VOA标准英语2011--Maverick Cop, FBI Agent Team Up to Solve

Maverick¹ Cop, FBI Agent Team Up to Solve Irish Murder in 'The Guard'

The cops-and-robbers genre² gets an Irish twist in a new film by writer-director John Michael McDonagh. Irish actor Brendan Gleeson co-stars with American Don Cheadle in this story set in the wild west of Ireland. Here's a look at The Guard.
CALLER: "I've got some information about that murder last night."
BOYLE: "What murder?"
CALLER: "How many murders have you had in the last 24 hours?"
BOYLE: "Well, that's for us to know and you to find out."
To call Constable³ Gerry Boyle jaded⁴ would be kind. He keeps law and order in his own way on the rugged⁵ Connemara coast of western Ireland. So when American FBI agent Wendell Everett shows up in pursuit of a European drug cartel, Boyle is less than enthusiastic.
BOYLE: "It's my day off. Did I not tell you?"
EVERETT: "Let me get this straight: we're investigating a murder and the trafficking of over half a million dollars …"
BOYLE: "Billion."
EVERETT: "Half a billion dollars worth of cocaine⁶ and you're telling me it's your day off."
BOYLE: "I'm sure 24 hours won't make any difference."
EVERETT: "Twenty-four hours won't make any difference?"
BOYLE: "They're always saying it does in these cop shows on the 'telly,' but it doesn't - not in my experience anyway. Why do you keep repeating everything I say?"
But in the grand tradition of maverick movie cops, Boyle proves to be a better investigator⁷ than even he himself could have imagined. Irish actor Brendan Gleeson stars as Gerry Boyle and understands his attitude.
"He had been 30 years, or whatever it was, plowing⁸ a lonely furrow⁹ and finding that, actually, what he was being confronted with were the small compromises - looking the other way, the small corruptions¹⁰ - and that he didn't get the test he wanted to get, so he had become quite disillusioned¹¹ and quite aggressive," explains Gleeson.
Don Cheadle co-stars as the American FBI agent who first sees Boyle as an oaf but then learns to respect him as a law enforcement colleague.
"It's great that the guy that you think is a clown at the beginning turns out to be the smartest guy in the room," notes Cheadle.
His character, an African American, is out of his element in Connemara. The Oscar-nominated actor says that really was his own experience making the film there.
"A fish out of water playing a fish out of water," jokes Cheadle. "This is great. It's not often you get to marry the circumstances in that way, so I just thought it was going to be a great addition to the piece to not have to act that part. That was just the truth."
EVERETT: "Most of them don't even speak English."
BOYLE: "Oh, they speak English well enough. This is a Gaelic-speaking region. Did they not teach you that at Langley?"
EVERETT: "No, they did not teach me that at Langley for the simple fact that Langley is the CIA, you idiot, not the FBI."
BOYLE: "You didn't know that the people in the west of Ireland speak Gaelic and I'm the idiot."
The Guard is the directing debut¹² of screenwriter John Michael McDonagh, brother of playwright¹³ Martin McDonagh who made "In Bruges."
The writer-director says his goal was to tell a good story, but it also had to be authentically¹⁴ Irish.
"American studios come over to Ireland and make these really, really bad films that are not representative of Irish life or the Irish people," notes McDonagh. "Sometimes you imagine they're going to have a farmer walk down the road with a pig under his arm at some points. They're really patronizing, they're not funny and they usually cast English actors doing really bad Irish accents, so they're kind of offensive as well. In this, every Irish role is played by an Irish actor."
Brendan Gleeson liked working with McDonagh enough to sign on for another film they hope to make together next year.

1 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

2 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。

3 constable   

n.(英国)警察，警官

参考例句：

• The constable conducted the suspect to the police station.警官把嫌疑犯带到派出所。
• The constable kept his temper,and would not be provoked.那警察压制着自己的怒气，不肯冒起火来。

4 jaded   

adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的

参考例句：

• I felt terribly jaded after working all weekend. 整个周末工作之后我感到疲惫不堪。
• Here is a dish that will revive jaded palates. 这道菜简直可以恢复迟钝的味觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

6 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

7 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

8 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

9 furrow   

n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹

参考例句：

• The tractor has make deep furrow in the loose sand.拖拉机在松软的沙土上留下了深深的车辙。
• Mei did not weep.She only bit her lips,and the furrow in her brow deepened.梅埋下头，她咬了咬嘴唇皮，额上的皱纹显得更深了。

10 corruptions   

n.堕落( corruption的名词复数 )；腐化；腐败；贿赂

参考例句：

• He stressed the corruptions of sin. 他强调了罪恶的腐朽。 来自互联网

11 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

12 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

13 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

14 authentically   

ad.sincerely真诚地

参考例句：

• Gina: And we should give him something 2 authentically Taiwanese. 吉娜：而且我们应该送他有纯正台湾味的东西。
• A loser is one who fails to correspond authentically. 失败者则指那些未能做到诚实可靠的人。