这是“英语周记之「外网影评」系列的第三篇文章。周记每周更新一篇，旨在为爱学英语，又爱看电影的同道中人提供地道的学习资料。评论区欢迎用英语留言，我会请我的外教老师帮忙点评修改。
写完了流浪地球，我就开始考虑第三篇该写哪部电影。正好IMDB推送了<阿凡达(Avatar)2>的视频 <What we know so far about Avatar2?>。好吧，那就你啦，这周主打蓝色调。视频中讲到电影的制作，情节和演员阵容等。当然，最吸引人的，还是凯特温斯莱特（Kate Winslet）确认出演的消息。以下是一小段外网新闻截选：
For weeks there was speculation around Kate Winslet’s role in Avatar sequel. Well, it has now been revealed and she is playing Ronal who is sea-dwelling alien, part of the “sea people” or “reef people”. There is a powerful clan called “Metkayina” ruled by Tonowari that live on giant reefs surrounding the ocean.
Kate Winslet will play an influential member of this clan and have a significant role in the movie. It’s almost after 20 years that Cameron and Winslet will unite after Titanic.
https://www.quirkybyte.com/blog/2017/11/character-kate-winslet-avatar-2/
第一句话的结构非常干净。同样的意思，作为一个学了半辈子中式英语的人，我会下意识地写成：“For weeks there was speculation about whether Kate Winslet would act or not in Avatar sequel”。这么对比，两句话的差别就特别明显了吧？speculation around Kate Winslet’s role，用一个非常简单的名词所有格，意思就表达清楚了。所以对于英语已经有一定的基础的人，日积月累的阅读量是提高水平的关键哦。
这段新闻的另一个学习点是时态的应用。现在完成时和进行时的搭配，现在时和将来时的搭配，可以好好体会一下。
说到咱们的肉丝姐和卡梅隆大导演，就不得不提<泰坦尼克号（Titanic）>。学习前先分享几张老照片，缅怀下经典。
说完电影新闻，咱得言归正传学英语了。
作为一个自己创造影史票房纪录，自己又打破自己创造的影史票房纪录的导演，詹姆斯卡梅隆（James Cameron）是那种值得仰望的天才。<阿凡达>创造的27.88亿美元的全球票房纪录，至今无人能及。IMDB官网上这3209篇影评，表达激动之情的占多数。毕竟10年前，3D技术带来的观影效果还是非常新鲜，非常夺人眼球的。
However！给电影打1分，2分的观众也是为数甚多的。虽然多篇读来都是赤裸裸的“怨愤无处抒怀”，但也不乏给出可圈可点论证的精彩影评。比如下面这篇就是给电影打出2分，同时又是收获最多“有用”的影评。所以本周就单挑这篇出来，跟大家分析一下英语知识点。
Pretty Visual Effect Are Not Enough
By somberballad13 from IMDB
I'm giving this movie a 2/10 because undeniably the art and beauty that is the setting of Avatar is outstanding. It's a gorgeous movie but I find it offensive as a movie-goer that we should be expected just to like a movie because the hype and a gorgeous setting.
This movie severely lacked plot and character development, especially the latter. The main character had some depth but the supporting cast had very little, and I did not feel at all attached to their causes or goals. The movie was far too long to cover as little as it did, there was more to uncover about the characters, their past, and how they interacted with one another but it was shown through quickly progressing scenes, with little dialogue relying on the score and beauty of the setting to speed us through the time of the movie. Months were shown over the matter of minutes, which would be okay if they had some fully formed characters I could believe in, but that was not the case here.
As mentioned in other reviews, the plot originality is severely lacking, I found myself during nearly the entire movie thinking.."oh this is just like that movie" or "that is just like this movie". That's not to say that similar themes are recycled in many modern movies, but this one wasn't even cobbled together convincingly to be its own story, you can see the loose threads of other movies everywhere, only turned into a Avatar themed world. Clichés abound here.
This movie is getting way more positive reviews than it deserves probably because of the expert animation/visual effects and the huge hype before hand. It's disappointed to see such a sub-par movie getting such a fabulous reaction from movie-goers, we deserve better. Hype+Stunning Visual Effects does not equal great cinema.
https://m.imdb.com/review/rw2178397/?ref_=tt_urv
It's a gorgeous movie but I find it offensive as a movie-goer that we should be expected just to like a movie because the hype and a gorgeous setting.
1, 在这句话里，as a movie-goer 的位置让句子读起来别扭。如果放到前面，就比较好理解了：As a movie-goer I find it offensive that...。英语中表示修饰的短语或者从句，位置都是非常灵活的，如何使用一般看作者个人的写作风格。
2, 同样的情况也适用于just，位置的不同，意思稍有差别。比如这句话后半部分也可以写成：that we should be expected to like a movie just because the hype and a gorgeous setting.（关于这一点，我还要继续请教我的外教老师。就目前我的理解，just的位置对句子意思的影响很小）。
3, 这句话中的“movie-goer”是影评中的高频词汇。这个词的意思是“a person who regularly goes to watch films at the cinema”，即经常去电影院观看电影的人。所以如果只是自己窝在家里看电影的，不合适用这个词。
This movie severely lacked plot and character development, especially the latter. The main character had some depth but the supporting cast had very little, and I did not feel at all attached to their causes or goals.
character development：角色的心路发展。一部有生命的电影，往往都有一个非常有说服力的角色。而能和观众共鸣的，就是角色的心路发展，比如韩国经典电影<老男孩>中的“父亲”。
especially the latter：尤其是后者。这个用法是加分点，尤其是四六级的写作。前面提到两个点，第二个点要做主要剖析时，就可以用这个表达。
main character and supporting cast：主要演员和配角阵容。
The movie was far too long to cover as little as it did：这句话不好理解，拆分开成两句话就很容易懂了。The movie covered very little story. The movie was very long. 且这两句话有转折的递进关系。所以这句话可意译为：就这部电影所承载的这么一点点的故事内容来看，电影时长太长啦。
Months were shown over the matter of minutes, which would be okay if they had some fully formed characters I could believe in, but that was not the case here.
fully formed characters: 可意译为“有血有肉的角色”。整句话可以意译为“几个月的剧情发展在电影里被只短短几分钟带过也都无所谓，只要有能让人信服的有血有肉的角色就行。但在这部电影里完全不是这样。”
“a matter of”也是一个很出彩的表达，它有两个意思。在下面这两个例句中，表示“only, just”。
In a matter of seconds, the building was in flames. (也就几秒钟的事儿，这栋建筑物就着起了大火。)
Don’t worry, it will only be a matter of hours before he gets back. (别着急，过不了几个小时他就回来了。)
在下面这两个例句中，表示“something is the main or consequential issue”，强调发展主因。
With your reckless spending behavior, it’s only a matter of time before you go broke.(照着你这样胡乱花钱，破产只是时间早晚的事情。）
I don’t care about the money, it’s a matter of principle.（我不在乎钱，这是原则问题）
the plot originality：情节原创性，像我这种中式英语强迫症之人，总是想给plot加上所有格，不过文中这种表达是完全可以的，无需所有格。
cobbled sth together：意思是 “to quickly produce or make something that is useful but not perfect”, 即匆忙草率地拼凑在一起。
Clichés abound here：abound这个词的意思是“exist in very large numbers（大量存在）”, 所以作者对电影毫无情节原创性的批评还是很严重的。
the huge hype before hand：hype这个词是贬义词，指传媒上的大肆宣传，炒作。
a sub-par movie：即“在平均水平以下的，次佳的”电影。sub-par这个词更常见是写在一起，英式英语偶尔会分开写。
cobble together, abound, hype, sub-par, 通过这些小词汇的应用，作者的不满之情得到了充分宣泄。
Hype+Stunning Visual Effects does not equal great cinema.：所以最后作者给出的论点就是，大肆宣传炒作加上绝佳视觉效果并不可等同好的电影。好的电影需要的是有血有肉的角色，能引起观众感情共鸣的故事。
本周作业已交，下周见。
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