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要说今夏最火的电视剧,首推《隐秘的角落》,凭借高质量的剧本、演员、布景、摄影等,拿下豆瓣 8.9 的高分。刚开播时,分数曾冲到 9.2。堪称「国货之光」。
《隐秘的角落》改编自紫金陈的 suspense novel 悬疑小说《坏小孩》,英文名是 The Bad Kids,与原书的名字呼应,相比剧名,少了些味道,多了些直白。这部电视剧属于网剧,网剧的英文是什么呢?媒体对于这部剧评价如何?
01 「网剧」的英文是什么?
网剧被称为streaming drama或online/web drama。后面这俩大家比较熟悉,为什么网剧还可以成为 streaming drama 呢?
我们平时在优酷、爱奇艺、腾讯等视频平台看视频,这些平台采用流式传播数据的方式为我们提供在线观看服务,属于流媒体,英文为streaming media,所以,在这类平台上播放的网剧就被成为 streaming drama 啦。
再补充一个 stream 作动词的用法,在下面这句中,be streamed with two episodes each evening意思是「每晚播放两集」。追剧的同时还能学点英语,多好。
The 12-episode mystery drama will be streamed with two episodes each evening from Tuesday through Thursday every week, according to the show's social media account.
这部剧主要讲什么呢?接下来就要考察各路媒体「概括中心大意」的能力了,我们分别看下描述最详细的两家,分别是《南 华早报》和 Sixth Tone。
02 故事梗概
The suspense thriller revolves around three children who unwittingly witness a murder and how the incident upends the lives of several families. The drama touches on a number of social issues, including runaway children and single-parent families.
02 suspense thriller
suspense thriller 指「悬疑片」,thriller 指的是跟罪案相关的「惊悚故事或电影」。《环球》和《中国日报》分别用了 crime/suspense drama 和 mystery drama。
03 revolve around sth
金牌写作用语
revolve 表示「旋转」这个动作,比如,地球围绕太阳转,就是 The earth revolves around the sun. 此外,revolve 可以指某本书或者争论「围绕……展开」,非常适合大家在写英文读书报告时用上。本句说《隐秘的角落》这部剧围绕三个孩子目睹谋杀案展开用的正是 revolve around sth,而 Sixth Tone 也用了同一个短语,很默契。
第三,revolve 还可以指某个人「以……为中心」。在中国,家长往往围着孩子转,以孩子为中心。我们就可以写为:
Chinese parents tend to revolve around their children.
“The Bad Kids” … revolves around three children who accidentally record the show’s shocking first scene from afar and the math teacher, Zhang, as their lives intertwine in the coastal city of Zhanjiang in southern China.
04 unwittingly
词根词缀
wit 这个词根独立成词,众多含义都跟「机智」有关。表情包「机智如我」就可以翻译成:How witty of me! 前面加上否定的 un,就变成了 in a way that shows you do not know or realize something「不知情地,未意识到地」。和 involuntarily, unintentionally 意思相近。
She had broken the law unwittingly, but still she had broken it.
她并非故意犯法,但毕竟是犯了法。
05 upend
本义是指 to turn sb / sth upside down「倒放;使颠倒」,在这里 upends the lives of several families 指的是「给这几家的生活带来了天翻地覆的变化」。
06 touch on
常用短语,表示 to mention a particular subject when talking or writing「谈及,提及」。去年,韩国有本揭露女性生存现状的书因为改编为电影一爆而红,那就是《82 年生的金智英》。VOA 在报道时提到:
She said, "It touched on realities in South Korean society that keep women of different generations from the life they wanted to lead.”
她说,「这部电影触及到韩国的社会现实。一代又一代的女性被社会裹挟,无法过上期望的生活。」
07 single-parent families
「单亲家庭」,也称之为「离异家庭」,也就是 Sixth Tone 所用的 a broken family。
03 故事梗概
“The Bad Kids,” which is based on a Chinese novel of the same name, revolves around three children who accidentally record the show’s shocking first scene from afar and the math teacher, Zhang, as their lives intertwine in the coastal city of Zhanjiang in southern China. As the plot progresses, Zhang’s motivations for the murder slowly unravel, more murders take place, and one of the kids — Zhu Chaoyang, a math whiz seventh-grader from a broken family— gradually begins to understand, and even emulate, his homicidal teacher.
语法分析
第一句比较长,我们把主干拆出来:“The Bad Kids,” revolves around three children and the math teacher.
这个句子有两个定语从句。一个是 which 后面的部分,修饰前面的 The Bad Kids;另一个是 children 后面的 who accidentally record the show’s shocking first scene from afar,把这些修饰成分去掉,才更容易找到主干,把句意理清。后面的 as 则引导了一个伴随状语从句。
第二句也不短,而且主干部分同样比较长:
Zhang’s motivations for the murder slowly unravel, more murders take place, and one of the kids gradually begins to understand, and even emulate, his homicidal teacher.
开头的 as the plot progresses 表示「随着剧情推进」,破折号中间的部分 — Zhu Chaoyang, a math whiz seventh-grader from a broken family— 是 one of the kids 的同位语。
08 from afar
固定词组,表示 from a long distance away「遥远地;从远处」。
09 intertwine
既可以指项链、线团等「缠绕在一起」,又可以指观点、局势、生活等「交织在一起,密切相关」。朝阳、严良、张东升这几个人的命运捆绑在一起,也就是:
Their destinies are intertwined.
他们的命运交织在一起。
10 unravel/nrvl/
词根词缀
如果你记住我后面说的这些内容,相信你不会忘记,因为这个单词非常神奇!un- 这个前缀经常用作否定,ravel 意思是「解开,松开」,unravel 应该就是「捆绑在一起」对吧?哈哈,不是。unravel 跟 ravel 一样,也表示「解开,松开」。不过,从现在的使用习惯来说,ravel 不如 unravel 普遍。
在本句中,作者想说张东升的杀人动机逐渐显现出来,motivation 可以和 unravel 搭配,但并不常见。大家记下面例句的搭配更好。
The discovery will help scientists unravel the mystery of the Ice Age.
这一发现将有助于科学家揭开冰川时代的奥秘。
11 whiz/whizz
指 someone who is very fast, intelligent, or skilled in a particular activity「高手,能人」,朝阳是公认的 math whiz「数学高手/天才」,想成为 whiz 的话,你就要记住啦。
12 emulate
这个单词表示 to do something or behave in the same way as someone else,出于对某人的仰慕而「模仿」对方。朝阳和张东升都对数学有浓厚兴趣,而且也逐渐发现对方身上的「阴暗面」,而这些阴暗面同样存在于自己身上。这种 emulate 是不正常的,咱们看个 TE 的正常例句。
British journalists ask their politicians why they can’t emulate Germany’s testing rates.
英国记者向本国政界人士提出质疑:为什么他们赶不上德国的测试速度。
13 homicidal
名词是 homicide「杀人罪」,homicidal 是形容词,表示「嗜杀成性的」。
04 评价
故事大意就讲到这儿,我们再来看下这几家媒体的评价。先看 Global Times《环球时报》的评价。
14 lift sth to an all new level
Global Times 在标题就表扬上了,意思是:网剧《隐秘的角落》将中国悬疑片提升至全新高度。all new 就是「全新」,跟汉语一一对应,是不是很有意思?
Chinese crime/suspense drama The Bad Kids has gained unprecedented high compliments from Chinese netizens and even celebrities such as actress Zhang Ziyi for its intriguing plot and superb acting. The hashtag for the show, which aired its final episode on Thursday, had earned 4.29 billion views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of Tuesday afternoon.
《环时》开头的评价主要从两个角度入手:一是网友+名人好评;二是话题浏览量。
15 gain unprecedented high compliments
获得史无前例的高度评价。unprecedented,这个形容词想必不少同学很熟,注意不要写错,意思是 that has never happened, been done or been known before「空前的,前所未有的」。我们待会还能看到一个类似词组。
补充一个表达 on an unprecedented scale「规模空前的」,疫情让很多国家的经济受损,所以——
Rich countries have deployed stimulus on an unprecedented scale.
富裕国家已经部署了规模空前的刺激措施。
16 superb
可以替换 excellent, outstanding 等,表示 extremely good 「极好的,出色的」。下次跟父母朋友讨论演员演技棒的时候,就可以说这个演员 superb acting「表演精湛」。
17 earn X views
hashtag 是「话题」,我们之前多次见过,earn X views 是指 #隐秘的角落# 这个微博话题累计达到近 43 亿浏览量。
同近义替换:rack up
除了用 earn 这个动词外,还可以像《南 华》一样,用上 rack up 这个词组。之前 CNN 报道阿里双十一时,也曾用到。
The shopping extravaganza regularly racks up bigger sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
这场购物盛会一般比黑五和网络星期一加起来的销量还要多。
05 评价
Broadcast on video platform iQiyi over 10 days in June, the 12-part series racked up more than 200 million views in China and attained a score of 9 out of 10 on fan review website Douban, the country’s equivalent to Rotten Tomatoes. It is the highest-rated Chinese TV series on Douban so far this year.
《南 华》也是两个角度,一是影片的观看量;二是豆瓣评分。
18 attain a score of 9 out of 10
是指「十分满分的情况下,这部剧拿到了 9 分」。
19 highest-rated
得分最高的。除了用这个形容词外,我们还可以学习 China Daily 的标题,用 top 这个动词概括,简单却不失优雅。这个标题是说:这部悬疑片位居每周最受欢迎电视剧之冠。
06 评价
Since its first episodes were released on China’s Netflix-like video platform iQiyi in mid-June, “The Bad Kids” has earned sweeping praise for its plot, cinematography, casting, dialogue, pacing, and soundtrack. It’s also generated wide-ranging online discussion on human nature due to the psychology and complex motivations of its characters.
20 earn sweeping praise
我们形容一部剧集好评甚多,常会说「好评如潮」,这四个字怎么翻译呢?快来看看 sweeping 这个词。sweep 作动词,可以指「风、浪等席卷某地」。所以,sweeping 表示 having an important effect on a large part of sth「影响广泛的;彻底的」。多起替考案件曝光,引起众怒,我国必须对教育制度进行改革。
Chinese people are eager to make sweeping changes to education policies.
中国民众对教育政策进行彻底改革的愿望很迫切。
21 cinematography & soundtrack
分别是「电影制作方法」和「背景音乐」。这俩词了解即可。
22「引起热议」有哪些英文表达?
1)generate wide-ranging online discussion
wide-ranging 和前面的 sweeping 可以互相替换,意思相近,表示 including a wide variety of subjects, things, or people「范围大的,广泛的」。整个表达的意思是「在网上引起广泛讨论」。
2)hot-button topic
「热点话题」才会引起人们的讨论,所以我们想要表达某件事引起热议,还可以说:Sth become a hot-button topic.美国黑人之死引发的种族运动近日仍在美国蔓延,我们可以说:
Race has always been a hot button in this country's history.
种族一直是这个国家历史上争论不休的问题。
3)stir heated debate
如果这种「热议」并不仅仅是「讨论」,而是争论,那么我们可以用 debate 代替 discussion。李子柒被一位小学老师编入考试题中,这件事在社交媒体上引起了很多网友的争议,我们就可以说 stir heated social media debate。
4)spur debate over sth
除了用 stir 这个动词外,我们还可以用 spur。spur 表示 to make sth happen faster or sooner「加速,刺激某事发生」。在下面这个标题中,疫情爆发引起美国民众对个人自由的讨论。可能正是这种不羁放纵爱自由,所以美国的疫情迟迟没有消退。
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