文化面面觀：Men in nursing

考考你：小試牛刀

本片段劇情：Carl迫切地抓住正在開車的Terrence，想請他取消“契約”，結果糾纏之中出了車禍，兩個人都被送進了醫院。在病房里Terrence告訴Carl他說的那些關于契約的話都是胡扯，這讓Carl如釋重負。幡然醒悟的Carl不顧一切地沖向他最想去的地方……

影片對白：

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.

妙語佳句 活學活用

1. come down on sb.: 懲罰某人。影片中Carl說那個“契約”狠狠地懲罰了他。come down on/upon還有“申斥，責罵”的意思。請看例子：

The teacher came down on her for talking in class.

由于上課時講話，老師嚴厲地批評了她。

2. riffing: <美俚>（尤指夸張的）即興談話。Terrence對Carl坦言，那天關于契約的談話不過是胡扯。riff有“即興編造”的意思。例如：

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

我隨口編造了一個理由來解釋我為什么沒露面。

3. difficult: 難對付的，難說服的。看一下例子：

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

剛開始讀書時，彼得很不情愿去上學。

4. bullshit: 胡說，廢話，大話。這一粗話在美國口語中很常見。bullshit也可以作動詞用，意思是“對……胡說（或吹牛）”。例如：

You're just bullshitting me. （你是在哄我。）

5. grasp: 理解，領會。請看例子：He could not grasp what was happening.（他不能理解正在發生的事。）

6. open you up to it: 讓你對它敞開心扉。

7.make perfect sense: 很有道理。

8. hop: 跳。影片中Rooney準備跳到床上裝成病人，這樣才不會引起護士的懷疑。看一下例子：hop on a bus（跳上公共汽車）；hop out of bed（一躍起床）。

此外，hop還可以表示“仿佛跳躍著行進”，例如：hop from job to job（頻繁地更換職業）。 

文化面面觀：Men in nursing

考考你：小試牛刀