当我们标榜自己是为了解美国文化而热衷看美剧时,是否也曾经在心底里对剧中讲述的一切产生过怀疑?美国人购物都用纸袋么?美国人闹情绪都吃冰淇淋么?美国大街上跑的出租车都是黄颜色的么?如果说艺术真的是源于生活而又高于生活的话,那美剧里讲述的情节中又有多少真相与谎言呢?
A couple of years ago, when my husband moved to a new job, I moved with him, across the world to California. Before this, apart from a couple of very brief work trips and a wedding, I’d barely scraped the surface of North America, but somehow, the whole thing felt fine, easy, completely familiar. I knew exactly what living in America involved. Half-watching that repeat of Friends for the 4000th time while hungover1) had not been pointless. It had been research. All that US TV had helped me construct an Eye Spy Book of Things That Are Really Really American in my head—an amalgamation2) of years of US sitcoms3), dramas and reality television had provided me with a checklist of things to do in order to look like a real local (or a television local, at any rate).
几年前,我的丈夫换了新工作,于是我就跟着他,漂洋过海来到了加利福尼亚。在此之前,除了几次非常短暂的出差和一次婚礼之旅,我和北美大陆几乎没有任何交集,但不知怎么回事,这儿的一切让我觉得舒适、惬意,完全没有陌生感。我非常清楚在美国生活的一切套路。显然,在心情不好时有一搭没一搭地看了四千遍的《老友记》可没有白看。看电视就是做研究。在美剧的帮助下,我已经在脑海中构建出一本图书,书中都是靠火眼金睛辨别出来的非常地道的美国货。在美国情景喜剧、电视剧和真人秀节目多年的集体熏陶下,我脑子里已经有了一张清单,知道该做哪些事才能让自己看上去像个真正的美国人(或者至少像个电视里的美国人)。
Walking down the street carrying groceries in a paper bag手捧装杂物的纸袋走街串巷
I happened to have moved to one of the few places in America that has a ban on giving out plastic bags, which allows me to feel like I’m tapping into4) the rich tradition of Laverne and Shirley5), and ER6), and all of those shows. What I have learnt, however, is that the paper bags you get in supermarkets actually have handles, and that the reason you end up carrying them from the bottom is that the handles are completely rubbish.
美国禁用塑料袋的地区不多,不过,我碰巧就搬到了这样一个地方,所以,这让我觉得自己对《拉维恩和雪莉》、《急诊室的故事》以及诸如此类的美剧中那些人物抱着纸袋走在路上这一富有特色的传统做法有了更深的体会和理解。不过我发现,其实超市提供的那些纸袋是有提手的,而之所以大家都捧着袋子走,是因为这些提手的质量太差了,根本没法用。
Eating Chinese food from paper cartons7) 吃用硬纸盒包装的中式快餐
I had a friend come to stay who had been living in Washington D.C. She hadn’t yet had a Chinese takeaway8) because her first question whenever she phoned a place was whether they’d be delivering it in those little containers that overworked politicians in The West Wing9) ate out of (then put in the fridge for the next morning)—and no one did. Luckily, on my coast, we have a lot of Cantonese10) food in proper cartons. I still get excited when I open the fridge and see leftover noodles in those cartons. (Although, a note: they don’t taste any different.) 
我邀请一个一直住在华盛顿特区的朋友来我家小住几天。来我这里之前她从来没吃过中餐外卖。这是因为,每次她给餐馆打电话,第一个问题总是问他们店的外卖是不是装在那种小盒子里,就像美剧《白宫风云》里那些为工作呕心沥血的政客们吃的那种(吃不完还能放在冰箱里,第二天早上吃)——而没有一家餐馆提供这样的外卖。幸运的是,在我居住的海滨城市,有很多的广式外卖,而且全是用精致的纸盒包装。直到现在,每当我打开冰箱,看见那些装在纸盒里的没吃完的面条,心里还是会激动不已。(不过,说实在话,其实吃起来跟别的面条没什么两样。)
Comforting yourself by eating directly from cement-mixer11) sized ice-cream tubs12)
不开心时抱着超大桶的冰淇淋狂吃
I had always presumed that the idea behind this heartbreak-soothing activity—as seen in Sex and the City and Friends and anything else involving women—was to eat the entire thing tub in one sitting. I soon realised that that wasn’t the case—if it was, you would end up with immediate-onset13) obesity or super-diabetes14)-dairy-death—but that ice-cream containers are the size of buckets because otherwise they would get lost in the freezer. Some of which are bigger than flats I’ve lived in.
吃冰淇淋以慰藉心灵伤痛,这样的场景我们在《欲望都市》、《老友记》以及所有和女人有关的美剧里都看到过。我以前一直以为,以此安抚伤痛的人得一口气把那一大桶冰淇淋全部吃光。不过我很快意识到,根本不是那么回事——如果真是那样,你要么会体重骤增,要么就因超量食用奶制品而患上糖尿病一命呜呼了——只不过是装冰淇淋的容器太大了,就像桶一样,因为如果容器小了,就会被淹没在冰箱里,找都找不到。有些冰淇淋桶真是大得夸张,恨不得比我住过的公寓还要大。
School hallways15) lined with lockers and generically stained linoleum16)
学校的走廊两边摆着带锁的储物柜,亚麻油地板上总是布满污渍
Every single school-based show coming out of the US appears to have been shot in the same school: My So-Called Life17), Veronica Mars18), Freaks & Geeks19). For so many schools to look so utterly identical would be impossible. This idea, as I discovered doing some work in several different public schools, is not actually true. All schools actually do look the same.
每一部校园题材的美剧看上去仿佛都是在同一所学校里拍的,像《我所谓的生活》、《美眉校探》、《怪胎与书呆》。因为让那么多不同的学校看上去如出一辙是不可能的!不过,在几所公立学校作了些调查后,我发现我的这种想法实际上并不对。事实上,所有的学校看上去确实一模一样。
Policemen eating doughnuts 吃甜甜圈的警察
Or rather, donuts. I think I actually cheered the first time I saw a squad car outside a coffee shop with a cop eating donuts leaning on the front. It’s the kind of image (from all manner of20) classic shows) that seemed too clichéd to be true.
更恰当地说,是炸面包圈。当第一次看见一名警察在一家咖啡店外倚着巡逻警车的车头吃炸面包圈时,我简直要欢呼雀跃起来。这幅场景在各类经典美剧中都能看到,太符合电视剧的套路了,简直都不像真的。
Hailing a yellow cab in the pouring rain 在倾盆大雨中朝一辆黄色出租车招手
This is a surprisingly satisfying experience. The fact that they rarely ever know where they’re going and don’t react terribly well to the phrase “follow that car!”, however, is less enjoyable.
这种亲身体验真是出人意外地令人感到满足。不过,上车后你会发现司机几乎都不知自己该往哪儿走,而当你对他说“跟上那辆车”时,他的反应可真不怎么机灵,这就不那么有趣了(编者注:一般在美剧中,当剧中人物上车后对司机说“跟上那辆车”,司机就会心领神会。而现实不同于演戏,作者也就难免失望了) 。
1. hungover [5hQN5EJvE(r)] adj. 心里难受的
2. amalgamation
[E7mAl^E5meIFEn] n. 融合
3. sitcom [5sItkRm] n. 情景喜剧(situation comedy)
4. tap into:深入了解,进一步了解,接近
5. Laverne and Shirley:《拉维恩和雪莉》,1976开播的一部电视剧,主要讲述了住在同一宿舍的两个女人之间的故事,她们一个叫拉维恩,另一个叫雪莉。
6. ER:《急诊室的故事》,1994年开播的一部电视剧,讲的是发生在美国芝加哥一家急诊室里的故事。
7. carton [5kB:tEn] n. 硬纸盒
8. takeaway:外卖食品
9. The West Wing:《白宫风云》,1999年开播,是一部以政治为题材的电视剧,本剧场景设定在美国总统官邸白宫的西翼。
10. Cantonese [7kAntE5ni:z] adj. 广东的
11. cement-mixer:水泥搅拌车,混凝土搅拌车
12. tub [tQb] n. (盛冰淇淋等的)塑料杯
13. onset [5Cnset] n. 开始,肇端
14. diabetes [7daIE5bi:ti:z, -ti:s] n. [医] 糖尿病
15. hallway [5hC:lweI] n. 走廊
16. linoleum [lI5nEulIEm] n. (亚麻)油地毡,也被称为亚麻油地板
17. My So-Called Life:《我所谓的生活》,1994年开播,是一部青春剧,它展现了年轻人生活中的困扰,但因为剧情灰暗而情绪化,而且收视率较低,才播出了19集就被ABC电视台停播。
18. Veronica Mars:《美眉校探》,2005年开播,是一部轻松的青春校园侦探剧集,讲述了一个私家侦探的女儿的生活。
19. Freaks & Geeks:《怪胎与书呆》,1999年开播,背景设在1980年的底特律郊外,女主角和弟弟是同一所公立高中的普通学生,女主角的朋友们是一群怪胎,而她弟弟的朋友则是一群书呆,叛逆又怪异的成长故事每天都在剧中上演。
20. all manner of:各种各样的,形形色色的