Liberal Arts

∷湯寶莉 講評

《文科戀曲》是一部非常典型的小制作文藝片。有評論說這部電影很文藝，也有說當你開始理解男主角的時候，就是你開始變老的時候。

老人喜歡懷舊，對于年輕時的執著愈來愈放不下，正如片中男主角杰西（Jesse）的老師皮特（Peter），退休之際卻發覺戀戀不舍多年的教師生涯，滿懷“老驥伏櫪“之志。

成年人更多的是迷茫，對未來的不確定，對年輕時代的留戀。35歲的杰西婚姻失敗，事業平平。回母校的時候遇到了19歲的茨比(Zibby)和有躁郁癥的學生Dean。少女的開朗和清純吸引著杰西，但是成年人的自覺使得他果斷結束了兩人的關系；同時他也作為“過來人”給Dean人生的指導。

少年們總是想著長大、成熟，茨比覺得與杰西交往能讓自己變得成熟，但戀愛的失敗才讓她漸漸成熟。

經歷了人世間的故事，人們才會成長。成長是一個輪回，每個輪回里都有屬于你自己愛戀的事物。

片段一：Peter教授在宣布退休之后倍感后悔，前來請求系主任能夠讓他再執教三年。

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因為不想退休，所以一直在找系里，鬧得沸沸揚揚。stink本意指“難聞的氣味”，引申出“吵鬧，爭吵”之意，故make a whole stink about sth.意為“大吵大鬧（表示不滿）”。其他例句，如：I was asking why the players were making a big stink.（我問這些球員在吵什么。）John made a whole stink about being accidentally short changed.（售貨員無意中少找了錢，John就大鬧了起來。）

《圣經》中羅得（Lot）帶領妻女逃離即將毀滅的城市索多瑪（Sodom）時，其妻回頭探望，即刻變成了一根鹽柱。Bob是在表達Peter現在后悔已晚的意思。

get a little gas in the tank，本意“郵箱里還有一點油”，比喻Peter覺得自己還能發揮一點余熱。

“you have no bigger fan around here than me”，意為“在這里我最支持你”。可是系里已經從弗吉尼亞大學（UVA=University of Virginia）聘來了新教師。

這段對話中出現了兩次search，名詞，意為“尋找”，對話中指的是“尋找新教師代替Peter的位置”；類似于hunt，找工作的人需要job hunting，用人單位則是candidate search。

Bob表示新人非常優秀，大家一致贊同，最主要的是系里花了很多的錢。You know what goes into this sort of thing.“你也知道這種事（從別的學校挖人）得花多少錢。”

Peter感慨萬千，當年Bob是他招聘來的，他費了很大勁才使得大家接受Bob；正是因為Peter討厭行政工作（politics），Bob才當上了系主任。arm-twisting，喻指“施壓干擾使某人同意”；come around 這里意為“轉而接受”，如：It looks like they are coming around to our way of thinking.（好像他們正轉而接受我們的思維方式。）

“And you, for reasons which I cannot fathom,do not.” 助動詞后面省略的部分是前句中的loathe politics。Peter雖然不能理解，但Bob喜歡行政。have a real taste for sth.意為“熱衷于，非常喜愛”。

人上了年紀，就會更加留戀以往的事物，所以Peter不愿意離開自己干了多年的崗位。Bob的行為雖然似乎失了人情味，但是作為系主任，他也許只是“在商言商”吧。也許當Bob退休的時候，也會對他的職位戀戀不舍。

片段二：Jesse和Zibby分手后，Jesse寫給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的年齡差造成了他們之間無法逾越的鴻溝和差異。他們可以是朋友，但似乎無法成為戀人。

half-expecting，表示“有點期待”，如：I am half expecting her to say “no”.（我有點盼望她說不。）I was only half awake. （我只是半醒著。）

a letter to be sitting in my mailbox，使用sit是將letter擬人化了。

bone head，“傻瓜，笨蛋”之義，故bone-headed moves指“愚蠢的舉動”。

be born of此處意為“出于，源于”，可與came out of ，如：Her desire was born of frustration and fear.（她的欲望源于沮喪和恐懼。）

與年輕的Zibby相遇，激起了Jesse心中的某些東西，在兩人無疾而終的交往中Jesse體會到了成長。讓一個比自己小16歲的人教會自己如何讓行為和年齡相符，這也算是這次戀愛對他的一種饋贈吧。a tribute of sorts，“某種禮物”。通常我們使用of some sort表示“某種”，這里雖然使用了of sorts，但是意思相同。act one’s age，“做自己年齡該做的事”，如：Be quiet and act your age. Don’t be such a baby. （安靜些，穩重些，別表現得像個孩子。）

Zibby喜歡泡吧、喝酒，看《吸血鬼故事》打發時間，想找個不討厭的人告別童真，這些都是Jesse這個年齡的人不會去做的事情。也許他在年輕的時候也是這樣，但是他已經不再是20歲的毛頭小子了。35歲的他告訴自己，他是成年人，懂得負責，懂得拒絕。他在以成年人的身份看待母校里的少年。他們讓他發現自己的成長，而他也想為少年們提供一些自己的建議。

片段三：Jesse和Zibby分手后再次相見。

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.

在與Jesse的戀情中，Zibby感受了自己的成長。她有時會覺得有一個更老成、更智慧的自己在注視著她這個“19歲的草稿”，充滿了潛能，但是需要生活的歷練，才能趕上另一個自己。a 19-year-old rough draft，Zibby這里將19歲的自己比喻成一個草稿，需要修改潤色才能成為好的作品。這就是成長的過程，必然是漫長的，但是Zibby想快點。或許她覺得和35歲的Jesse在一起，自己就可以變成熟、長大，但顯然是錯了。

rush the process，意為“加速過程”。Don’t rush the process. Delays will benefit you. （欲速則不達。類似我們常用的Haste makes waste.）

shortcut，“捷徑”。There are really not shortcuts to learning.（學習沒有捷徑。）

在Zibby意識到生活使人成長的時候，她已經朝著成年人的方向前進了。