The devil wears Prada 《时尚女魔头》（精讲之三）

影片对白

Miranda: My girls are leaving on the train for their grandmother's at 4:00... so the book better be here no later than 3:00.

Andy: Of course!

Miranda: And I would like my steak here in 15 minutes.

Andy: No problem! Okay. I have four hours to get the impossible manuscript. Smith & Wollensky's doesn't open until 11:30. How am I gonna get the steak? Okay. I will be back in 15 minutes. Wish me luck!

Emily: No. Shart.

Andy: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I've been on hold. It's for Miranda Priestly. It's very important. Yes, I know it's impossible to get... but, well, I was wondering if you could make the impossible possible... if that's at all possible. Yes, I'm calling about the Harry Potter manuscript. Uh, no. Unpublished. Not a chance? Tell her that it's for Miranda Priestly. 'Cause I think it makes a difference. Let me call you back. Hi. You probably don't remember me. We met at James Holt's party. I'm Miranda Priestly's assistant.

Christian: The Harry Potter manuscript? Oh, you're kidding.

Andy: Uh, sorry to ask, but I'm desperate.

Christian: Just tell her it can't be done. You'll have to come up with a Plan "B."

Andy: Well, this is Miranda Priestly we're talking about. There is no Plan "B". There's only Plan "A". Is she back? Am I fired?

Emily: I rarely say this to people who aren't me... but you have got to calm down. Bloody hell!

Miranda: Coat, bag. What's that? Oh, I don't want that. I'm having lunch with Irv. I'll be back at 3:00. I'd like my Starbucks waiting. Oh, and if you don't have that Harry Potter book by then... don't even bother coming back.

Nate: Hello. Quit? Are you sure?

Andy: I failed. She's gonna fire me anyway. I might as well beat her to the punch.

Nate: Wow. Andy, good for you. Congratulations. You're free.

Andy: Yeah. Well, listen, I'll call you later.

Nate: Okay.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. Shart

Shart 是一个新造出来的词，它可以表示 shit+fart，意思就是“When one farts and a little shit comes out.”，很恶心吧。它还有个引申的用法是“gamble and lose”，因为有时候 fart 是一种很冒险的事情，后果可能会很严重。总之，在这里 Emily 对 Andy 说的这个词意思非常不好，相当于“祝你倒霉”吧。

2. On hold

It refers to be in a state of temporary interruption, but not disconnection, during a telephone call. On hold 的意思就是中文里的“呼叫保持，打电话时的等待”，例如：While I was on hold, I checked my calendar for when I could schedule a meeting.

3. At all

At all 常用的意思有下面四种：

1) In any way or manner，究竟，例如：Is she able to sing at all?
2) To any extent，在任何程度上，例如：Was she at all surprised?
3) For any reason，基于任何原因，例如：Why bother at all?
4) In the slightest degree, under any circumstances，任何情况下，例如：She simply refused to walk at all. 做此意解时常与否定连用，例如：He was not at all frightened.

在本片段中，at all 采用的是第二种意思。

4. Make a difference

这个片语也写作 make the difference，意思是“Cause a change in effect, change the nature of something 导致变化”，例如：His score on this test will make the difference between passing and failing.

在本片段中，make a difference 的意思是“Be important, matter”，例如：Her volunteer work made a difference in many lives.

5. beat to the punch

这个片语也写作beat to the draw，意思是“比另一方/其他人反应更快、更快采取行动”，例如：The new salesman tried to serve one of my customers, but I beat him to the draw.

文化面面观

Harry Potter: its cultural impact and commercial success

The Harry Potter books are an extremely popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling and have made her the richest writer in literary history.

The books depict a world of witches and wizards; the protagonist is the eponymous young wizard Harry Potter. Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video games, and a wealth of other items.

The six books have collectively sold more than 300 million copies and have been translated into 47 languages. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even ancient Greek, making it the longest work in that language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the third century AD.

A large portion of the narrative takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, focusing on Harry Potter's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. At the same time, the books explore the themes of friendship, ambition, choice, prejudice, courage, growing up, love, and the perplexities of death, set against the expansive backdrop of a magical world with its own complex history, diverse inhabitants, unique culture, and parallel societies.

Six of the seven planned books have been published, and the unnamed seventh book is yet to be released. The latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was issued in its English language version on 16 July 2005. The first four books have been made into very successful films, and the fifth began filming in February 2006. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury, Scholastic Press, and Raincoast Books.

Awards and honors

J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been the recipients of a host of awards since the initial publication of Philosopher's Stone including four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in 2001), three Nestle Smarties Book Prizes (1997-1999), two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards (1999 and 2001), and the WHSmith book of the year (2006), among others. In 2000 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated for Best Novel in the Hugo Awards while in 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won said award. Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie Medal (1997), a shortlisting for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists of the American Library Association, New York Times, Chicago Public Library, and Publishers Weekly.

Perhaps the most prestigious "award" was granted in 2001, when the New York Times Best Seller list created a separate list for children's books. Most observers feel that this split occurred because the Harry Potter books were occupying too many positions in the lucrative "adult" list.

Commercial success

Costumes from the 2005 film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, used as a promotion at Hong Kong's Times Square.

The popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related licence holders. The books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of which have been successful in their own right with the first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, ranking number four on the list of all time highest-grossing films and the other three each ranking in the top 25. The films have in turn spawned five video games and have in conjunction with them led to the licensing of over 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an iPod) that have, as of July 2005, made the Harry Potter brand worth an estimated 4 billion dollars and J.K. Rowling a US dollar billionaire, making her, by some reports, richer than Queen Elizabeth II.

Cultural impact

Since the publishing of Philosopher's Stone a number of societal trends have been attributed to the series. In 2005, doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford reported that their research of the weekends of Saturday, 21 June, 2003 and Saturday, 16 July, 2005 (the dates of the two most recent book releases of the series) found that only 36 children needed emergency medical assistance for injuries sustained in accidents, as opposed to other weekends' average of 67. Anecdotal evidence such as this suggesting an increase in literacy among children due to Harry Potter was seemingly confirmed in 2006 when the Kids and Family Reading Report (in conjunction with Scholastic) released a survey finding that 51% of Harry Potter readers ages 5-17 said that while they did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter, they now did. The study further reported that according to 65% of children and 76% of parents, they or their children's performance in school improved since they started reading the series.

Notable also is the development a massive following of fans. So eager were these fans for the latest series release that book stores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been incredibly successful at attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold in the first 24 hours. Among this large base of fans are a minority of "super-fans" (or fangirls and fanboys), similar to the trekkies of the Star Trek fandom. Besides meeting online through blogs and fansites, Harry Potter super-fans can also meet at Harry Potter symposiums. These events draw people from around the world to attend lectures, discussions and a host of other Potter themed activities.

Harry Potter has also wrought changes in the publishing world, one of the most noted being the reformation of the New York Times Best Seller list. The change came immediately preceding the release of Goblet of Fire in 2000 when publishers complained of the number of slots on the list being held by Harry Potter and other children's books. The Times subsequently created a separate children's list for Harry Potter and other children's literature. (wikipedia.com)

我观之我见

本段故事是影片中 Miranda 和 Andy 之间的又一场交锋。在听从了 Nigel 的建议后，开始认真对待工作、变得时尚的 Andy 在工作上已开始得到 Miranda 的赞许，被允许将杂志送到她家去。但是，在两个调皮双胞胎的捣乱指示下，Andy 看到 Miranda 和丈夫吵架，这令 Miranda 非常不悦，于是第二天上班就开始折腾 Andy，并给了她一个 mission impossible --为双胞胎搞到 Harry Potter 系列未出版的书稿。尽管知道不可能，Andy 还是尽力去做了--她打电话给每个有可能拿到书的人，最终通过Christian Thompson 之手拿到了书稿，圆满地完成了任务，令 Miranda 无话可说。从这个片段中我们可以看到，Andy 已经开始成长，她已经不再是那个充满抱怨的女孩。Andy 的职业征途看起来似乎越来越光明了。

考考你

用今日所学将下面的句子译成英语。

1． 我把你设成呼叫保持以便接另一个电话。
2． --你到底感不感兴趣啊？
    --不，一点兴趣也没有。
3． 比尔决定先到那里，先采取行动。

The devil wears Prada 《时尚女魔头》（精讲之二）考考你 参考答案

1. 最后他终于从一堆东西中找到了他要的那封信。
At last he fished out the letter he was looking for.

2. 我知道得有人再去捡些木柴，但为什么挑上了我？
I know somebody has to go and fetch some more logs, but why pick on me?

3. 琼打算住在学校里。
Joe was planning to live in at the college.