2006年VOA标准英语-Dysfunctional Family Stars in Dark Comedy "Litt

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
20 August 2006

A family coming apart at the seams comes together on a road trip filled with occasionally bizarre, but often wonderful discoveries about one another in a dark comedy co-starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette and screen veteran Alan Arkin.

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Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin and Toni Collette star in Little Miss Sunshine

'Dysfunctional' just begins to describe the Hoovers. Dad Richard, never successful in any job, nevertheless sees a future as a motivational speaker.

Mom Sheryl gamely tries to support Richard's dreams; but their sulky teenaged son and her suicidal college professor brother don't make things easy.

Then there's cranky grandpa, who moved in after dabbling¹ in illegal substances got him kicked out of a nursing home. The sole ray of sunshine in this dreary² brood is seven-year-old Olive: bespectacled, slightly chubby³, but full of youthful optimism:

Richard is skeptical⁴ about Olive's chances in the juvenile⁵ beauty pageant⁶, but Sheryl won't let him crush their daughter's dreams. So the whole family piles into their dilapidated VW mini-bus and head cross-country to California. "I knew if they were being squeezed hard enough that there would probably be some element of satisfaction for the audience ...like 'thank God I'm not in this family with this bus," says Greg Kinnear, who plays the exasperated⁷ dad.

"He ultimately is somebody who loves his daughter and certainly wants the best for this family, but when you find him he's up against it. He's kind of a facing a pretty big crisis in his life and, you know, people in those moments tend to take the mask off and you see them, 'warts⁸ and all.' I think you're catching⁹ him at a particularly bad time in his life; but I also like the hope ...the possibility that, as unfortunate a character as he was, there was something ultimately forgivable about him. He kind of manages to dig himself out of the hole he puts himself in," he says.

"You can always appear to be more intelligent than you actually are, just by saying you are something," says Steve Carell, who is sardonic¹⁰ brother-in-law Frank, despondent¹¹ over being jilted by his lover. "The fact that he refers to himself as the 'number one Proust scholar' in the U.S. begs the question: 'when did this guy's ego¹² become so out of check?' He definitely thinks highly of himself and I think within that there is a sadness because when this person who does not love him does not love him back, he spirals into a depression and it is not until later, when he starts connecting with these kind of crazy members of his extended family, that those layers of depression start to peel away ...just a little bit."

Alan Arkin brings acerbic¹³ wit and unexpected warmth to the often profane¹⁴ and abrasive¹⁵ character of grandpa. "God help me, he makes complete sense to me. I understand him completely. In my own 'back-story,' he's a guy who, when he was young, he decided¹⁶ life is about having a lot of fun and the way to have fun is by playing saxophone in a strip joint¹⁷, as many women as he can possibly have and getting drunk on Saturday night. Then his life just caught up with him to a certain extent ...like most people's. You don't realize that there is such a thing as repercussions¹⁸. That's him," he says.

Australian screen star Toni Collette captures the essence of yet another American woman as over-burdened Sheryl. "These people are spinning in their own self-important universes and although they're all living under the same roof, they are not really connecting. That's what they're actually yearning¹⁹ for. Then, by chance, the circumstances make them get in this car and travel across country. That experience provides them the opportunity to see who they really are; and I think once they do connect, there is a kind of safety in that and it allows them to feel comfortable in themselves so, by the end, you're watching all of these people who are so free doing something that they would never have done ...and not really caring what anyone else thinks. They're just living in the moment," she says.

Young Abigail Breslin plays Olive. Paul Dano is her sullen²⁰ teenaged brother; and "Little Miss Sunshine" is directed by the married film making team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris from a script by Michael Arndt.

1 dabbling   

v.涉猎( dabble的现在分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资

参考例句：

• She swims twice a week and has been dabbling in weight training. 她一周游两次泳，偶尔还练习一下举重。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boy is dabbling his hand in the water. 这孩子正用手玩水。 来自辞典例句

2 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

3 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

4 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

5 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

6 pageant   

n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧

参考例句：

• Our pageant represented scenes from history.我们的露天历史剧上演一幕幕的历史事件。
• The inauguration ceremony of the new President was a splendid pageant.新主席的就职典礼的开始是极其壮观的。

7 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。

8 warts   

n.疣( wart的名词复数 )；肉赘；树瘤；缺点

参考例句：

• You agreed to marry me, warts and all! 是你同意和我结婚的，我又没掩饰缺陷。 来自辞典例句
• Talk about trying to cure warts with spunk-water such a blame fool way as that! 用那样糊涂蛋的方法还谈什么仙水治疣子！ 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 sardonic   

adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的

参考例句：

• She gave him a sardonic smile.她朝他讥讽地笑了一笑。
• There was a sardonic expression on her face.她脸上有一种嘲讽的表情。

11 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

12 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

13 acerbic   

adj.酸的，刻薄的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• He sent back an acerbic letter.他回复了一封尖刻的信。

14 profane   

adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污

参考例句：

• He doesn't dare to profane the name of God.他不敢亵渎上帝之名。
• His profane language annoyed us.他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。

15 abrasive   

adj.使表面磨损的；粗糙的；恼人的

参考例句：

• His abrasive manner has won him an unenviable notoriety.他生硬粗暴的态度让他声名狼藉。
• She had abrasions to her wrists where the abrasive rope had scraped her.她的手腕有多出磨伤，那是被粗糙的绳子擦伤的。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

18 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

20 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。