新西兰英语 597 Film Subtitles for Deaf

 　　The Deaf community wants all New Zealand DVDs to have subtitles¹ for deaf people to read. The MP, Mojo Mathers, who is deaf, asked why New Zealand DVDs which are made with public money do not have subtitles. TV programmes which are funded by NZ on Air often do have sub-titles, available through Teletext page 801, but when these programmes are made into DVDs there are no sub-titles.

　　Popular New Zealand movies which received NZ Film Commission² money often do not have sub-titles. The movie ‘Home by Christmas’ is one example of no subtitles. It is set on the West Coast and is about a woman and her young son during World War II. The husband joins the army thinking the war will be over in a few months. He says “I’ll be home by Christmas”. Six years later he returns. Deaf people say they feel excluded³ because they can’t understand a movie without sub-titles.

　　One DVD company said it would cost about $2,000 to add sub-titles to a 90 minute DVD.

　　It is not just deaf people who want sub-titles. Some elderly⁴ people have problems hearing. Many learners of English language find sub-titles help them to understand fast speech.

　　Listen to February 14th 2012 to hear more about Mojo Mathers.

　　Vocabulary

　　sub-titles – text written on the screen; another word used instead of sub-titles is ‘captions’.

　　excluded – not included; they don’t feel part of society

　　Grammar

　　A 90-minute DVD but the DVD is 90 minutes long. Note there is no ‘s’ on the end of ‘minute’ when it is used as an adjective⁵ before a noun⁶. This is the same rule as ‘a six-year old child’ (but the same child is six years old).

　　Questions

　　1.Public money means⁷ money from taxpayers⁸. Deaf people are taxpayers too. Do you think all TV programmes and DVDs made with public money should have sub-titles?

　　2.If you are an ESL learner, do you find sub-titles useful?

1 subtitles   

n.说明字幕，印在外国影片上的对白翻译字幕，译文对白字幕；小标题，副标题( subtitle的名词复数 )；（电影的）字幕

参考例句：

• subtitles for the deaf and the hard of hearing 为耳聋和听力不佳者打出的字幕
• a Polish film with English subtitles 附有英语字幕的波兰影片

2 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

3 excluded   

v.排除，不包括在内( exclude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of borrowing has been excluded from the inflation figures. 通胀数字未包括借贷成本。
• The court excluded the confession wrongly obtained by the police. 法院排除了警方通过不正当方法获得的供词作为证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 elderly   

adj.年老的；年龄相当大的

参考例句：

• He is getting elderly.他逐渐变老了。
• The elderly man is quite energetic.这位上了年纪的老人仍精力充沛。

5 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

7 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

8 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。