Professor: Will and Jane are on a date and talking about what kind of TV shows they like to watch, and it so happens that Will loves TV crime dramas.
Crime drama就是“偵破片”,Professor Bowman, 我聽(tīng)說(shuō)最近幾年,crime drama已經(jīng)是美國(guó)最受歡迎的電視劇了。這是為什么呢?
Professor: Let's see what Will and Jane have to say about it.
Jane: So Will, you really like crime dramas, huh? Why are you so into them?
Will: I really want to become a lawyer one day, so I think watching shows like "Law and Order" is pretty good preparation for my future career.
Jane: Oh come on .... that show is so boring. Each show has the same plot. The police arrest someone for a crime, and then he goes to trial.
Will: No way! It's totally interesting the way it shows how the American justice system works. If it were so boring, why would there be so many spinoffs?
Jane: Well that's one thing we can agree on. There are definitely a lot of cookie-cutter spinoffs.
"Law and Order"--“法律與秩序”, 講的是警察偵破罪案,法庭審案的故事。Will喜歡看這個(gè)片子,因?yàn)樗梢詮闹袑W(xué)到關(guān)于美國(guó)司法系統(tǒng)的一些知識(shí)。
Professor: That's right. Will likes it, but what does Jane think about the show?
Jane覺(jué)得這片子沒(méi)意思。不過(guò),Will說(shuō),如果這片子不吸引人,就不會(huì)有那么多spinoffs - 仿照它所拍的同類(lèi)型電視劇了。
Professor: Exactly. You know, you can call other things spinoffs too. For example, "The new Italian restaurant was so popular that there were soon three other spinoffs, all exactly the same, on the same block. "
對(duì)了,Jane還用到了cookie cutter這個(gè)詞,cookie cutter就是做餅干時(shí)切面的模子。Professor, 在這里,cookie cutter 是不是指“千篇一律的東西”呢?
Professor: Yes! For example, I could say that I never believe my students when they give me cookie-cutter excuses for why they didn't do their homework, like saying that their dog ate it.
Jane: Well what are some of the other crime dramas you like?
Will: Do you know the show Crime Scene Investigation? We usually call it CSI. It's about a team of police investigators solving crimes in Las Vegas.
Jane: Sure, I've heard of CSI. What other shows do you like?
Will: There are lots of other great crime dramas. There is also CSI New York and CSI Miami.
Jane: Will ... can't you see that those are all the same show! They just happen in different cities!
Will: No way! They're all totally different. And besides, they all get really good ratings and rave reviews.
CSI--“犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)調(diào)查”,也是個(gè)非常紅的電視劇!后來(lái)的CSI New York和CSI Miami就是最初那版CSI的spinoffs.
Professor: That's right. But what does Will say?
他說(shuō),這些電視劇都得到了good ratings - 高收視率,還有rave reviews - 非常好的評(píng)論。
Professor: That's right, Winnie. The word "rave" is often used as a verb, meaning to praise something highly. Rave通常是動(dòng)詞,意思是“極力贊揚(yáng)”。您能舉個(gè)例子嗎?
Professor: Well, I decided to take my next vacation in Greece after my sister came back from her visit there raving about how great it was.
Will: You know, all this talk reminds me that CSI Miami is coming on pretty soon. Do you mind if I cut our date short so I can get home to watch it?
Jane: You want to end our date early just so you can go home and watch TV? Was the last episode a real cliffhanger, and you have to see tonight's episode?
Will: Yeah! I can't wait to get home so I can see the sequel.
Jane: Well I hope you enjoy it, Will, because there will definitely not be a sequel to this date!
Will居然要提前結(jié)束約會(huì),趕回家看今晚播出的CSI Miami?我看這只是個(gè)借口吧! 不過(guò),Professor, Jane提到一個(gè)詞 - cliffhanger,這是什么意思?
Professor: A "cliffhanger" is a chapter of a book or an episode of a TV show that ends without resolving the plot.
哦,我明白了,cliffhanger這個(gè)詞由兩個(gè)部分組成:cliff--懸崖,hanger--懸掛物,所以,cliffhanger就好比是有人在懸崖邊,命懸一線! 指的是書(shū)和電視中那種有懸念、令人緊張的情節(jié)!
這次的美語(yǔ)三級(jí)跳就播送到這里。