美國婚禮風俗(上)
考考你 小試牛刀
本片段劇情:Jane弄丟了記錄自己參加婚禮的筆記本,卻不料這個記事本落入了Kevin的手中。Kevin找到老板,想以Jane的經歷為素材,寫一篇有關婚禮的報道。經過一番唇槍舌劍之后,老板終于答應了他的請求。但這篇報道會給Jane帶來怎樣的經歷呢?“職業伴娘”的經歷曝光對她是喜還是憂呢?
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精彩對白:
Jane: Good morning, Gina.
Gina: Hi.
Jane: You haven't seen my Filofax anywhere, have you?
Gina: No.
Jane: No. Okay. I'll go look for it. Did you get those catalog pages in for George?
Gina: No.
Jane: Okay. No worries. I'll get them from production.
Casey: Attagirl. Show her who's boss.
Jane: I'm not her boss.
Casey: You're the boss's assistant. Same diff. What's the good of your job if you can't abuse the power?
Jane: Casey, go to Accounting.
Casey: Now you're bossy.
Jane: Where the hell did I put that thing?
Kevin: That is a great idea for the front page of the section.
Maureen: Oh, come on, Doyle. How many times have I heard this from you?
Kevin: I'm telling you, Maureen: It's a great idea.
Maureen: Really? As great as your last great idea, an expose on price-fixing at wedding bakeries?
Kevin: Yes! Yes! They're ripping people off. Flour costs pennies per ounce. That's an 800% markup. It's outrageous.
Maureen: Yes, it is. Also, no one cares.
Kevin: What about the piece I wanted to do on the exploitation of workers in lace factories? That is a killer piece.
Maureen: Oh, right. That's what people really wanna read about in the Style section. Kevin, this section practically pays for the entire paper: Our advertisers want fun, upbeat, colorful human-interest stories... opposite their products.
Kevin: So that's what we're about now? Making money?
Maureen: Get out.
Kevin: All right. Listen. That was not right. I get it. But this one is. Look, this woman has been in seven weddings-
Maureen: So?
Kevin: This year. She was in two on Saturday alone. But it won't just be about her. It'll be an incisive look at how the wedding industry has transformed something: That should be an important rite of passage into nothing more than a corporate revenue stream. In a fun, upbeat, you know, cheerful way. Look, Maureen, I am dying back there in Commitments. If I have to write another sentence about baby's breath, I'm gonna shoot myself. This is a real story. This is what I wanna do.
Maureen: I need you covering weddings. That's what you're good at. And that's what I need you to do.
Kevin: If you don't start giving me feature stories, I'm gonna have to quit.
Maureen: All right. One chance. If I don't like it, you go back to Commitments for the rest of your life with a big smile on that ridiculously handsome face of yours.
Kevin: Deal.
妙語佳句,活學活用
1. Filofax: 備忘記事本。Filofax是一種商標的名稱,指一種輕便的活頁文件夾,用來裝日記本、文件、信用卡等,80年代雅皮士族經常備帶。
2. Attagirl: 好啊,好棒,an informal expression of encouragement or admiration to a woman or girl(表達對女性的贊嘆,非正式用語)。
如果贊嘆的對象是一位男性,我們可以用attaboy來表達。
3. Same diff: 一回事。Same diff是一種 oxymoron(矛盾修辭法),用來形容something as being the same as something else(兩件事其實是一回事),常在說錯話時用來做借口。
例如:"You said jackflap, not flapjack" "Same-diff")“你剛才說的是jackflap,而不是flapjack。”“那不是一回事嘛。”
4. bossy: 專橫的,盛氣凌人的。
例如:No, she is stingy, narrow-minded and bossy.(不,她小氣,心胸狹窄,又拔扈。)
5. front page: 頭版。
例如:The news got a front-page splash.(該消息在頭版醒目地登出),而排front page的版面,我們就可以說:to make up the front page。
6. price-fixing: 限定價格,指一種價格壟斷行為。Maureen在這里是說,Kevin上次報道了婚禮蛋糕店“開天殺價”的行為。
7. rip off: 宰客,敲詐。
The used car advertisement is a big rip-off.(這個二手汽車廣告是個大騙局),我們從不刊登這樣的廣告to rip off the customers(宰客)。
8. rite of passage: (標志人生重要階段的)通過儀式,重大事件,a ceremony or an event that marks an important stage in sb's life. 比如出生、成人、結婚等等,所以有時也用復數rites of passages。
9. die back: 枯死,枝葉枯萎。Kevin在這里的意思是說,“我寫《承諾》專欄寫到悶”。
10.baby's breath: 水香花菜,滿天星,這里泛指婚禮上的花束。
11:deal: 一言為定。這個詞現在常單獨使用,用來表示答應對方提出的條件。
美國婚禮風俗(上)
考考你 小試牛刀