Liberal Arts

∷汤宝莉 讲评

《文科恋曲》是一部非常典型的小制作文艺片。有评论说这部电影很文艺，也有说当你开始理解男主角的时候，就是你开始变老的时候。

老人喜欢怀旧，对于年轻时的执著愈来愈放不下，正如片中男主角杰西（Jesse）的老师皮特（Peter），退休之际却发觉恋恋不舍多年的教师生涯，满怀“老骥伏枥“之志。

成年人更多的是迷茫，对未来的不确定，对年轻时代的留恋。35岁的杰西婚姻失败，事业平平。回母校的时候遇到了19岁的茨比(Zibby)和有躁郁症的学生Dean。少女的开朗和清纯吸引着杰西，但是成年人的自觉使得他果断结束了两人的关系；同时他也作为“过来人”给Dean人生的指导。

少年们总是想着长大、成熟，茨比觉得与杰西交往能让自己变得成熟，但恋爱的失败才让她渐渐成熟。

经历了人世间的故事，人们才会成长。成长是一个轮回，每个轮回里都有属于你自己爱恋的事物。

片段一：Peter教授在宣布退休之后倍感后悔，前来请求系主任能够让他再执教三年。

Peter: So, Bob, I’m asking myself a lot of tough questions lately. Everybody knows I made a whole stink about leaving this place. You know, how it’s time…

Bob: How if you’d look back, you’d turn into a pillar of salt.

Peter: Yeah, all that. That’s…I think I may have spoken too soon. I think, I think I still got a little gas in the tank.That’s all. I just…

Bob: Well, Peter, you have no bigger fan around here than me.

Peter: Thank you.

Bob: When you announced your plans, we were all sad to see you go, but you insisted that it was time.

Peter: Right, which I thought it was.

Bob: We hired someone, young guy out of UVA. Very impressive candidate. He was our first choice, actually. We didn’t think we would get him, but we did. You said you wanted nothing to do with the search.

Peter: Right. Right. No, I … I just, I just didn’t think it would move so fast.

Bob: Well, there was unanimous enthusiasm for the candidate, so things just moved along faster than normal.

Peter: Bob, give me this one.

Bob: Peter, we can’t. The department has spent thousands of dollars on this search. He’s turned down other offers. You know what goes into this sort of thing.

Peter: I hired you, Bob. You don’t have to tell me how this… And let me tell you. There was no unanimousenthusiasm for you back then. It took a lot of arm-twisting on my part to get people to come around. And now, 20 years later,the only reason that you are the chairman of this goddamned department is ‘cause I loathe politics. And you, for reasons which I cannot fathom, do not. In fact, you seem to have a real taste for it. Wow. I’m asking… I’m asking a favor. Listen. Just give me this one, Bob, okay? I need three more years.

Bob: I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.

Peter因为不想退休，所以一直在找系里，闹得沸沸扬扬。stink本意指“难闻的气味”，引申出“吵闹，争吵”之意，故make a whole stink about sth.意为“大吵大闹（表示不满）”。其他例句，如：I was asking why the players were making a big stink.（我问这些球员在吵什么。）John made a whole stink about being accidentally short changed.（售货员无意中少找了钱，John就大闹了起来。）

《圣经》中罗得（Lot）带领妻女逃离即将毁灭的城市索多玛（Sodom）时，其妻回头探望，即刻变成了一根盐柱。Bob是在表达Peter现在后悔已晚的意思。

get a little gas in the tank，本意“邮箱里还有一点油”，比喻Peter觉得自己还能发挥一点余热。

“you have no bigger fan around here than me”，意为“在这里我最支持你”。可是系里已经从弗吉尼亚大学（UVA=University of Virginia）聘来了新教师。

这段对话中出现了两次search，名词，意为“寻找”，对话中指的是“寻找新教师代替Peter的位置”；类似于hunt，找工作的人需要job hunting，用人单位则是candidate search。

Bob表示新人非常优秀，大家一致赞同，最主要的是系里花了很多的钱。You know what goes into this sort of thing.“你也知道这种事（从别的学校挖人）得花多少钱。”

Peter感慨万千，当年Bob是他招聘来的，他费了很大劲才使得大家接受Bob；正是因为Peter讨厌行政工作（politics），Bob才当上了系主任。arm-twisting，喻指“施压干扰使某人同意”；come around 这里意为“转而接受”，如：It looks like they are coming around to our way of thinking.（好像他们正转而接受我们的思维方式。）

“And you, for reasons which I cannot fathom,do not.” 助动词后面省略的部分是前句中的loathe politics。Peter虽然不能理解，但Bob喜欢行政。have a real taste for sth.意为“热衷于，非常喜爱”。

人上了年纪，就会更加留恋以往的事物，所以Peter不愿意离开自己干了多年的岗位。Bob的行为虽然似乎失了人情味，但是作为系主任，他也许只是“在商言商”吧。也许当Bob退休的时候，也会对他的职位恋恋不舍。

片段二：Jesse和Zibby分手后，Jesse写给Zibby的一封信。

Dear Zibby, even after all these months, I’m still halfexpecting a letter from you to be sitting in my mailbox. I’m sure you have little to say to me at this point, but your letters are very much missed. I know I hurt you and I’m sorry. Any bone-headed moves I made were born of confusion andnot malice. That said, I’ve been feeling lately the stirrings of something I can only call growth. It’s a tribute of sorts to say that someone 16 my junior helped me finally start acting my age.A wise man in a red hat once told me, “Everything is okay.” I didn’t believe him then, but for some reason, I’m starting to.

Jesse和Zibby的年龄差造成了他们之间无法逾越的鸿沟和差异。他们可以是朋友，但似乎无法成为恋人。

half-expecting，表示“有点期待”，如：I am half expecting her to say “no”.（我有点盼望她说不。）I was only half awake. （我只是半醒着。）

a letter to be sitting in my mailbox，使用sit是将letter拟人化了。

bone head，“傻瓜，笨蛋”之义，故bone-headed moves指“愚蠢的举动”。

be born of此处意为“出于，源于”，可与came out of ，如：Her desire was born of frustration and fear.（她的欲望源于沮丧和恐惧。）

与年轻的Zibby相遇，激起了Jesse心中的某些东西，在两人无疾而终的交往中Jesse体会到了成长。让一个比自己小16岁的人教会自己如何让行为和年龄相符，这也算是这次恋爱对他的一种馈赠吧。a tribute of sorts，“某种礼物”。通常我们使用of some sort表示“某种”，这里虽然使用了of sorts，但是意思相同。act one’s age，“做自己年龄该做的事”，如：Be quiet and act your age. Don’t be such a baby. （安静些，稳重些，别表现得像个孩子。）

Zibby喜欢泡吧、喝酒，看《吸血鬼故事》打发时间，想找个不讨厌的人告别童真，这些都是Jesse这个年龄的人不会去做的事情。也许他在年轻的时候也是这样，但是他已经不再是20岁的毛头小子了。35岁的他告诉自己，他是成年人，懂得负责，懂得拒绝。他在以成年人的身份看待母校里的少年。他们让他发现自己的成长，而他也想为少年们提供一些自己的建议。

片段三：Jesse和Zibby分手后再次相见。

Zibby: I really did miss you. You know we had this thing happening and it was so exciting, and then you were just gone. But it’s okay now. I get it. I sometimes feel like I’m looking down on myself, like there’s this older, wiser me watching over this 19-year-old rough draft who’s full of all this potential, but has to live more, to catch up with that other self somehow. I know I’ll get there. It’s just sometimes I think I want to rush the process, you know? And I don’t know, and maybe… maybe I thought you were some sort of shortcut.Does that make any sense?

Jesse: If I wrote you, I would be like “this is the best rough draft ever.”

Vanessa: Seriously?

Zibby: Roommates.

Jesse: Well, I should get back to adulthood.

Zibby: Yeah. See you there soon, I guess.

Jesse: Bye, Zibby.

Zibby: Bye, Jesse.

在与Jesse的恋情中，Zibby感受了自己的成长。她有时会觉得有一个更老成、更智慧的自己在注视着她这个“19岁的草稿”，充满了潜能，但是需要生活的历练，才能赶上另一个自己。a 19-year-old rough draft，Zibby这里将19岁的自己比喻成一个草稿，需要修改润色才能成为好的作品。这就是成长的过程，必然是漫长的，但是Zibby想快点。或许她觉得和35岁的Jesse在一起，自己就可以变成熟、长大，但显然是错了。

rush the process，意为“加速过程”。Don’t rush the process. Delays will benefit you. （欲速则不达。类似我们常用的Haste makes waste.）

shortcut，“捷径”。There are really not shortcuts to learning.（学习没有捷径。）

在Zibby意识到生活使人成长的时候，她已经朝着成年人的方向前进了。