影片對白  Olive, um, Uncle Frank didn't really have an accident. What happened was he...tried to kill himself.

文化面面觀

Proust scholar VS MacArthur Foundation

1. Proust scholar

A Proust scholar is someone who has devoted his or her life's work to studying the 20th century French author Marcel Proust. Proust's chef d'oeuvre is a work in seven volumes collectively entitled The Remembrance of Things Past. A Proust scholar will probably focus his/her attention on this work, but will also be interested in Proust's life and lesser works of fiction.

The Remembrance of Things Past itself is fodder for a life's worth of study. Written over a span of 13 years, from 1909 to the end of Proust's life in 1922, the novel offers a thoughtful look into the social and political changes in France during the latter part of the 19th century. The novel features over 2,000 characters and deals with such themes as the nature of memory, the conflict between art and society, homosexuality, World War I, the rise of the middle class and the decline of the aristocracy. Much of the work is autobiographical, so studying Proust's life offers significant insight into the novel. Proust is also known for his long, elaborate sentences and sensory descriptions.

A Proust scholar works at an institution of higher education and will probably begin his study with an undergraduate course in a related but broader field, such as French literature. Progression to a Master's Degree and Doctorate is mandatory to become a scholar of this sort. In addition to individual study and work with colleagues, a Proust scholar will most likely teach some graduate and/or undergraduate courses and work with grad students developing their theses.

A Proust scholar is a very specialized type of academic, as he/she focuses on the life and work of a single author. However, the study of Proust has many connections to various fields of study, such as French and European history, human sexuality, psychology, and philosophy. A Proust scholar may choose to focus on one or a few of these areas or may try to synthesize many of them.

2. MacArthur Foundation

Macarthur Foundation, formally known as The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is a private general-purpose foundation created in 1978 and headquartered in Chicago. At the time of his death, John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) was one of the three wealthiest men in America and the owner of the nation's largest privately held insurance company, Bankers Life and Casualty Company. Catherine T. MacArthur (1909- 1981) worked closely with her husband and was a director of the Foundation until her death.

One of the nation's ten largest foundations, the MacArthur Foundation's assets are around $4 billion and it distributes approximately $180 million in grants annually. It is organized into four divisions: Human and Community Development, focused on public education, juvenile justice, mental health policy and neighborhood development, with special emphasis upon Chicago and Florida; Global Security and Sustainability, with grants for conservation, international peace, population and reproductive health, with special initiatives in Russia, south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; the General Program, which provides institutional grants to such organizations as National Public Radio; and the controversial MacArthur Fellows Program, which awards between twenty and forty five-year fellowships, or "genius grants," of around $500,000 to "talented persons" who "show exceptional merit and promise of continued and enhanced creative work." The Foundation has field offices in Florida, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, India, and Russia.

思想火花

在這個片段里，舅舅向 Olive 解釋他為什么會自殺。爸爸開始不同意舅舅說，認(rèn)為這不是一個能向7歲的孩子解釋的事情，但媽媽堅(jiān)持，因?yàn)?Olive 自己總有一天也會發(fā)現(xiàn)的。于是我們就在舅舅的講述中了解到他的不幸：他做了一連串錯誤的選擇，最后連自殺都失敗了，在爸爸看來，他就是個十足的loser。這是影片向我們展示的第一個失敗的人生。這樣的事情在我們的生活中也常以不同的形式上演著，比如最近頻出的學(xué)生自殺事件。世界似乎只有兩極，要么成功，要么失敗。到底是什么把我們逼到了這種思想的兩極呢？

考考你

將下面的句子譯成漢語。

1. Mainly, though, I fell in love with someone who didn't love me back.
2. I was very much in love with him.

Little Miss Sunshine《陽光小美女》（精講之一） 考考你 參考答案

1. 把眼睛蒙起來作畫，這可真夠前衛(wèi)的。
Painting blindfolded, that's far out.

2. 他們又吵又鬧，餐館的主人把他們攆了出去。
The owner kicked them out of the restaurant for being loud and disorderly.

3. 我們得不時檢查一下他的工作。
We need to check on his work from time to time. 


點(diǎn)擊進(jìn)入: 更多精彩電影回顧 

(英語點(diǎn)津Annabel編輯)