2007年VOA标准英语-Diane Keaton Returns to the Big Screen in "Beca

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
04 February 2007

Oscar-winner Diane Keaton plays the meddling¹ mother to pop music star Mandy Moore in a relationship comedy about family, love and happiness. It arrives at American theaters timed to pick up the audience that might choose romance over the 'Super Bowl' pro² football championship game this weekend. Alan Silverman has a look at "Because I Said So."

Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore in Universal Pictures' "Because I Said So"

Daphne is a widowed mom who has devoted³ her entire life to her three daughters. The two oldest are married and now Daphne - played by comic veteran Diane Keaton - is determined⁴ to find a match for her youngest, Millie, played by Mandy Moore.

Frustrated⁵ that Millie's relationships seem all-too brief and not headed for the altar, Daphne turns to an Internet dating service.

But the guy that mom thinks is perfect is not nearly as right for Millie as the guy the daughter finds on her own ...and it takes most of the movie for strong-willed Daphne to figure that out.

Diane Keaton says she knows the 'meddling mom' is a stock character in romantic comedies, but she believes that's because they really exist off-screen too. "I never imagined in my life that this would be something I would be playing. My mother wasn't like that at all, but I do remember some friends having meddling mothers and thinking 'how weird⁶ is that?' Apparently⁷, they are all over the place in life and so now I've played one and it was fun because she was more wacky. This woman was wacky," she say.

She adds "When I was playing it I thought 'I'm sure I'm not like this as a mother,' but the more you think about you realize it's really hard for you to look at yourself and see who you are from your daughter's point of view ...or from your son's point of view, for that matter. Then I started to think 'well, maybe I am ...but just in a different way.' Being a parent is really a humbling⁸ experience, if you're willing to see who you are in that relationship. You know, the worry ...I worry all the time about my kids. I am consumed by them (and) when you do that you have a tendency to want to guide them too much."

As Millie, Mandy Moore says she tapped into that mixture of frustration⁹ and love that is a familiar part of many young adult relationships with parents. It also helped that Moore was inspired to become an actress by Keaton and her signature role, "Annie Hall." "I tried to harness a little of that adoration¹⁰ because I could use it for the character. I really think she is just so in love with her mother, so I tried to find the parallels and use them a little bit for the character. It's hard to get past working with someone like that ...(she is) such an icon¹¹ who has had such longevity¹² in this business. You can't really get away from it, so I tried to use it to my advantage," she says.

Director Michael Lehman, whose hits date back to the 1988 thriller¹³ "Heathers," says the mother-daughter relationship at the core of this film is something of a mystery to men. "One of the things in the script that was so interesting was the sort of openness of women talking about how they dress and what they do ...sort of being in the woman's world. That, as a man, to me was interesting, because we're n-o-t really allowed in there that way," he says.

So, does that make it a 'chick flick¹⁴' intended mainly for women? "I definitely think this is a movie that is going to have direct appeal to women," he answers. "It's about a mother-daughter relationship. Generally in movies romance appeals more to women than to men. This is conventional wisdom. I don't think the conventional wisdom is wrong.

"Because I Said So" also features Lauren Graham and Piper Perabo as Daphne's married daughters. Tom Everett Scott and Gabriel Macht play the men vying¹⁵ for Millie's affection; and Stephen Collins rekindles¹⁶ a spark of romance in the mom's life.

1 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

2 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

11 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

12 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

13 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

14 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

15 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

16 rekindles   

v.使再燃( rekindle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Love rekindles the fadingto emit light and warmth. 爱能使将熄的灯火，再次散发出光与热。 来自互联网
• Old love and old fires easily rekindles. 旧情与未燃尽的火一样都容易重新点燃。 来自互联网