Joan: Hello? Miss Watson?
Miss Watson: Yes. I'm back here.
Joan: I've never been to this part of campus before. Where are we?
Miss Watson: No man's land. So to speak. Come on in.
Joan: What's all this?
Miss Watson: Different things, different days. People who inspire me, artists I admire, editorials I don't. So you came to see me…
Joan: You gave me a C.
Miss Watson: I'm kind.
Joan: The assignment was to write about Bruegel. That’s what I did.
Miss Watson: No, what you did was to copy Strauss.
Joan: I was referencing an expert.
Miss Watson: If I wanted to know what he thought, I'd buy his book.
Joan: Miss Watson, with all due respect....
Miss Watson: Bruegel was a storyteller. Find the stories. Break them down into smaller pieces. You might actually enjoy it.
Joan: You're giving me another chance?
Miss Watson: So it seems.
Joan: Is that my file? What does it say?
Miss Watson: Well, let's see. Straight A's.
Joan: Until now.
Miss Watson: President of the poetry society, captain of the debate team....co-captain of the tennis club, founder of the horticulture league.
Joan: I sound like a pompous ass.
Miss Watson: Yes, you do, but a very busy one. And it says here that you're pre-law. What law school are you gonna go to?
Joan: I hadn't thought about that. After I graduate, I'm plan on getting married.
Miss Watson: And then?
Joan: And then I'll be married.
Miss Watson: You can do both. Just for fun, if you could go to any law school, which would it be?
Joan: Yale.
Miss Watson: Yale.
Joan: They keep five slots open for women, one unofficially for a Wellesley girl.
Miss Watson: But you haven't really thought about it.
Come on in. 大家可能总在电影中听到。它和come in意思一样。但更口语化,态度也更随和、亲近。但如果您敲的是老总的门,他八成还是会说更正式一些的Come in.。
当Joan问Miss Waston办公室里摆的都是什么,她回答道People who inspire me, artists I admire, editorials I don't. 短短一句话包含了几个定语从句。那些people who inspire me,鼓舞我,给我灵感的人。Artsits (whom) I admire,那些我崇拜,喜欢的艺术家。Editorials I don’t.这个定语从句省略了动词admire。完整的句子应当是editorials which I don’t admire / like 我不喜欢的评论。口语中常常通过省略可理解的句子成分使表达更加简洁。虽然Joan对自己的成绩很不满意,但所受到的教育还是让她理智有礼地表达了质疑。With all due respect. 意思是“恕我冒昧;恕我直言”的意思。再比如:Dear president, with all due respect, I must point that our election is more sucessful than yours. 总统阁下,我要指出的是,恕我直言,我们的选举其实比贵国的选举要顺利多了。
Miss Waston为Joan表明了自己的观点,文章贵在能够阐述自己的理解,自己的观点,而不是简单转述别人。之后Joan瞄到了桌子上方的档案,问:What does it say? 英语中常用say这个词表示文章,信件等“说”了哪些内容。老师的回答是,Straight As. Straight,一直的;连续的。
在老师罗列了一番自己的光荣历史之后,Joan幽默的开了自己一个玩笑。I sound like a pompous ass. Pompous ass浮夸的、爱炫耀的、狂妄自大的。用ass来形容人的时候基本都不是太好的词儿。再来看一个例子:Sam is such a pomp ass that nobody wants to hang out with him. Sam是个太狂妄的家伙了,没人愿意和他一起出去玩儿。
在Miss Waston问Joan毕业后的打算时,得到的答案也毫不意外,就是结婚。五十年代中期的美国推崇妇女完全回归家庭。以家庭为唯一的生活目标。正因为知道这一点,Miss Waston继续追问如果Joan打算继续读法学院读书会去哪所大学时,先说了一句just for fun。就当开个玩笑。
Joan的回答是去耶鲁大学。那里keep five slots open for women. Slot,夹缝,空位。句子意思为“为女性留出五个空位”。Slot本身就有夹缝的意思,用这样的背景下再合适不过的一个词了。不过,即便还有这五个名额在,像Joan这么出色的女学生却没有考虑过要去尝试。
即便在二十一世界的今天,我们仍然希望超越传统、超越限制、超越表象、追寻真理的老师能够多些再多些。好了,下期,我们继续子在蒙娜丽莎的微笑里,体会好老师能给予我们的力量。