为什么我们偏爱让我们哭泣的电影

 　  Rob: Hello, I'm Rob, welcome to 6 Minute English. With me in the studio today is Feifei. Hello there.

　　Feifei: Hi Rob.

　　Rob: In today's programme we're discussing films that make us cry and why we actually enjoy watching something that makes us burst into tears - or in other words, to cry out loud. And we'll also be looking at the language associated with crying. So, crying out loud, surely this is something that you have done Feifei?

　　Feifei: I'm afraid yes, I have done that.

　　Rob: Is there a particular film that's made you cry?

　　Feifei: I think, Turner and Hooch… and how about you Rob?

　　Rob: Well, being a man, obviously I would never cry - well almost. There is an old children's film called The Railway Children. At the end when the children's father returns from exile¹, his daughter runs down the station platform shouting "my daddy, my daddy!" That makes me misty-eyed.

　　Feifei: You big softie!

　　Rob: I suppose I am. Now Feifei before we discuss this subject further, here's your question for today. Which film has won the most ever Oscar awards?

　　a) Ben Hur

　　b) Slumdog Millionaire

　　c) Gone With The Wind

　　Feifei: I'm going to go for answer b) Slumdog Millionaire.

　　Rob: Ok, well let's find out if you are right at the end of the programme. Of course, the 85th Academy Awards - better known as The Oscars - were held recently and there was one major weepy that won several awards.

　　Feifei: A weepy? You mean a film that makes us cry?

　　Rob: Yes. And that film was Les Miserables. I've seen it and it really is a tearjerker - it literally² causes tears to roll down our cheeks! So why do we choose to see a film - or movie - that makes us get so emotional?

　　Feifei: I suppose it's the mark of a good film if it causes us to reveal our emotions. A really sad story, if it's well acted and directed, can really make us blub - another word for crying. And a sob³ story - one where a character tries to get our sympathy for him or her - can have the same effect. But what is it about a film that can makes us cry when we can't cry in real life?

　　Rob: Well, according to psychologist, Dr Averil Leimon, we allow our emotions to be influenced when we watch a film. What word does she use to mean 'influenced'?

　　Dr Averil Leimon, Psychologist: People want to have their emotions manipulated⁴, because then they're allowed to have them. We spend so much of our life being told you shouldn't feel like that, you don't feel like that when in fact we do feel like that. And both the visual and the, you know, the auditory allows us to know what emotion we're meant to feel.

　　Feifei: So Dr Averil Leimon says we like to have our emotions manipulated - influenced by a film. In real life we are told how we should feel.

　　Rob: But when watching a film, at the cinema for example, we can let our emotions loose. But there is something else in a film that effects our emotions and gives us goose bumps⁵ - or a feeling that makes our hair stand on end and we get little bumps on our skin.

　　Feifei: Yes, Dr Leimon says there are visual and auditory clues that provoke⁶ our feelings - so that's the style of the pictures and the music or sound effects that are used.

　　Rob: (Mimics theme to Jaws⁷) Like the music in the Jaws movie, although that's not really a tearjerker.

　　Feifei: Come on Rob, I bet you cried at the scary bits?

　　Rob: I told you, men don't cry. Although there is one film that has had grown men crying their hearts out - which means they've been crying uncontrollably. That's the film Toy Story 3.

　　Feifei: Really?

　　Rob: Yes. I don't think it's because the film is sad but because watching it makes men nostalgic about their youth and perhaps they can see their kids reflected in the story too.

　　Feifei: Well I bet these men were crying alone. They wouldn't want to be seen crying in public?

　　Rob: Well not according to Philip Sheppard who composes - or writes - film music. He thinks letting our feelings out - he calls it catharsis - is better in a group…

　　Philip Sheppard, Film score composer: All of us sort of need to find a catharsis, especially within a group to have this sort of place to have an emotional response. It ends up being something where you need to have that kind of release. As British people we're terribly bad at it I think. But when people find an outlet⁸ for it such as a film, especially when they are in a crowd, people's emotional responses are much more instantaneously⁹ responsive.

　　Rob: So he says we all need to find a catharsis. Being in a group is a good place for letting your emotions out. When you watch a film with others you react to other people's emotional responses.

　　Feifei: So if one person cries then other people will start to cry too. Unless you're British of course!

　　Rob: That's what Philip Sheppard thinks. And we could say 'it's a crying shame', meaning it's regrettable or it's an unfortunate situation.

　　Feifei: OK Rob, well let's not cry over spilt milk!

　　Rob: Uh?

　　Feifei: Let's not get upset over something quite small. Could I just have the answer to today's question please?

　　Rob: Yes of course. Earlier, I asked you, which film has won the most ever Oscars?

　　Feifei: And I said Slumdog Millionaire.

　　Rob: And you were wrong. The answer was Ben Hur. The 1959 film has won 11 awards - the same number has also been won by Titanic¹⁰ and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King. Well, Feifei before we go, please could you remind us of some of the crying-related words and phrases that we've heard today.

　　Feifei: Sure. We heard…

　　burst into tears

　　misty-eyed

　　a weepy

　　tearjerker

　　blub

　　a sob story

　　goose bumps

　　crying their hearts out

　　it's a crying shame

　　cry over spilt milk

　　Rob: Thanks Feifei. Well, it's a crying shame but we're out of time. Please join us again soon for 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.

　　Both: Bye.

1 exile   

n.流放，被流放者；vt.流放，放逐，使流亡

参考例句：

• After an exile of eight years her uncle returned to Cairo.她叔叔背井离乡8年后返回开罗。
• Napoleon was sent into exile on an island.拿破仑被流放到一个岛上。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

4 manipulated   

熟练控制[操作]( manipulate的过去式和过去分词 )； （暗中）控制，操纵，影响； 正骨； 治疗脱臼

参考例句：

• The manipulated do not understand them; the manipulators fear them. 受人摆布者不理解他们，摆布别人者害怕他们。
• They were mere puppets manipulated by other men. 他们只不过是受人操纵的傀儡而已。

5 bumps   

碰撞( bump的名词复数 )； 肿块； 轻微撞车事故； 隆起物

参考例句：

• I had goose bumps when we watched the fireworks. 我们看烟火的时候，我起鸡皮疙瘩。
• E was kind of zig-zagging across the pavement, and I bumps into 'im accidental-like. 他有点歪歪斜斜地在人行道上走，我一不小心撞到了他的怀里。 来自英汉文学

6 provoke   

v.激起，引起，对...挑衅，激怒

参考例句：

• Don't provoke him to anger.别招他生气。
• Don't provoke the animal by teasing,It may bite you.不要挑逗动物，它会咬你的。

7 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

8 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

9 instantaneously   

ad.瞬间地；即刻地

参考例句：

• Once the cargo has been shipped, insurance can be covered instantaneously. 货物一旦发出，我会立即投保。
• In a crash, momentum changes abruptly but not instantaneously. 在撞击过程中，动量的变化是突然的，但非瞬时的。

10 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。