Katherine: No; it's not. Is it any good? Come on; ladies. There's no wrong answer. There's also no textbook telling you what to think. It's not that easy; is it?
Betty: All right. No. It's not good. In fact; I wouldn't even call it art. It's grotesque.
Connie Baker: Is there a rule against art being grotesque?
Giselle Levy: I think there's something aggressive about it...and erotic.
Betty: To you; everything is erotic.
Giselle: Everything is erotic.
Katherine: Girls.
Susan: Aren't there standards?
Betty: Of course there are. Otherwise a tacky velvet painting could be equated to a Rembrandt.
Connie: My uncle Ferdie has two tacky velvet paintings. He loves those clowns.
Betty: There are standards; technique; composition; color; even subject. So if you're suggesting that rotted side of meat is art... much less good art; then what are we going to learn?
Katherine: Just that. You have outlined our new syllabus; Betty. Thank you. What is art? What makes it good or bad? And who decides? Next slide; please. Twenty five years ago someone thought this was brilliant.
Connie: I can see that.
Betty: Who?
Katherine: My mother. I painted it for her birthday.
Katherine: Next slide. This is my mom. Is it art?
Susan Delacorte: It's a snapshot.
Katherine: If I told you Ansel Adams had taken it, would that make a difference?
Betty: Art isn't art until someone says it is.
Katherine: It's art!
Betty: The right people.
Katherine: Who are they?
Giselle: Betty Warren! So lucky we have one right here.
Betty: Screw you.
Katherine: Could you go back to the Soutine, please? Just look at it again. Look beyond the paint. Let us try to open our minds to a new idea. All right; back to chapter three. Has anyone read it? Okay.
妙词佳句,活学活用
1. grotesque
这是这部电影里经常碰到的一个单词,意思是“(风格)奇异,古怪,荒诞的”。我们来看个例子:Everything seemed strange, so tawdry and grotesque. 一切都很新奇,很花哨,有点滑稽可笑。
在口语中还有一些其它常用的词来表示“奇怪的”这一意思的词,出现频率都很高。比如 weird,如:Sabrina went out with Linus? That's too weird. 莎宾娜和莱纳斯出去约会了?简直太奇怪了!
Strange,这是一个大熟词,就不举例子了。
Odd,如 It's odd that she should have kept such an ugly name as Ellen. 真奇怪她居然一直用埃伦这么个难听的名字。
Bizarre,如:For him, it was a bizarre and tedious experience. 对他来说这是一次奇特而又乏味的经历。
2. aggressive
这个单词不知道怎么回事,很容易被大家记住的意思是“侵略性的,攻击性的”,因而我们经常把它当作贬义词来使用。但是在英语中,尤其在美语中,这个词还有另一个常用意思是“大胆的,积极进取的”。所以这个词在本片段中的意思就不是侵略性的,而是“前卫的,大胆的”。
e.g. He is an aggressive young executive. 他是一个进取心很强的年轻管理员。