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How to Talk about a Movie

时间:2022-08-01 01:10:33

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(单词翻译)

How to Talk about a Movie

Think about a time that you wanted to talk about a movie. How did you describe it?

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will use a reader's message to explore how to talk about a movie. We will consider three questions: What is the movie about? What did the main character think or do? How did the film affect you?

What is the movie about?

In a recent report, we asked our listeners and readers to send us a message describing a movie.

Esra, in Turkey, wrote about the movie In Time. Here is part of what Esra wrote about the film's subject matter.

It's topic was unequal income distribution1, they were using time to buy things, for example if you want to get on the bus then you had to give a certain amount of your lifetime for it.

Our first suggestion is to consider another structure to describe the subject of the movie. Esra wrote,

It's topic was unequal income distribution...*

While the structure ‘its topic was...' is fine, there is another structure that English speakers often use: is about + noun2 or noun phrase.

For example:

What is that movie about?

The movie is about ....

The past tense is fine too, as in "The movie was about..."

So, Esra could have written about In Time:

The movie was about inequality.

Note that we used "inequality" instead of "unequal income distribution." Although inequality's meaning is a bit broader, English speakers often use it in the sense of economic or financial inequality.

We might change the remainder3 of Esra's description to something like this:

People used time to buy things. For example, if a person wanted to get on the bus, then they had to pay with a certain amount of their life.

In this case, we use the pronouns4 "they/their" because it is a very general description that refers to a person whose gender5 is not known.

What did the main character think or do?

Esra went on to explore another important issue: the thinking of the people in the film.

Its main star was thinking everyone should be equal and rich should distribute time between everybody.

We suggest changing "star" to "character." A character is a person who appears in a movie, book, or play. The most important character is known as the main character.

We also suggest changing "was thinking," a verb form known as the past continuous6, to "thought," the simple past.

This is because we often use the past continuous to set up another action, as in "The main character was thinking about how to escape when his phone rang."

We could change Esra's sentence to something like this:

The main character thought everyone should be equal.

A few more details could be added in, as in:

The main character thought everyone should be equal in terms of how time was distributed.

How did the film affect you?

Esra did not describe the movie in terms of special effects or cinematography.

Rather, Esra described the film in terms of the film's ideas that explored human life, economy, and society:

What attracts me to the movie was it looked very similar to our world... Aren't we give our time to earn money.

We suggest using a consistent7 verb form, either present or past. The past tense form could be:

What attracted me to the movie was that it looked very similar to our world.

The question that Esra asked could involve the helping8 verb "do" instead of "be," as in:

Don't we give our time to earn money?

This question suggests that the film's effect was that it forced Esra to think about time, money, and how people spend their lives.

Please note that there are different ways to describe the effects of a movie. You can tell about how a movie made you think by using "The movie made me...." or "It struck me that...," as in:

The movie made me think about our world.

The movie made me reconsider my life and how I spend my time.

Or:

It struck me that the movie was similar to our world.

Closing thoughts

The next time you describe a movie, try to do so by answering the following questions:

What is the movie about?

What did the main character think or do?

How did the film affect you?

This is not the only way to describe a film, but it is a useful way to begin a discussion9 or to make other people interested in the movie.

Words in This Story

character – n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

income – n. money that is earned from work, investments10, business, etc.

distribute – v. to divide (something) among the members of a group — usually + between or among — often used as (be/get) distributed

cinematography – n. the art, process, or job of filming movies : motion-picture photography

consistent – adj. always acting11 or behaving in the same way

strike – v. to cause (someone) to think about someone or something in a particular way; to be thought of by (someone) suddenly


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1 distribution 1sSxm     
n.运送;分发,分配;分布,分布状态
参考例句:
  • The conference discussed the fair distribution of income and wealth.会议讨论了公平分配收入和财富的问题。
  • Unequal distribution of wealth may cause division in society.财富分配不均会引起社会分裂。
2 noun JHux3     
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。
3 remainder wBRzr     
n.余下的部分,剩下的人数
参考例句:
  • They joined up with us to spend the remainder of the holiday.他们来跟我们一起共度余下的假期。
  • He spent the remainder of his years in Japan.他在日本度过了余生。
4 pronouns 412995721152167c54a600e91269c742     
n.代词( pronoun的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • "I", "you"and "he" are all personal pronouns. I,you和he都是人称代词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 gender slSyD     
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性
参考例句:
  • French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语,所有的名词都有性。
  • Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。
6 continuous jYHzi     
adj.继续的,连续的,持续的,延伸的
参考例句:
  • She finally got in after 10 years'continuous effort.坚持不懈地努力了十年后,她终于当选了。
  • We must be continuous to study.我们必须不断学习。
7 consistent hYwyU     
adj.坚持的,一贯的,一致的,符合的
参考例句:
  • He has been a consistent friend to the Chinese people.他是中国人民始终如一的朋友。
  • His action is always consistent with his words.他始终言行一致。
8 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
9 discussion 2PBzj     
n.讨论,谈论;论述
参考例句:
  • It is certain he will come to the discussion.他肯定会来参加讨论。
  • After months of discussion,a peace agreement is gradually taking shape.经过几个月的商讨,和平协议渐渐有了眉目。
10 investments a6dba6e72f1adaf693af15720bcbf55a     
n.投资( investment的名词复数 );投资额;(时间、精力的)投入;值得买的东西
参考例句:
  • With the markets being so volatile, investments are at great risk. 由于市场那么变化不定,投资冒着很大的风险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • All their money was tied up in long-term investments. 他们所有的钱都搁死在长线投资上了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。

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