VOA标准英语2010年-Star Student Starts Rumors About Own R

"Let me just begin by saying there are two sides to every story and this is my side ...the right one."

Olive is the best student, easily earning the top grade - A - in all of her classes. Her social life, on the other hand, gets low marks until, inspired by the ordeal¹ of Hester Prynne in the 19th century novel The Scarlet² Letter, Olive decides to invent a reputation for herself ...and at the same time help out a few friends.

Faster than you can say "Twitter," everyone in the entire school is talking about - and inflating³ - Olive's exploits.

"It's nothing. It's just the rumor⁴ mill."
"What's the rumor mill churning out these days, anything interesting?"
"You know, not really. It's a little low on grist."
"Whoa! Clever wordplay. I like it very much. You must be related to me."
"Only by marriage."

Emma Stone stars as Olive, a character she found refreshingly⁵ different from the usual Hollywood stereotypes⁶ of teenagers.

"Absolutely. It is so different and unique than anything I had read before and there are so many messages throughout it," Stone says, "but it's not speaking down to anybody and it's not a 'message' movie. It's funny and it's sweet and I just thought Olive was an amazing character and trying to bring her to life was the only challenge. Sometimes you read a character and you think 'oh, I could go a million different ways with this; but that wasn't the case with Olive. She was who she was and it was just really fantastic from the first read."

 
Adam Taylor
Stanley Tucci as Olive's father "Dill" and Emma Stone as "Olive Penderghast" in Screen Gems⁷' EASY A.

Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci co-star as Olive's mom and dad. The parents in most teen comedies are often portrayed⁸ as, to say the least, dense⁹; but, as Tucci points out, that's another way Easy A is different.

"That's what I really liked about it. The script is very smart and the characters are unusual for movies like this because they are smart as well," notes Tucci. "They are the ultimate parents. We all wish we could be like them or have them as parents."

Director Will Gluck says the parents are key to Olive's cleverness.

Olive is an interesting character. She does some not great things, she is smarter than other people ...but I really wanted to show where she came from, so I actually added a couple of scenes with Patty and Stanley to kind of do that and it shows you where Olive came from," Gluck explains. "To me it's like they're very smart; but they let their daughter make her own mistakes instead of telling them."

 
Adam Taylor
Amanda Bynes as "Marianne" and Emma Stone as "Olive Penderghast" in Screen Gem's EASY A.

On the other hand, the screenplay by Bert V. Royal is less than kind to Olive's classmates who are in an Evangelical Christian¹⁰ youth group.

"We need to pray for her, but we also need to get her the hell out of here."
"Amen."

Director Gluck admits the film may give the impression of criticizing their religious fervor¹¹.

 Adam Taylor
Emma Stone as "Olive Penderghast" in Screen Gems' EASY A.

"I never wanted to make fun of or mock Evangelical Christians¹²," explains Gluck. "I wanted to make fun of and mock zealots. I didn't care who they were. They happened to be Christian. One of the comments I've been getting is 'why are you so hard on Evangelical Christians?' My response is I'm not at all being hard on Evangelicals. So if I could pull something back it would be the actual religion specific part of it."

"What you heard in the bathroom the other day wasn't true at all."
"Yes, but I'm not the one you have to answer to for your depraved behavior. There's a higher power that will judge you for your indecency."
"Tom Cruise?"
"I hope for your sake that God has a sense of humor."
"Oh, I have 17 years worth of anecdotal proof that He does."
 

1 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

2 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

3 inflating   

v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的现在分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• I felt myself inflating slowly with rage, like a tyre. 我感到自己体内的怒气正慢慢膨胀，像一只轮胎那样。 来自互联网
• Many are already overheating, with prices rising and asset bubbles inflating. 随着物价日益上涨、资产泡沫膨胀，很多新兴国家经济已经过热。 来自互联网

4 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

5 refreshingly   

adv.清爽地，有精神地

参考例句：

• Hers is less workmanlike than the other books and refreshingly unideological. 她的书不像其它书那般精巧，并且不涉及意识形态也让人耳目一新。 来自互联网
• Skin is left refreshingly clean with no pore-clogging residue. 皮肤留下清爽干净，没有孔隙堵塞残留。 来自互联网

6 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

8 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

11 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

12 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。