Prison Break 1《越狱》1（视频精讲之九）

影片对白

Cherry: Help me. Please.

T-bag: You'll have to forgive my boy. He has the, uh, propensity 1 to be a bit gregarious 2 when he shouldn't be. Fraternizing in the prison shower. Come on.

Michael: Maybe you ought to cut the kid a break.

T-bag: You wouldn't be meddling 3 in my affairs now, would you, Scofield? You can't be that stupid. Not when I'm so fully 4 invested in your affairs.

Michael: What's between you and him... is between you and him.

T-bag: That's what I thought you said.

Cherry: You've got to help me.

Sucre: Looks like I got to find something else to call you now.

Michael: Why is that?

Sucre: Cause you ain't a fish no more. You ain't the newest con 5 in the tank. No...

Michael: I could've done something.

Lincoln: No. T-Bag had his hooks in that kid. There was nothing you could've done.

Michael: I could've told the pope. He could've transferred the kid to AdSeg. He would've been safe.

Lincoln: Go easy, Michael. You didn't even know him.

Michael: That makes it okay? I turned my back on him because I didn't want to make waves. It was just... easier... to look the other way... keep the plan safe.

Lincoln: And you did.

Michael: But at what price?

Abruzzi: I give you permission to call to Philly? Hey, I asked you a question, man.

Gus: Listen, there, uh... there's been a restructuring. This comes from Philly himself. You couldn't deliver Fibonacci... so I'm The Man in here now.

Abruzzi: Hey, jelly wad... run to the commissary, get me a bag of chips, we'll pretend this never happened, right?

Gus: Yeah, I'm telling you, John. The sooner you face these facts, the better off we will all be.

Abruzzi: I could kill you in a heartbeat.

Gus: Somehow I doubt that. The sooner you face facts, the better off we will all be. You're yesterday's news, John.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. Cut someone a break

Give someone a break 的另一种表达，意思是"Give someone a chance or special consideration"，常常翻译成"饶了某人，放过某人，给某人一个机会"，例如：She begged the professor for an extension on her term paper, saying "Please give me a break."

另外，give me a break还可以用来表示感叹，要求对方"stop trying to fool or upset or bother me"，例如：Don't tell me the party's been postponed 6 again--give me a break!

2. hooks

在俚语中，hooks有hands or fingers的意思，例如：Get your hooks off that cake!

3. Turn one's back on

"拒绝，忽略，背弃，抛弃"的意思，例如：I can't turn my back on my own daughter, no matter what she's done.

4. Make waves

"（诘问，拒绝接受已存在的事实因而）挑起事端，引发争端"的意思，例如：We've finally settled our differences, so please don't make waves.

5. in a heartbeat
意为"without hesitation"，例如：You'd better think over what I said. I can kill you in a heartbeat.

6. Yesterday's news

"昨天的新闻"会是什么样的新闻？从时效性上来说，当然是已经过时的、无关紧要的了。Yesterday's news means "irrelevant"，Gus 的意思是 Abruzzi从此和监狱工厂再没有关系了。

文化面面观

Prison industry in the U. S. 美国的监狱产业

Prison labor 7 has its roots in slavery. After the 1861-1865 Civil War, a system of "hiring out prisoners" was introduced in order to continue the slavery tradition. Freed slaves were charged with not carrying out their sharecropping commitments (cultivating someone else's land in exchange for part of the harvest) or petty thievery - which were almost never proven - and were then "hired out" for cotton picking, working in mines and building railroads. From 1870 until 1910 in the state of Georgia, 88% of hired-out convicts were Black. In Alabama, 93% of "hired-out" miners were Black. In Mississippi, a huge prison farm similar to the old slave plantations 9 replaced the system of hiring out convicts. The notorious Parchman plantation 8 existed until 1972.

During the post-Civil War period, Jim Crow racial segregation 10 laws were imposed on every state, with legal segregation in schools, housing, marriages and many other aspects of daily life. "Today, a new set of markedly racist 11 laws is imposing 12 slave labor and sweatshops on the criminal justice system, now known as the prison industry complex," comments the Left Business Observer.

Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate 13 society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless 14, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates 15 in state penitentiaries 16 generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call "highly skilled positions." At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime 17. They can send home $200-$300 per month.

Thanks to prison labor, the United States is once again an attractive location for investment in work that was designed for Third World labor markets. A company that operated a maquiladora (assembly plant in Mexico near the border) closed down its operations there and relocated to San Quentin State Prison in California. In Texas, a factory fired its 150 workers and contracted the services of prisoner-workers from the private Lockhart Texas prison, where circuit boards are assembled for companies like IBM and Compaq.

Oregon State Representative Kevin Mannix recently urged Nike to cut its production in Indonesia and bring it to his state, telling the shoe manufacturer that "there won't be any transportation costs; we're offering you competitive prison labor (here)."

The prison privatization boom began in the 1980s, under the governments of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr., but reached its height in 1990 under William Clinton, when Wall Street stocks were selling like hotcakes. Clinton's program for cutting the cutting the federal workforce 18 resulted in the Justice Departments contracting of private prison corporations for the incarceration 19 of undocumented workers and high-security inmates.

 

Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. The two largest are Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut, which together control 75%. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one. According to Russell Boraas, a private prison administrator 20 in Virginia, "the secret to low operating costs is having a minimal 21 number of guards for the maximum number of prisoners." The CCA has an ultra-modern prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia, where five guards on dayshift and two at night watch over 750 prisoners. In these prisons, inmates may get their sentences reduced for "good behavior," but for any infraction 22, they get 30 days added - which means more profits for CCA. According to a study of New Mexico prisons, it was found that CCA inmates lost "good behavior time" at a rate eight times higher than those in state prisons. (www.granma.cu)

Abruzzi作为Fox River 监狱工厂的头目，享有者管理犯人、发放PI card的特权。当然，他得向狱警Bellick 缴纳巨额的好处费。当Abruzzi背后的黑帮不再支持他后，好处费的来源没有了，Abruzzi也就被赶下了头目的位置。

我观之我见

Fish Cherry 因为无法忍受T-bag的折磨，向Michael 求救，Michael劝说T-bag不成，考虑到越狱的计划，拒绝了Cherry的请求。走投无路的Cherry万念俱灰，用床单上吊自杀了。这一幕无论是对Michael还是对观众触动都很大：在这个弱肉强食的世界里，生存不仅要靠技术和手段，还要有坚定的信念。无论是在监狱内外，这条道理都适用。

考考你

用今日所学将下面的句子译成英语。

1. 他直接拒绝了他们，再也没有重新考虑一下。
2. 防止卷入办公室纠纷的最佳办法是不要挑起事端。

Prison Break 1《越狱》1（精讲之八）考考你 参考答案

1． 爸爸在工作，孩子们则在给他捣乱。
Dad was working, and the children were getting in his hair.

2． 他承认他拿了钱，并且说很高兴把这事说出来。
He admitted taking the money and said he was glad to get it off his chest.

点击收听单词发音  






1
propensity

  
 


n.倾向；习性


参考例句：





He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。












2
gregarious

  
 


adj.群居的，喜好群居的


参考例句：





These animals are highly gregarious.这些动物非常喜欢群居。
They are gregarious birds and feed in flocks.它们是群居鸟类，会集群觅食。












3
meddling

  
 


v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )


参考例句：





He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句












4
fully

  
 


adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地


参考例句：





The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。












5
con

  
 


n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的


参考例句：





We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。












6
postponed

  
 


vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）


参考例句：





The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。












7
labor

  
 


n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦


参考例句：





We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。












8
plantation

  
 


n.种植园，大农场


参考例句：





His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。












9
plantations

  
 


n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )


参考例句：





Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句












10
segregation

  
 


n.隔离，种族隔离


参考例句：





Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。












11
racist

  
 


n.种族主义者，种族主义分子


参考例句：





a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。












12
imposing

  
 


adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的


参考例句：





The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。












13
corporate

  
 


adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的


参考例句：





This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。












14
wireless

  
 


adj.无线的；n.无线电


参考例句：





There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。












15
inmates

  
 


n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )


参考例句：





One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》












16
penitentiaries

  
 


n.监狱( penitentiary的名词复数 )


参考例句：





Making use of written or common law, the serf-owners set up penitentiaries or private jails. 农奴主运用成文法或习惯法，设立监狱或私牢。 来自互联网













17
overtime

  
 


adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地


参考例句：





They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。












18
workforce

  
 


n.劳动大军，劳动力


参考例句：





A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。












19
incarceration

  
 


n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭


参考例句：





He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中，他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你，请你将这颗心释放出来吧！否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句












20
administrator

  
 


n.经营管理者，行政官员


参考例句：





The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。












21
minimal

  
 


adj.尽可能少的，最小的


参考例句：





They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。












22
infraction

  
 


n.违反；违法


参考例句：





He was criticized for his infraction of the discipline.他因违反纪律而受到了批评。
Parking at the bus stop is illegal,Motorists committing this infraction are heavily fined.在公交站停车是违法的，触犯此条的司机将受重罚。