VOA标准英语2010年-Traveling Executive Fires People And M

Alan Silverman | Hollywood 04 January 2010

Jason Reitman, writer-director of the 2007 hit Juno, teams up with screen star George Clooney for a bittersweet comedy about a traveling business executive and his job of firing people at companies caught in the economic recession. It has already picked up numerous critics awards and the film is expected to be among the top contenders for Hollywood's top annual honors, the Oscars. Here's a look at Up In The Air.

Paramount¹
George Clooney in scene from Up In The Air

"To know me is to fly with me. This is where I live. When I run my card the system automatically prompts the desk clerk to greet me with this exact statement: 'A pleasure to see you again, Mr. Bingham.' It is these kinds of systemized friendly touches that keep my world in orbit."

What Ryan Bingham loves most is relaxing in the first class cabin of a jetliner on a cross-country flight. It is certainly easier than his job.

But Ryan's carefully organized world gets shaken up when he meets Alex, a woman executive as thrilled as he is by the perks² of a frequent flyer account with hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

Paramount
George Clooney and Vera Farmiga in scene from Up In The Air

A relationship develops and funny things happen, but star George Clooney does not label Up In The Air a romantic comedy.

"This was a film from the very beginning that I didn't think of as a romantic film," Clooney says. "I thought of it as comedy, but I also thought of it as sad. I didn't think of it necessarily as a romantic film, although it has great romantic underpinnings."

Vera Farmiga co-stars as Alex and says, more than a flirtatious³ fling, her character and Clooney's quickly build a strong connection.

"I think they connect on many levels. I think there is a physical attraction. There is a mental attraction," Farmiga explains. "They both love to use their words and there is a rhythm …a frequency, a kinetic⁴ energy that people just have. She is as on the go as he is. The initial attraction is the shared language of bonus miles and flyer points and things that titillate⁵ them."

Paramount
Anna Kendrick in scene from Up In The Air

Add to the mix: Ryan's inexperienced colleague from work, Anna Kendrick as Natalie, fresh out of college with her business degree and eager to change the world.

"I think the fact that when I got this role every single person that I know asked if I get to kiss George Clooney shows how rare it is for a young woman to be in a film and be a lead, but not be a romantic lead - for her to be smart and strong and interesting and have so many of her own problems and this incredible story, but have no story that involves romance or sex. It's so rare," Kendrick says.

Punctuating⁶ Up In The Air is the day-to-day work for Ryan and Natalie: telling people that their jobs no longer exist.

Paramount
Director Jason Reitman on the set of the movie

"When I started writing this script it was seven years ago and we were in an economic boom. By the time I finished writing it we were in one of the worst recessions on record," explains writer-director Jason Reitman.  He says the economic downturn in the real world altered his film in dramatic ways.

"I was location scouting⁷ in St. Louis and Detroit and I was seeing a lot of empty buildings," notes Reitman. "They were great locations, but the reason they were empty was because so many departments had been laid off. And the realities of the world I was living in really set in and I knew I could not use the firing scenes that I had originally written. I needed to do something that was more authentic⁸."

What he did was to interview real people, not actors, who had actually lost their jobs.

"Look, I'm a director and my job is to get people to be honest on camera," Reitman says. "That can be difficult, even with trained professionals; but when we would start using the legal verbiage⁹ - I got an actual firing form from a friend of mine who works in human resources - and they started to hear it the responses were startling. They said the kinds of things that I would never think to write as a writer. They acted in a way that I would never think to direct them as a director. It was those few days of interviewing those people that set the tone for the entire shoot."

In the end, however, Reitman says that is not what the film is about.

"Up In The Air is not a movie about corporate¹⁰ termination," he says. "It is about trying to find out how you want to complete your life: who do you want in your life [and] what do you want in your life? That's something that everyone can understand."

Up In The Air is adapted from the novel by Walter Kim. The cast also includes Jason Bateman, Melanie Lynskey and Danny McBride. The musical score is by British composer Rolfe Kent.

1 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

2 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

3 flirtatious   

adj.爱调情的，调情的，卖俏的

参考例句：

• a flirtatious young woman 卖弄风情的年轻女子
• Her flirtatious manners are intended to attract. 她的轻浮举止是想引人注意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 kinetic   

adj.运动的；动力学的

参考例句：

• There exist many sources of energy both potential and kinetic.存在着许多势能和动能的能源。
• The kinetic theory of gases is the best known example.气体动力学理论就是最有名的例子。

5 titillate   

v.挑逗；使兴奋

参考例句：

• The pictures were not meant to titillate audiences.图片本意不是为了挑逗观众。
• In review a novel,you shall try to titillate rather than satiate the reader's interest.评论一本小说的时候，你应想办法刺激而不是满足读者的兴趣。

6 punctuating   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Finally, it all came to a halt, with only Leehom's laboured breathing punctuating the silence. 最后，一切静止，只剩力宏吃力的呼吸，打破寂静。 来自互联网
• Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. 一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。 来自互联网

7 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

8 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

9 verbiage   

n.冗词；冗长

参考例句：

• Stripped of their pretentious verbiage,his statements come dangerously close to inviting racial hatred.抛开那些夸大其词的冗词赘语不论，他的言论有挑起种族仇恨的危险。
• Even in little 140-character bites,that's a lot of verbiage.即使限制在一条140个字也有很大一部分是废话。

10 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。