Desperate Housewives 1《绝望主妇》1（精讲之一）

Danielle: Why can't we have a normal soup?

Bree: Danielle, there is nothing abnormal about basil puree.

Danielle: Just once, can we have a soup that people all heard of, like French onion, or navy bean.

Bree: First of all, your father can't eat onions. He's deathly allergic. And I won't even dignify your navy bean suggestion. So, how's the osso buco?

Andrew: It's okay.

Bree: It's okay? Andrew, I spent three hours cooking this meal. How do you think it makes me feel when you say it's okay in that sullen tone?

Andrew: Who asked you to spend three hours on dinner? 

Bree: Excuse me?

Andrew: Tim Harper's mom gets home from work, pops open a can of pork and beans, and boom, they're eating. Everyone's happy.

Bree: You'd rather I serve pork and beans?

Danielle: Apologize now, I am begging you.

Andrew: I'm saying, do you always have to serve cuisine? Can't we ever just have food?

Bree: Are you doing drugs?

Andrew: What?

Bree: Change in behavior is one of the warning signs and you have been as fresh as paint for the last six months. That would explain why you're always locked in the bathroom.

Danielle: Trust me, that is not what he is doing.

Andrew: Shut up. Mom, I'm not the one have a problem here, right? You're the one who is acting like she's running for mayor of Stepford.

Bree: Rex. Seeing that you're the head of this household, I would really appreciate you saying something.

Rex: Pass the salt.

Mary Alice Young: Three days after my funeral, Lynette replaced her grief with a much more useful emotion. Indignation.

Lynette: Tom, this is my fifth message and you still haven't called me back. Well, you must be having a lot of fun on your business trip. I can only imagine. Well, guess what, the kids and I want to have some fun, too, so unless you call me back by noon, we are getting on a plane and joining you.

Boy: Mum.

Lynette: Not now, honey, Mommy's threatening Daddy. No. Where are you brothers?

Natalie Kline: Lynette Scavo!

Lynette: Crap! Hi, don't believe it!

Natalie Kline: Lynette! How long has it been?

Lynette: Years! How are you? How's the firm?

Natalie Kline: Good. Everyone misses you. We all say that if you hadn't quit, you'd be running the place by now. So, how's domestic life? Don't you just love being a mom?

Mary Alice Young: And there it was. The question that Lynette always dreaded.

Lynette: Well, to be honest...

Mary Alice Young: For those who asked it, only one answer was acceptable. So Lynette responded as she always did. She lied.

Lynette: It's the best job I've ever had.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. osso buco: An Italian dish made of veal shanks braised with olive oil, white wine, stock, onions, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, carrots, celery and lemon peel. Traditionally, osso buco is garnished with gremolata and served accompanied by risotto. In Italian, osso buco means "pierced bone." 翻译成中文就是“炖小牛膝”、“焖小牛腿肉”，是带骨头的。一般意大利餐馆都有。

2. doing drugs

Do这个词简直可以说是英语中的万能词了，和不同的词搭配、在不同的语境下有不同的意思。对白中的doing drugs就是“吸毒”的意思，再比如：

A rest will do you good.
休息一下对你有好处的。
Kate Blanchett did Elizabeth I in the film Elizabeth I.
凯特·布兰切特在电影《伊丽莎白一世》中扮演伊丽莎白一世。
Who did the flowers?
谁插的花？

3. as fresh as paint 生气勃勃的，精神饱满的

通常吸毒的人在吸食毒品后都会表现的很有精气神，这是毒品作用力的结果。而吸毒的人如果突然中止吸毒或是减少吸毒量，就会发生严重的戒断反应及各种并发症，常常会引起死亡，甚至会因痛苦难忍而自杀身亡。我们来看个例子：That boy looks as fresh as paint. 那个男孩看起来很有活力。

4. run for, run the place

Run for 的意思是“竞选”，相当于campaign for；run the place 的意思则是“主管，经营，掌管”，相当于manage；例如：
John Cliff is running for the mayor of our town.
约翰·克利夫正在竞选我们镇的镇长。
David wants to kick Bob out and runs the company by himself.
大卫想把鲍勃踢走，自己掌管公司。

5. the head of this household
“一家之主”，和我们汉语中的说法很相似吧？

6. crap

Shit的稍微好一点的称呼。在口语中，crap可以用来表示“不好的东西，没意思，无聊，不值得的事情”，也可以用来表示惊讶或是愤怒。而bullshit则多用在有人对你撒谎、你表示生气的场合，或是很荒谬、可笑的场合。

在这个片段中，当Lynette 看到以前公司的同事，更加刺激了她那绝望无助的家庭主妇身份，因此说了一句Crap!

7. domestic life
注意这里可不是“国内生活”，而是“家庭生活”。

文化面面观

童话公主vs绝望主妇

自2004年10月3号开播的《绝望主妇》（Desperate Housewives）在短时间内征服了美国，成为05年上半年最热门的电视剧之一。在第一季播出后，《绝望主妇》获得当年电视艾美奖15项提名，在仅仅播出11集后就获得了金球奖电视类最佳喜剧，主演之一特丽·海切尔更是凭此赢得了金球奖。

几乎每一部浪漫爱情故事的结局都是：从此，王子和公主幸福的生活在一起。然而，变成了主妇的公主，生活还能像以前那样浪漫多姿吗？大多数的喜剧和言情剧都向人们传递着一个这样的思想：单身的事业女性都很可爱，而结了婚后就成了家庭主妇，生活就此定型、变成一潭死水，她们也不再拥有魅力。《绝望主妇》就是在这样的背景下诞生的。它既有神秘的剧情又有许多有趣的笑料。电视剧在探讨这样一个问题：为什么女人变成主妇以后就不再迷人？她们在放弃了事业、放弃了自我之后，究竟得到了一些什么呢？

女人年轻的时候，总是对生活充满着憧憬和希望，对物质生活的追求，对男人的要求都有着极高的标准。然而当女人一旦嫁为人妇，温柔持家有人嫌你呆板，将小姑娘时享受生活的理念坚持到底又有人说你不守妇道。如果说《欲望城市》是对女权的一种倡导，塑造的是一群独立、成功、美丽、智慧的现代女性，那么《绝望主妇》则是重新反思男权社会下，女人们在反抗和妥协这个以男人为主导的社会，矛盾统一，最终引发的各种具体的家庭问题。

有媒体这样评论剧集：“主妇们想方设法演绎了所有的真情实感--从夫妻关系破裂带来的挫折到平静的绝望，这些都是日常生活中司空见惯的情形。” 在那些表面完美的婚姻生活中，真正细究起来，背后居然有着这么多的不为人知的秘密。这些疯狂而绝望的主妇，她们似乎已经拥有了一切的美好：拥有良好的经济状况，拥有漂亮的房子，拥有丈夫和孩子。然而，这些幸福装饰的下面却早已是破烂不堪的生活。

在《绝望主妇》中，很多的美国主妇都能找到共鸣。连第一夫人劳拉称自己是一个绝望的家庭主妇。男人同样能从影片中找到共鸣和感慨。很多男性观众表示，自己的妻子就有片中主妇很多类似的毛病。甚至在看完影片以后，很多男士表示，他们相信自己的妻子一定有外遇。 可以说，《绝望主妇》最真实的表现出了当今的美国社会以及当今的美国婚姻。而这一切的真实正是由于它来源于更真实的“主妇”。

思想火花

《绝望主妇》的宣传语是“每个人都有一个肮脏的小秘密(Everyone has a little dirty laundry)”。故事以家庭主妇Mary Alice Young的自杀作为开场。早上在送走了丈夫和孩子，做好了早餐，买了衣服，作了自己例行公事的家庭杂务后，Mary Alice Young拿出了一把左轮手枪……从此以后她作为小镇的观察者，对所有人的行为冷眼旁观。她用自己独特的视角和见解与我们分享这些主妇们的绝望生活。

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), it's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated P.O.V.

Her small circle of girlfriends are wondering why one of their own would do something so rash and so messy. There's Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee and single mom who will go to extraordinary lengths for love; Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), the ex-career woman who traded the boardroom for boredom, mixed with moments of sheer panic as the mother of four unmanageable kids; Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), the Martha Stewart on steroids, whose family is about to mutiny; and Gabrielle Solis, the ex-model with everything she's every wanted, a rich husband, a big house, so what is she doing with John, the 17-year-old gardener (Jesse Metcalfe)?

From her unique vantage point, Mary Alice sees more now than she ever did alive, and she's planning to share all the delicious secrets that hide behind every neighbor's closed door in this seemingly perfect American suburb.

考考你

将下面的句子译成汉语：

1. I won't even dignify your navy bean suggestion.
2. That would explain why you're always locked in the bathroom.
3. Seeing that you're the head of this household, I would really appreciate you saying something.

Friends 1 《老友记》1（精讲十二）考考你 参考答案

1. 她外表是个女孩，内心像个男人。
She is a man trapped inside a girl's body.

2. 我妈答应以后给我们看孩子。
My mother promised to look in on our baby when we have one.

3. 每次考试前她都要因为精神崩溃回家歇一段时间。
Every time an exam is coming, she would snap and go home for a break.

4. 只要有点经验的人都知道，现在的警察根本破不了这个案子。
Anyone with a smidge of experience knows that policemen today simply cannot solve this case.