The Shawshank Redemption 肖申克的救赎(六)
ANDY: My wife used to say I'm a hard man to know. Like a closed book. Complained about it all the time. She's beautiful. God, I loved her. But I just didn't know how to show it, that's all. I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger. But I drove her away. That's why she died. Because of me, the way I am.
RED: That doesn't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe. Felt bad about it if you want to. But you didn't pull the trigger.
ANDY: No. I didn't. Somebody else did, and I wound up in here. Bad luck, I guess.
RED: Yeah.
ANDY: It floats around. Has to land on somebody. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado. I didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has. You think you'll ever get out of here?
RED: Me? Yeah. One day when I got a long, white beard and two or three marbles rolling around upstairs. They'll let me out.
ANDY: Tell you where I'd go. Zihuatanejo.
RED: Zihua...?
ANDY: Zihuatanejo. It's in Mexico. A little place on the Pacific Ocean. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory. Open up a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up new. Take my guests out charter fishing.
RED: Zihuatanejo?
ANDY: In a place like that, I could use a man that knows how to get things.
RED: I don't think I could make it on the outside, Andy. I've been in here most of my life. I'm an institutional man now. Just like Brooks was.
ANDY: Well, you underestimate yourself.
RED: I don't think so. In here I'm the guy who can get things for you, sure, but outside all you need is the Yellow Pages. Hell, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Pacific Ocean? Shit! About to scare me to death, somethin' that big.
ANDY: Not me. I didn't shoot my wife and I didn't shoot her lover, and whatever mistakes I made I've paid for them and then some. That hotel, that boat... I don't think that's too much to ask.
RED: I don't think you ought' a be doing this to yourself, Andy! This is shitty pipe dreams! I mean Mexico's in the way the hell down there, and you're in here, and that's the way it is!
ANDY: Yeah, right. That's the way it is. It's down there, and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living... or get busy dying.
妙词佳句,活学活用
1. tornado
龙卷风。这里表示“事情的旋涡”。与这个词一类的词汇有以下几个:
whirlwind 旋风
hurricane 飓风
typhoon 台风
大家不妨把这一组词放在一起比较记忆。
2. two or three marbles rolling around upstairs
意思是go crazy in brain/head。英文中有个短语lose one's marbles,意思就是 go crazy in brain/head。Red这里说two or three marbles rolling around upstairs是活用了lose one's marbles这个短语。
3. charter
“包租”的意思,既可以做动词,也可以做名词。租船,包机,包车,都可以用这个词。
如:charter flights 包机
a chartered boat 一条租来的船
4. Yellow Pages
a volume or section of a telephone directory that lists business services, or products alphabetically according to field. 黄页(电话)查号簿(美国按行业、职业分类的部分常用黄色纸)。
5. scare me to death
“吓得要命”的意思,和中文的表达是不是很相似?动词的过去分词+to death 表示“非常……,……要命”,例如:
I was worried to death. 我担心得要死。
I was scared to death. 我吓得要死。
I was bored to death. 无聊死了。
6. pipe dream
非常口语化的表达,意思是:(鸦片鬼的)幻想,白日做梦,想入非非的计划。
pipe有一个意思是“烟斗”,在这个词组里引申为“鸦片”或者“毒品”,这种表达很形象。比如我们可以说 Stop dreaming that pipe dream that you will become a millionaire someday without hard work!(别成天幻想着不费劲将来就能成为百万富翁!)