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Yeah！That's the Ticket

http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/04/25 13:10 《英语学习》

　　It was nice to read in the papers that a millionaire made ,900,000 honestly (before taxes).

　　Andrew "Jack" Whittaker, a native of Hurricane, W.Va., held the winning ticket in the Powerball lottery.<注1>

　　Hollywood immediately went to work on a movie.

　　The producer<注2> says, "Okay, this a great story. It has everything ?suspense, inspiration and, of course, money. Everyone dreams of winning a lottery. Jack Whittaker is a hero, and we want to show a simple man caught up in a unbelievable world."<注3>

　　Writer: "We open with a shot of a gas station in Hurricane."

　　Producer: "We have to change the town's name. No one would ever win a lottery from a town named Hurricane. If we are going to cast Jack Nicholson, it should be called Bedford Falls.<注4>"

　　Writer: "Good thinking, boss. Okay, Jack is a good man but down on his luck.<注5>"Producer: "But the lucky guy who won was a millionaire even before he won the lottery."

　　Writer: "You have no plot<注6> if he doesn't have financial worries at the beginning."

　　Producer: "Right-o. The theme of the picture is, you can still have monetary problems even if you're a millionaire."<注7>

　　Writer: "Like the guys at Enron<注8>. Now for the plot.<注9>Suppose on the way to the bank Jack's uncle loses the winning ticket."

　　Producer: "Good idea. The whole town knows about it, but they don't believe him. They think Jack has put his money in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands.<注10>"

　　Writer: "Jack looks everywhere to find his ticket. In desperation he goes to the mean Bedford Falls banker, Anthony Hopkins.<注11> Jack begs the banker to loan him million until he finds the ticket.<注12>The banker laughs at him. 'I wouldn't even loan it to you if you put up your WorldCom stock as collateral.'<注13>"

　　Producer: "Where do we go from here?"

　　Writer: "Jack is about to commit suicide, when who should show up but an angel."<注14>

　　Producer: "An angel. Haven't I seen that before?"<注15>

　　Writer: "Who's going to remember it? The angel has been assigned to find Jack's lottery ticket."

　　Producer: "Do you mind telling me how?"

　　Writer: "The angel tells Jack he gave it to the parking lot attendant by mistake the night he went to the movies."<注16>

　　Producer: "What a finish!"<注17>

　　Writer: "At the end, Jack appears on Jerry Falwell<注18>'s TV show. Falwell says if Whittaker wants to get with the Lord he should give the million to Falwell's 'Old Time Gospel Hour.' "

　　Producer: "What an ending. We've got another 'It's a Wonderful Life.' "

彩票找到啦

　　1.本文源于真实的事件。美国“强力球”(Powerball)彩票在连续十六期头奖轮空后，在去年圣诞节开奖时，头奖由一注独中，奖金近3亿一千五百万美元。这是美国历史上一注独中的最高派彩。美国“强力球”(Powerball)彩票在美国已有100多年的历史。玩法是从53个白球中抽出5个，再从42个红球中抽出1个。如果玩者猜中全部6个号码球的话，即可赢得头奖。获奖者是来自西弗吉尼亚(W.Va.)的商人安德鲁-杰克-惠特克。

　　2. producer:(电影、电视片等的)制片人。

　　3.因制片人急于表达自己的想法，这句话中出现了两处不规范的表达(如this a great story，应为this is a great story，和a unbelievable world应为an unbelievable world)。suspense:悬念；inspiration:鼓舞人心的人(或事物)；catch up:被迷住，被缠住。

　　4. Jack Nicholson:杰克-尼科尔森，美国著名演员。Bedford Falls是1946年的电影《风云人物》(即本文最后提到的电影It's a Wonderful Life)的故事发生地。影片的情节是：乔治在美国贝德福德-福斯小镇上的一家银行从事风险投资工作，他的工作很失败，结果债台高筑。圣诞夜，乔治决定一死了之。天堂里的两位圣人知道后，决定派一名天使帮助乔治摆脱困境，终于使他体会到了人生的真谛。影片由当时美国的著名影星詹姆斯-史都华主演。我们不难看出这部电影的构思是对《风云人物》的模仿。

　　5.杰克是个好人，但并不走运。down on one's luck:不走运的。

　　6. plot:(小说、戏剧等的)情节。

　　7. Right-o:(感叹词)对啦；theme:主题；monetary:金钱的。

　　8. Enron:安然公司。此处指安然公司虽然是美国大公司，但仍逃脱不了破产的命运。下文提到的世通公司(WorldCom)在2002年爆出美国历史上最大的假账事件。

　　9.现在来讨论剧情。Now for:现在着手于……。

　　10.他们认为杰克把钱存到开曼群岛的外国帐户里了。Cayman Islands:开曼群岛，是加勒比海地区颇具声誉的海外金融中心。

　　11.绝望中，他求助于贝德福德-福斯吝啬的银行家，安东尼-霍普金斯。Anthony Hopkins:安东尼-霍普金斯，美国著名演员。

　　12.杰克恳求银行家在他找到彩票之前借给他3亿1千5百万美元(正好是彩票的奖金)。

　　13.如果你用世通公司的股票作担保，我也不会把钱借给你。collateral:担保品。

　　14.杰克就要自杀的时候，一个天使出现了。show up: <口>露面。

　　15.意思是制片人已经觉得看过此类情节(1946年的电影《风云人物》情节与此酷似)。

　　16.天使告诉他杰克去看电影时，错把彩票给了停车场管理员。the movies:一场电影。

　　17.多妙的结局！

　　18. Jerry Falwell:杰里-福尔韦尔，一位著名牧师。Old Time Gospel Hour(古老福音)是他办的一档电视节目。

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