文化面面观：Men in nursing

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本片段剧情：Carl迫切地抓住正在开车的Terrence，想请他取消“契约”，结果纠缠之中出了车祸，两个人都被送进了医院。在病房里Terrence告诉Carl他说的那些关于契约的话都是胡扯，这让Carl如释重负。幡然醒悟的Carl不顾一切地冲向他最想去的地方……

影片对白：

Carl: A covenant.

Peter: Hey, buddy, you all right?

Carl: The covenant, it's coming down hard on me, man.

Peter: God, he keeps talking this covenant nonsense.

Carl: It's not nonsense.

Terrence: It is nonsense.

Carl: It's him. Oh, thank God. Terrence. You have to remove the covenant. It's killing me.

Terrence: First of all, what were you doing in my car?

Carl: I told you, I need you to remove the covenant.

Terrence: There is no covenant. There never was. I was just riffing.

Carl: Riffing?

Terrence: Well, I had to say something. You were being difficult, embarrassing me in front of my crowd.

Carl: So the whole yes thing is all bullshit?

Terrence: No. You just don't know how to use it, that's all.

Carl: Yeah, I did. Say yes to everything. Real tough to grasp.

Terrence: No, that's not the point. Well, maybe at first it is, but that's just to open you up to it, to get you started. Then you're saying yes, not because you have to, not because a covenant tells you to, but because you know in your heart that you want to.

Carl: Yeah. You're right. That makes perfect sense.

Peter: Well, I told you. I said that.

Carl: You didn't say that.

Peter: I did say that.

Carl: You didn't say it like that.

Peter: Well, I didn’t say it with an accent, but I say...

Carl: Yeah, whatever. Thanks, Terrence. Sorry about the car, and your head there. What time is it?

Rooney: It's 5:40 in the morning.

Carl: Perfect.

Peter: I said that.

Terrence: Whatever.

Rooney: I'm gonna hop in the bed just in case the nurse comes back.

Nurse: Sir, you need to get back to your room.

Carl: No, I don't.

Hospital staff: Sir, stop right there.

Carl: Eat me! Lee. What are you doing here?

Lee: I'm a nurse, remember?

Carl: Oh, yeah, right. Sorry. Can I borrow your car?

Lee: No, I don't have my car anymore. I've got my Ducati, thanks to you.

Carl: Ducati.

Lee: Have you ever driven one of these before? They're quite powerful.

Carl: Yeah, I ride double all the time on the scooter with Allison.

Lee: No, Carl, this is not the same. You really have to be careful. Okay? These things have a lot of--

Carl: Holy Jesus.

Lee: --torque.

妙语佳句 活学活用

1. come down on sb.: 惩罚某人。影片中Carl说那个“契约”狠狠地惩罚了他。come down on/upon还有“申斥，责骂”的意思。请看例子：

The teacher came down on her for talking in class.

由于上课时讲话，老师严厉地批评了她。

2. riffing: <美俚>（尤指夸张的）即兴谈话。Terrence对Carl坦言，那天关于契约的谈话不过是胡扯。riff有“即兴编造”的意思。例如：

I riffed up an excuse as to why I didn't show up.

我随口编造了一个理由来解释我为什么没露面。

3. difficult: 难对付的，难说服的。看一下例子：

Peter was very difficult about going to school when he first started.

刚开始读书时，彼得很不情愿去上学。

4. bullshit: 胡说，废话，大话。这一粗话在美国口语中很常见。bullshit也可以作动词用，意思是“对……胡说（或吹牛）”。例如：

You're just bullshitting me. （你是在哄我。）

5. grasp: 理解，领会。请看例子：He could not grasp what was happening.（他不能理解正在发生的事。）

6. open you up to it: 让你对它敞开心扉。

7.make perfect sense: 很有道理。

8. hop: 跳。影片中Rooney准备跳到床上装成病人，这样才不会引起护士的怀疑。看一下例子：hop on a bus（跳上公共汽车）；hop out of bed（一跃起床）。

此外，hop还可以表示“仿佛跳跃着行进”，例如：hop from job to job（频繁地更换职业）。 

文化面面观：Men in nursing

考考你：小试牛刀