仁者灼見

From the movie Accepted

選自電影《錄取通知》

故事梗概：在被八所大學(xué)拒收后，高中生蓋恩斯和朋友們偽造了一所“南哈蒙理工學(xué)院”來蒙混父母。但因?yàn)榫W(wǎng)站的錯(cuò)誤，幾百名遭遇一樣的高中生來到學(xué)院報(bào)到。有感于被正規(guī)大學(xué)遺棄的悲憤遭遇，蓋恩斯與朋友們希望讓學(xué)校成為真正的大學(xué)。他們完善大學(xué)的功能，激勵(lì)同學(xué)們相互鼓勵(lì)，共同成長。然而，這所學(xué)校引起了一所也叫“哈蒙”的名牌大學(xué)的校長的注意。他決定控告蓋恩斯詐騙罪，于是同伴們孤注一擲出席聽證會(huì)，希望挽救大學(xué)。

(A hearing is held to discuss if the S.H.I.T. should be dismissed.)

Dr. Alexander: So， is that it， Mr. Gaines? You have one formal teacher for upwards of 300 students? Mr. Gaines， answer the question.

Gaines: Nah， I’m not gonna answer your question， ’cause you guys have already made up your minds. ①I’m an expert in rejection， and ②I can see it on your faces. And it’s too bad that you judge us by the way we look and not by who we are， just because you want us to be more like them when the truth is we’re not like them. And I am damn proud of that fact. Harmon College and their—and their 100 years of tradition. But tradition of what? Of hazing kids and humiliating anyone who’s a little bit different? Of putting so much pressure on kids they turn into these—these stress 1)freaks and 2)caffeine addicts.

President of Harmon College: Your 3)phony school demeans real colleges everywhere!

Gaines: Why? Why can’t we both exist? Huh? You can have your grades， and your rules and your structure， and your ivory towers， and then we’ll do things our way. Why do we have to conform to what you want?

Dr. Alexander: Your 4)curriculum is a joke.

President of Harmon College: And you， sir， are

a criminal.

Gaines: You know what? You’re a criminal， ’cause you rob these kids of their creativity and their passion. That’s the real crime! Well， what about you parents? Did…did the system really work out for you? Did it teach you to follow your heart， or to just play it safe， roll over? What about you guys? Did you always wanna be school administrators? Dr. Alexander， was that your dream? Or maybe no， maybe you wanna be a poet. Maybe you wannna be a magician or an artist. Maybe you just wanna travel the world. Look， I…I…I lied to you. I lied to all of you， and I’m sorry. Dad， especially to you. But out of that desperation， something happened that was so amazing. Life was full of possibilities. A-A-And isn’t that what you ultimately want for us as parents， I mean， is—is that， is possibilities? Well， we came here today to ask for your approval， and something just occurred to me.

③I don’t give a shit! Who cares about your approval? We don’t need your approval to tell us that what we did was real， ’cause there are so few truths in this world， that when you see one， you know it. And I know that it is a truth that real learning took place at South Harmon. Whether you like it or not， it did， ’cause you don’t need teachers or classrooms or—or fancy 5)highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with a desire to better themselves， and we got that by the shitload at South Harmon. So you can go ahead， sign your forms， reject us and shoot us down， and do whatever you gotta do. It doesn’t really matter at this point， because we’ll never stop learning， and we’ll never stop growing， and we’ll never forget the ideals that were instilled in us at our place. ’Cause we are S.H.I.T. heads now， and we’ll be S.H.I.T. heads forever and nothing you can say or do or stamp can take that away from us! So go!

Dr. Alexander: Everyone， please， quiet down. Everyone， please quiet down. Quiet down. Please. Thank you. Mr. Gaines， your presentation was 6)unorthodox， ④to say the least， and ⑤your 7)methodology is questionable at best. However， the true purpose of education is to stimulate the creativity and the passions of the student body. And in that regard you have certainly succeeded. This board does not reject innovation， but it must be watched carefully. Therefore， the South Harmon Institute of Technology will be granted a one-year 8)probationary period in which to continue its experimental programs. Don’t be so quick to judge us by the way we look. Congratulations.

（教學(xué)專家們舉行聽證會(huì)決定是否解散“南哈蒙理工學(xué)院”。）

亞歷山大博士：那么，就是那樣嗎，蓋恩斯先生？你只有一個(gè)正式的教師來教導(dǎo)300名以上的學(xué)生？蓋恩斯先生，回答我的問題。

蓋恩斯：不，我不打算回答你的問題，因?yàn)槟銈円呀?jīng)拿定主意了。我可是拒絕專家。我能從你們的臉上看出來。很遺憾你們對(duì)我們只看表面，而不是看實(shí)質(zhì)，就因?yàn)槟銈兿胱屛覀円沧兊酶麄円粯樱聦?shí)是我們跟他們不一樣，而且我他媽的為此而感到自豪。哈蒙學(xué)院和他們的——他們的近100年傳統(tǒng)。但那都是些什么傳統(tǒng)？迷惑孩子，侮辱稍微與眾不同的人？把壓力一股腦地壓到學(xué)生身上，讓他們變成——壓力廢物或是癮君子？

哈蒙學(xué)院校長：你的冒牌大學(xué)侮辱了周圍的正規(guī)大學(xué)！

蓋恩斯：為什么？為什么我們不能共存？哼？你們有你們的評(píng)分標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，有你們的規(guī)矩，有你們的教育架構(gòu)和你們的象牙塔，而我們則照我們自己的方式去做。為什么我們要遵守你們的規(guī)則？

亞歷山大博士：你們的課程只是個(gè)

笑話。

哈蒙學(xué)院校長：而你，先生，是一個(gè)

罪犯。

蓋恩斯：你知道嗎？你才是個(gè)罪犯，因?yàn)槟銊儕Z了這些孩子的創(chuàng)造力和激情。這才是真正的犯罪！那么，各位家長們，你們呢？這……這個(gè)教育體系真的有用嗎？它是教你們聽從自己的意愿，還是教你們保守、任人擺布？你們大家呢？難道你們一直以來就希望做學(xué)校行政官員嗎？亞歷山大博士，這是你的夢(mèng)想嗎？也許不是。也許你想做一個(gè)詩人，或者是魔術(shù)師或藝術(shù)家，也許你只想周游世界。瞧，我……我……我欺騙了你們，我欺騙了所有人。我很抱歉。爸，特別是對(duì)不起你。但是在這段絕望的經(jīng)歷之后，卻發(fā)生了一些不可思議的事情。生活充滿著無限可能，難道這不正是作為父母，你們對(duì)我們的期望嗎？我的意思是……那無限的可能性。今天我們本來是到這來請(qǐng)求你們的批準(zhǔn)，但我突然意識(shí)到：我不管了！誰管你們批不批準(zhǔn)？我們不需要你們的批準(zhǔn)來告訴我們所做的事情是對(duì)的，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)世界上存在的真理太少了。你發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)，你就自然會(huì)明白。而我明白這就是真理，也就是南哈蒙才是真正適合學(xué)習(xí)的地方。不管你們喜不喜歡，這是事實(shí)。因?yàn)檎嬲膶W(xué)習(xí)并需要老師或教室，也不需要虛幻的學(xué)術(shù)傳統(tǒng)或者金錢來進(jìn)行，只需要人們有完善自身的愿望。而在南哈蒙我們就擁有一大把。所以你們動(dòng)手吧，簽?zāi)銈兊谋砀瘢芙^我們，打擊我們，做你們?cè)撟龅氖虑槿ァＵ娴臎]有任何關(guān)系，因?yàn)槲覀冇肋h(yuǎn)不會(huì)停止學(xué)習(xí)，也永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)停止成長，而且我們永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)忘記曾經(jīng)在我們的學(xué)校所灌輸?shù)睦硐耄驗(yàn)槲覀儸F(xiàn)在是南哈工一員，我們就永遠(yuǎn)都是南哈工的成員，不管你們說什么、做什么、蓋什么章都不能撤消我們的身份！所以，隨你的便！隨便你們！

亞歷山大博士：各位，請(qǐng)安靜。各位，請(qǐng)安靜。請(qǐng)安靜。謝謝。蓋恩斯先生，你的陳述有些另類，起碼可以這樣說；而你的方法，也最多值得商榷。可是，教育的真正目的就是激發(fā)學(xué)生的創(chuàng)造力和激情，而在這一點(diǎn)上，你無疑是成功的。委員會(huì)不會(huì)拒絕創(chuàng)新，但必須仔細(xì)觀察。因此，南哈蒙理工學(xué)院被批準(zhǔn)試運(yùn)行一年，以觀后效。（你們也）別這么急于從表面上對(duì)我們下判斷。恭喜！

Smart Sentences

①I’m an expert in rejection. 我可是拒絕專家。

I’m an expert in sth.: I know everything about sth.（在某事上，我是權(quán)威），usually used when trying to brag or reject others’ advice（通常用于自我夸耀或拒絕他們的建議）

e.g. I’m an expert in grammar. Tell me about your problem. 我是語法專家，把你的難題告訴我吧。

Similar Expression: I know everything about…; there’s nothing I don’t know about…

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

②I can see it on your face. 我能從你們的臉上看出來。

I can see it on your face: your expressions tell of what you have in mind（你的表情已經(jīng)把你的所想表露無遺）

e.g. I know you hated my design—I can see it on your face. 我知道你討厭我的設(shè)計(jì)，你的表情已經(jīng)說明了一切。

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

③I don’t give a shit! 我不管了！

do not give a shit: do not care about sth. at all（對(duì)某事毫無興趣）

e.g. I don’t give a shit about modern art so I’m not going to the show tomorrow. 我對(duì)現(xiàn)代藝術(shù)一點(diǎn)興趣也沒有，所以明天不會(huì)去看展覽。

Similar Expression: I don’t give a damn.

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

④To say the least… 起碼可以這樣說……

to say the least: used to indicate the situation is much more extreme than what’s said（至少可以說）

e.g. His behavior last night was strange， to say the least. 他昨晚的舉動(dòng)，客氣地說，也是夠奇怪的了。

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal

⑤Your methodology is questionable at best. 而你的方法，也最多值得商榷。

at best: to indicate even if sth. is described as favorably， it is still not very good（至多，充其量）

e.g. Only a few hundred people， at best， attended the meeting. 充其量只有幾百人出席了會(huì)議。

Suitable Occasion: oral， informal