形象。因此，可以毫不夸张地说，西雅图被国人视为美国浪漫之都，有几分类似世界对巴黎的看法。

　　In Sleepless³ in Seattle, Nora Ephron's 1993 runaway⁴ hit, Tom Hanks' character, Sam, moves with his young son from Chicago to Seattle for a fresh start after the death of his wife. The movie portrays⁵ the largest city in the Pacific Northwest not as a canyon⁶ of high-rises, but as a bohemian enclave of artists and designers, which possibly did not impress Chinese at the time.

　　在诺拉?艾芙伦1993年执导的热门电影《西雅图夜未眠》中，山姆（汤姆?汉克斯饰）在妻子离世后带着年幼的儿子从芝加哥搬到西雅图，寻求一个新生活的开始。影片将这座美国太平洋西北地区最大的城市塑造成了一个放荡不羁的艺术家和设计师的聚居之处，而非高楼林立之都。当时或许并未给中国观众留下什么印象。

　　电影里的西雅图：中国人眼中的美国浪漫之都

　　This image may have been altered recently by the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, which is largely set in the Seattle area and includes frequent aerial shots and the less-than-tasteful flaunting⁷ of wealth and kinky sex.

　　最近上映的小说改编影片《五十度灰》可能改变了人们对西雅图的认识。这部影片取景地大部分在西雅图，包含很多航拍、低俗的炫富和性虐的元素。

　　The narrative⁸ setup in Sleepless is almost Chinese to the core: Sam and Annie, played by Meg Ryan, fall in love before actually meeting each other in the flesh. Imagine all those Chinese couples in arranged marriages who were denied the right to face-to-face encounters before their wedding night. This story could have been their silver lining⁹ and inspiration.

　　《西雅图夜未眠》叙事设定很中式：山姆和安妮（梅格?瑞恩饰）在素未谋面的情况下就相爱了。试想那些接受包办婚姻的中国夫妇，在新婚之夜前都没有见面的权利。这部影片有可能给他们带来了一线希望和鼓舞。

　　By contrast, the Chinese movie Finding Mr. Right- the title in Mandarin translates as Beijing Meets Seattle - is very Hollywood in its dramatic arc. The 2013 sleeper¹⁰ hit employs the opposites-attract strategy: Boy meets girl and nothing works out, but we know they'll end up together because we've been conditioned by the genre¹¹.

　　相较之下，中国影片《北京遇上西雅图》（Finding Mr. Right）则极具好莱坞戏剧的风格。这部2013年的票房黑马采用了异性相吸的故事策略：男主与女主相遇却没有走到一起，但是我们知道他们最终一定会在一起，因为我们早已习惯了这种题材。

　　Like with Sleepless, the boy and girl in this story are no youngsters in puppy love. Frank, played by Wu Xiubo, is similar to Sam in that he has a child from a previous marriage, but Tang Wei's Jiajia has nothing in common with Annie. She is a gold digger who is in Seattle to give birth to a child by her wealthy, married boyfriend. The father, who remains¹² unseen, is a symbol of the nouveau riche, whose opulent residence stands in sharp contrast to middle-class living in the Emerald City.

　　与《西雅图夜未眠》一样，这部影片中的男女主角并非初涉爱情的年轻人。吴秀波扮演的弗兰克（Frank）同山姆一样，带着一个跟前妻生的孩子；不过汤唯饰演的佳佳和安妮的经历完全不同。她是个拜金女，来到西雅图是为了给已婚的富豪男友生子。孩子的父亲是暴发户的象征，并未在影片中露面。他豪华的住宅与西雅图中产阶级的住所形成鲜明的对比。

　　For financial reasons, the movie was actually shot in Vancouver, while the generic¹³ English title does not even hint at the promotional power of a movie that made 500 million yuan ($78 million) at the box office in China.

　　由于预算原因，影片实际上是在温哥华拍摄的。而这部在中国的票房收入达到5亿元人民币（合7800万美元）的影片的通用英文标题也完全没有显示出这部影片会有何等的广告效应。

　　The movie Finding Mr. Right is predominantly set in Seattle and even references Ephron's classic when the female protagonist¹⁴ is questioned by a US immigration officer who waves her in as another Sleepless pilgrim.

　　《北京遇上西雅图》的故事背景主要设定在西雅图，美国入境处官员向女主角挥手、准许她入境的情节借鉴了艾芙伦执导的影片的经典桥段，也是对《西雅图不眠夜》的又一处致敬。

　　The movie, also written and directed by a woman, is neither a remake nor a sequel to the 1993 classic, but it pays almost slavish homage¹⁵ by setting the final scene in New York's Empire State Building. If I were the mayor of Seattle, I would have persuaded director Xue Xiaolu to change the location to the Space Needle, which would have cemented the city's reputation as a magnet for true love.

　　这部影片的编剧兼导演薛晓路也是一名女性。但该片并非那部1993年经典电影的重制或续集，但是影片将最后一幕场景设在纽约的帝国大厦，几乎是对经典最原汁原味的致敬。如果我是西雅图的市长，我一定会说服薛晓路将最后的拍摄场地改到太空针塔，那么这座城市的真爱磁铁之名就会更加巩固了。

　　It may not have been necessary anyway. There was reportedly a spike¹⁶ in the number of Chinese tourists in Seattle after the movie was released, and that enthusiasm is unlikely to abate¹⁷ anytime soon, with a sequel on the way next year.

　　也许大可不必这样做。据报道，影片上映后前往西雅图的中国游客数量激增。而明年《北京遇上西雅图2》即将上映，这股热情近期不太可能减退。

　　Vocabulary

　　irrevocably：无法改变地

　　flaunting：炫耀

　　kinky：(尤指性行为或性癖好)反常的

　　nouveau：新近产生的

　　riche：暴发户

　　opulent：豪华的

　　abate：减弱

1 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

2 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

3 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

4 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

5 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

7 flaunting   

adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来

参考例句：

• He did not believe in flaunting his wealth. 他不赞成摆阔。
• She is fond of flaunting her superiority before her friends and schoolmates. 她好在朋友和同学面前逞强。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

10 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。

11 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

12 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。

13 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

14 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

15 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

16 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

17 abate   

vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退

参考例句：

• We must abate the noise pollution in our city.我们必须消除我们城里的噪音污染。
• The doctor gave him some medicine to abate the powerful pain.医生给了他一些药，以减弱那剧烈的疼痛。