新喜剧电影《征婚广告》演绎高科技浪漫爱情

New Comedy Must Love Dogs Features High-Tech¹ Romance

新喜剧电影《征婚广告》演绎高科技浪漫爱情

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

The 'personals ad' takes a new place of prominence² in the modern American dating scene as portrayed³ in Must Love Dogs the story of divorcee Sarah, whose sisters, brother and even her father all want to find her a new mate.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Diane Lane plays Sarah and believes the real-life anguish⁴ of divorce is not out of place in a comedy.

 

Diane Lane: I think they go together. I think we laugh at our pain and that's what makes us heal, hopefully. In hindsight, you have these ridiculous things happen and then you say 'one day I'll be laughing about this.' At that point it's funny because you survive these things [or] that's the hope anyway.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Exasperated⁶, Sarah's older sister takes a bold step onto the Internet.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Lane, who is married in real life, says she has never tried Internet dating services that claim to be able to pair people up scientifically; but her research into it for this role intrigued⁸ her.

 

Diane Lane: I think it would be a ball. I would be frightened if I were looking for a life mate kind of thing, which my character is. That's a little more daunting⁹, I think; but I also think it's great to get your resume out of the way, as it were. You know, 'No smokers¹⁰ need apply' or whatever your qualms¹¹ might be, you can say that up front and not be personal. 'Nothing personal, just please have 10 toes.'

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

John Cusack plays Jake, the perfect match who answers Sarah's Internet ad. Always a stickler¹² for realistic characters and dialogue.

 

John Cusack: Mostly you just try to make it as real as you can. Real life seems to be stranger than most movies.

 

Cusack says he took writer/director Gary David Goldberg up on his offer to tinker with the script.

 

John Cusack: When I first talked to Gary, because it was a smaller part, he said 'well, if we're going to have you do it, we have to make something of it.' So I came with some ideas and he sort of wanted to go with them.

 

"Some ideas," according to Goldberg, amounted to about 30 pages of what he calls "really good stuff" that was incorporated into the film. A veteran creator of hit TV situation comedies including Family Ties and Spin City, Goldberg says there can be a few surprises, but audiences have certain expectations from film romantic comedies.

 

Goldberg: In this movie, which is basically 'girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy' what's different about it is that she has the 'Hugh Grant' role ... she's flipping¹³ around and John knows what he wants and he's going after it. So, in a sense, we change that a little bit; but I think it is like situation comedy on television. There are certain 'givens' ... but I think you go against them at your peril¹⁴. You can, you need to know that's what you're doing.

 

Co-star Lane, who does not deny that the film could be considered a 'chick flick¹⁵' (appealing mainly to women in the audience), believes it's fun to give in to the fantasy of film romance.

 

Diane Lane: I think surrendering to the genre¹⁶ is a good thing, especially when people are paying $10 and are spending two hours in the dark together ... you want the fulfillment of the investment you've made in the characters. I think there's a lot of room for entertainment in today's world and people want to feel good ... and it's a 'feel good' movie in a 'feel good' genre; and John Cusack is so good at what he does that he deserves the girl at the end, after all.

 

(Movie Snippet)

 

Must Love Dogs also features Elizabeth Perkins, Stockard Channing, Dermot Mulroney and veteran Canadian-born actor Christopher Plummer as Sarah's poetry spouting¹⁷ Irish father. The soundtrack is peppered with popular love songs from the 1980s.

 

Alan Silverman for the Voice Of America in Hollywood.

 

注释：

prominence [5prRminEns] n. 突出，显著

anguish [5AN^wiF] n. 痛苦，苦恼

hindsight [5haindsait] n. 后见之明，事后聪明

ridiculous [ri5dikjulEs] adj. 荒谬的，可笑的

exasperate⁵ [i^5zB:spEreit] v. 激怒

bold [bEuld] adj. 大胆的

intrigue⁷ [in5tri:^] vt. 激起……的兴趣

qualm [kwB:m] n. 疑虑，不安

stickler [5stiklE] n. 坚持己见的人

tinker [5tiNkE] vt. 修补

incorporate [in5kC:pEreit] vt. 合并

chick flick 通常女生喜欢的文艺片

fulfillment [ful5filmEnt] n. 履行，实现

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

3 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

5 exasperate   

v.激怒，使（疾病）加剧，使恶化

参考例句：

• He shouted in an exasperate voice.他以愤怒的声音嚷着。
• The sheer futility of it all exasperates her.它毫无用处，这让她很生气。

6 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。

7 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

8 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

9 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

10 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

11 qualms   

n.不安；内疚

参考例句：

• He felt no qualms about borrowing money from friends.他没有对于从朋友那里借钱感到不安。
• He has no qualms about lying.他撒谎毫不内疚。

12 stickler   

n.坚持细节之人

参考例句：

• She's a real stickler for etiquette,so you'd better ask her advice.她非常讲求礼节，所以你最好问她的意见。
• You will find Mrs. Carboy a stickler about trifles.您会发现卡博太太是个拘泥小节的人。

13 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

14 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

15 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。

16 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。

17 spouting   

n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水

参考例句：

• He's always spouting off about the behaviour of young people today. 他总是没完没了地数落如今年轻人的行为。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Blood was spouting from the deep cut in his arm. 血从他胳膊上深深的伤口里涌出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》