先讲一下这集情节:JOSH争取到了白宫提名一名大法官的机会,总统及众幕僚都想当然认为HARRISON是最佳人选,因为他拥有几近完美的教育背景,而当众人开始工作准备推选宣传这位候选人的时候,SAM接到一份匿名文件,是HARRISON年轻时的文章,其中认为国家不应该保护隐私权,这不符合宪法精神,为了确认HARRISON现在的观点,总统请他来白宫,SAM、TOBY和总统轮番问他问题,并警告他随着互联网的发展和同性恋的增多等社会现象发生,隐私权将成为未来美国最重要的权力,HARRISON不改初衷,并且自恃优秀深感受辱,总统无奈放弃提名他的选择,将视线转向西班牙裔候选人MENDOZA,该人经历丰富,历经坎坷,思想开明,最终成为候选人。而在这一过程中,突然杀出一个程咬金,LILLIENFIELD举行记者发布会,抛出重磅炸弹,声称掌握确凿证据证明三分之一的白宫官员有毒瘾或药瘾,JOSH极不情愿地展开调查,准备随便应付一下,没想到却查出LEO曾因酗酒和药瘾被强制治疗,而显然对方已经掌握到了这份资料。
1. mastermind: 策划
C.J.:All you did was just one phone call.
JOSH:It was a series of phone calls, which I masterminded, while I’m not one to be selfish about credit, I think it is important to know that it is done, and I DID IT!
2. thump: 重击
DONNA:Josh, there’s a loud banging or thumping coming from the floor above your office.
3. seal the deal:搞定
DONNA:How could you not notice?
JOSH:Because I didn’t, Donna. I’ve been on the phone for the last hour trying to seal the deal to fill a seat on the Supreme Court.
4. gross: 粗俗的,不雅的
SAM and JOSH:We da man!
DONNA:This is just gross.
5. rock: 很棒,也可以换成“rule”,和“suck”“stink”相对应,是美国使用得很普遍的口语。
MANDY:You guys rock.
SAM:Oh, we really do.
6. judiciary: 司法部
LEO:Let’s bring in the chairman and the ranking member from judiciary, the leadership from both sides.
7. Coronation 加冕典礼
TOBY:Mandy, you’re gonna roll this guy out on a show that makes the queen’s coronation look like dinner theater. Sam, you’re gonna write the president’s introduction. You’re also gonna write the Harrison’s remarks.
8.robe: 礼袍,一种法官或高级神职官员在正式场合穿以表明职位或级别的袍服
SAM:Harrison’s not gonna like that.
TOBY:Show him the robe he gets. He’ll like it fine.
9.Rhodes scholar 领罗氏奖学金的研究生或学者,罗兹学者奖是美国学生获得的历史最悠久的国际研究奖学金,它是在1902年由英国慈善家罗兹创立,获奖的标准包括学业成绩优良、人格正直、具有领袖潜力、身体强健等。
JOSH:Phillips Exeter, Princeton, Rhodes scholar, Harvard Law Review, for which he was, oh yeah, the editor. Did I mention that he was dean of Harvard Law School? Did I mention that his father was attorney general to Eisenhower?
JOSH在介绍候选人HARRISON的学历背景,认为足够辉煌。
10.sail轻易成功,轻快地、平稳地或不费力地行进
JOSH:A smooth confirmation process.
DONNA:You think?
JOSH:It’s gonna sail.
DONNA:I hope so.
11.short list人数已缩减的候选名单,可能只有三五人)
CROUCH:You’re gonna go with Harrison?
BARTLET:He’s on the short list.
12.run guns: 走私运送枪支;
13.insurgency:叛乱;
14.a sight to see: 一个难得一见的场面
CROUCH:You ran great guns in the campaign. It was an insurgency, boy, a sight to see. And then you drove to the middle of the road the moment after you took the oath. Just the middle of the road. Nothing but a long line painted yellow.
15.memoirs回忆录
BARTLET:Joseph, when the next seat opens up, I promise you...
CROUCH:When the next seat opens up, you’ll be writing your memoirs.
16.Outfox: 智胜,比……更精明
DANNY:You outfoxed me.
17.Keep your pants on 沉住气,别着急
DONNA:Keep your pants on Josh! I’m on my way!
18.upstaged被抢戏,被吸引走观众注意力
JOSH:We’re not gonna have any surprises today.
MANDY:I’m putting on a show. I don’t want to get upstaged.
19.roster: 名单;
20.darling: 宠儿;
21.on a regular basis: 经常地,固定地
LILLIENFIELD [on T.V.]:... Stained, I believe, are the legacies of the great White House staffers. Names like Schlesinger, Sorenson, Rumsfeld, and Persons have been replaced by a roster of Ivy League liberals, Hollywood darlings. One in three of who, one in three... used drugs on a regular basis.
22.decongestants减充血的药剂,通过使肿块缩小来止住窦等部位的充血的药物或治疗
LILLIENFIELD:And in case there should be any confusion about my meaning, I’m not talking about aspirin or decongestants...
23.stoned: (因服用药物而)兴奋的,烂醉的
JOSH:Five White House staffers in the room. I would like to say to the 1.6 of you who are stoned right now, that it’s time to share.
24.gasbag. 废话连篇的人
SAM:I think if he put his shoulder into it, he could be a slightly bigger gasbag.
25.Rest assured 放心好了
C.J.:Yeah. I can’t believe my psychic didn’t tell me, Toby. Rest assured, I’m gonna get my twenty bucks back.
26.Categorically 无条件地,直截了当地
C.J.:Pretend we didn’t see it?
JOSH:He’s a liar. He’s a fool. Categorically deny it and move on.
27.joint: 大麻烟卷
C.J.:Because more than 1300 people work for the White House, Josh. I go to the Press Room and categorically deny that anyone uses drugs, and it turns out that three guys in the photo lab blew a joint over the weekend, which is not like out of the realm of possibility.
28.junkie有毒瘾的人
MANDY:But now it seems that the assistant to the deputy director of White House beverages--
JOSH:All right.
MANDY:--is confessing to a life of a closet junkie.
29.Random House: 蓝登书屋出版社,曾出版过<谁动了我的奶酪>等书;six-figure advancee: 六位数的预付款
C.J.:Yes, and I understand she’s selling her story to Random House for a middle six-figure advance.
30.Pay a courtesy call礼节性拜会
TOBY:C.J., go do your briefing. The president paid a courtesy call on Crouch this morning. We got some exciting names. On the short list is Ed Harrison. We’ll introduce the nominee Thursday, 5 o’clock. This business with Lillienfield...
31.soft: 疲软的,趋向衰落的
TOBY:We’ve been doing this for a year, and all we’ve gotten is a year older. Our job approval’s 48%, and I think that number’s soft, and I’m tired of being the field captain for the gang that couldn’t shoot straight!
32.blowout 宴会,盛会,大规模聚会或大型社会活动
LEO:Ritter says we’ll get unanimous approval out of committee and 90 votes in the Senate.
BARTLET:That’s a blowout, Leo.
33.Stake 监督
34.Back channel 走后门
LEO: They’re gonna stake the hotels. Gifts coming from the White House...
BARTLET: We’re using back channels.
35.Oversight committee 监督委员会
JOSH: Ah, he’s got a half government oversight committee. These are the people who literally decide if we get heat and electricity in the White House.
36.Bungled 办糟的
MANDY:This thing gets bungled, and we’re not gonna have to struggle much to find the spotlight.
37.patronizing: 要人领情的
C.J.:I don’t have time for a little basketball game!
DANNY:Neither do I. Which is why we I thought could watch it in your office while I explain it to you in a patronizing manner, because I know it’s something women usually like.
38.small potato: 不重要的事
39.insomuch: 由于,因为
40.First thing’s first: 重要的事、该先做的事得先做,第一个 first 指重要的、排在第一位的,因此 first thing's 即指重要的、紧急的事
BARTLET:Judge Harrison, first thing’s first, are you the author of this unsigned note?
41.interrogate: 审问;
42.bong:水烟枪,一种用部分盛液体的瓶或垂直管和一根接在木球上的小管做成的盛水管,经常用来吸麻醉物品)
JOSH:I was interrogating this intern from the Legislative Liaison’s Office, and she broke down crying while telling me about the bong she had made out of an eggplant.
43.I had a hunch. 我有预感
44.quarter: 驻扎;
45.self-incrimination: 自首
SAM:The third amendment says soldiers can’t be quartered in private homes. The fifth provides protection against self-incrimination, and the fourth against unreasonable searches. You deny the right to privacy lived in those passages?
46.framer: 制定者;
47.enumerate: 列举
HARRISON:No. I do not deny it, but the fact that the framers enumerated those specific protections is all the more reason to believe that they had no intention of making privacy a de facto right.
48.plaid: 格子花呢;
49.loud: 过分花哨的;
50.polka-dot: 圆点花样的
BARTLET:Peyton, do I have the right to put on an ugly plaid jacket and a loud polka-dot tie and walk down Main Street?
HARRISON:Yes.
BARTLET:Where in the Constitution is that right guaranteed?
HARRISON:First Amendment. Freedom of expression.
51.Keep one’s head保持冷静
DANNY: Keep your head in the game.
52.Emanate from发源于,源自于
HARRISON: Gentlemen, laws must emanate from the Constitution. (发源于,源自于)
TOBY: There are natural laws, judge.
53.sideshow: 附带小事
HARRISON:That’s not up to me. And this sideshow is over. With all due respect, Mr. President, I find this kind of questioning very rude.
54.Credentialed 用于指合格的教师和一些其他专业人员
HARRISON:I am an extremely well credentialed man, Mr. President, and I’m unaccustomed to this sort of questioning.
55.lousy 很糟的
MANDY:I think Mendoza would make a great justice. I think he makes a lousy nominee.
56.dispensation: 特许;
57.desk job: 文书工作;
58.jurist: 法理学家
JOSH:Let me tell you something, Mendoza went to Law School the hard way. He got shot in the leg, and when they offered him a hundred percent dispensation, he took a desk job instead and went to law school at night. He’s brilliant, decisive, compassionate, and experienced. And if you don’t think that he’s America’s idea of a jurist, then you don’t have enough faith in Americans.
在这段话中,JOSH在反对MANDY对西班牙裔大法官候选人的质疑,MANDY原先认为他资历不够,而且思想过于开放。
59.break loose: 挣脱
MANDY:This is not gonna be an easy one, and if all hell breaks loose over Lillienfield, it could honestly cripple us for a year, maybe more.
60.reinstated恢复(工作)
MENDOZA:Without showing cause, I would say that the order constitutes an illegal search, and I would order that the employee be reinstated.
61.bench法官官衔,法官职位
BARTLET:Judge Mendoza, would it surprise you to learn that for the past few months, your name has been in the short list of candidates for the bench?
62.Knock one’s socks off 使震惊
BARTLET:Well, then this is gonna knock your socks off. Tomorrow evening at 5 o’clock, I am naming you as my nominee to be the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. You were not the first choice, but you are the last one, and the right one. [beat] Will you accept the nomination?
下面是一些我自己没有看懂的:
1.TOBY:I’m gonna vet him four more days. I want to know every parking ticket. I want to know every girlfriend he stood up for dinner in 1953. Mandy, you’re gonna roll this guy out on a show that makes the queen’s coronation look like dinner theater. Sam, you’re gonna write the president’s introduction. You’re also gonna write the Harrison’s remarks.
这里TOBY正在分配任务,号召大家齐心协力使大法官成功通过投票。“every girl he stood up for dinner”是什么意思?MANDY要做的“roll this guy out on a show”具体是什么意思?
2.JOSH:It’s gonna sail, Donna.
DONNA:There’s many a slip twixt the tongue and the wrist, Josh.
JOSH:Yes. Well, your fortune cookie wisdom notwithstanding, it’s gonna sail.
DONNA:Please don’t get your hopes up.
JOSH认为大法官的事情将一帆风顺,DONNA提醒他别高兴得太早了。其中“a slip twixt the tongue and the wrist是什么意思?“twixt”应该是“between”的意思。还有“fortune cookie wisdom”怎么讲?“fortune cookie”是那种时而夹着小纸条的小点心,有撞运气的意思吧。
3.JOSH:He’s a featherweight, Mandy. He’s a hairdo.
SAM:I think if he put his shoulder into it, he could be a slightly bigger gasbag.
JOSH和SAM都觉得没必要把对白宫员工磕药的指责太当回事,认定这只不过是场闹剧,不会造成什么负面影响。其中“hairdo”和“put one’s shoulder into sth.”具体是什么意思?
4.JOSH:You’re not making me--I’m not gonna be the internal affairs cop around here.
TOBY:Yes, you are.
JOSH:You want to know who’s doing what around here, you ask them yourself!
TOBY:This isn’t the time, Josh. We taking water over the side...
JOSH:Yes, and I’m not indifferent to that, but there’s a principle here-
TOBY让JOSH着手处理对白宫员工磕药的指控,JOSH不想一一去审问同事是否有毒瘾。但TOBY认为此时此刻大法官的事情是首要任务,绝不能被其它事情干扰。其中“take water over the side”是什么意思?
5.HARRISON:You look very familiar. Is it possible we’ve met?
CHARLIE:I caddied for two summers at Sandy Hooks, sir.
HARRISON:Ah. Yes, of course.
“caddy”是什么意思?上茶吗?