PETS－2语法讲解(128)

It was about an old man on his deathbed looking back on his life in flashback.
　　对话
　　Graham: I've just seen a really interesting foreign movie.
　　Eliza: Really? Where was it made?
　　Graham: In Iran. I didn't even know it had a movie industry.
　　Eliza: Neither did I. What was it about?
　　Graham: It was about an old man on his deathbed looking back on his life in flashback.
　　Eliza: Sounds a bit depressing.
　　Graham: Not at all, he had had a very exciting life.
　　格雷姆：我刚刚看了一部很精采的外国电影。
　　伊莱泽：是吗？电影是在哪里拍的？
　　格雷姆：伊朗。我以前甚至不知道伊朗有电影业。
　　伊莱泽：我也不知道。电影说什么？
　　格雷姆：电影以倒叙法，述说一个老人临终躺卧床上，回顾自己一生。
　　伊莱泽：听起来颇为伤感。
　　格雷姆：一点都不伤感。那老人一生非常多采多姿。
　　电影、小说等有时会用倒叙法，即故事中插入一段往事，这片段叫flashback，是可数名词；假如指倒叙手法，则作不可数名词，例如：(1) The hero's life story was told in a series of flashbacks（男主角一生的故事，用倒叙手法一幕一幕的陈述），(2) The events leading to the dictator's downfall were shown in flashback（那*者垮台的经过，是用倒叙手法陈述的）。Flash本是指‘闪耀’，作动词、名词都可以。有时，往事突然在脑海中闪现，这就是flashback的原义，动词是flash back，例如：(1) While strolling in the park, I had a flashback of my father sitting with me on one of the benches many years before（我在公园里散步，忽然想起多年前，父亲和我一起坐在这公园一张长椅上）。(2) My thoughts flashed back to the day when I first met her（我忽然想起和她初相识那一天）。动词flash back当然也可以指电影等使用倒叙法；而既有flash back，也就有flash forward，即提前叙述一段日后的事，例如：The movie flashed back/forward to his youth（电影用倒叙手法/预示手法谈到他的青年时代）。最后谈谈on one's deathbed一词，Deathbed即临终所卧的床，所以‘临终的愿望’叫a deathbed wish，‘临终的忏悔’叫deathbed repentance等，On one's deathbed即‘卧床将死’，例如：On his deathbed, he made his will（他临终立了遗嘱）。