選自電影：American Beauty《美國麗人》
■ 萊斯特因為受不了上司的欺壓，憤然辭職。然而回到家中，卻得不到妻子的體諒。于是一場餐桌戰越演越烈，油鹽醬醋，什么挖苦諷刺都在這段對話中，聽來有鹽有味，很豐富。
單詞通緝令
1. blackmail vt.勒索
2. asparagus n.蘆筍
3. Mason jar 玻璃瓶罐
4. sink n.洗滌槽;污水溝
5. marvel vt.驚異于
6. contemptuous a.輕蔑的;侮辱的
7. whoops 像聲詞，激動時發出的聲音
8. sole a.唯一的;僅有的
9. mortgage n.抵押;按揭
10. fat chance 沒有機會
11. psychotic a.精神病的
12. laugh meter 一種測量笑聲分貝的儀器
Jane: Sorry, I’m late.
Carolyn Burnham: No, no, that’s quite alright, dear. Your father and I were just discussing his day at work. Why don’t you tell our daughter about it, honey?
Lester Burnham: Janie, today I quit my job and then I told my boss to go fuck himself and then I 1)blackmailed him for almost 60,000 dollars. Pass the 2)asparagus.
Carolyn: Your father seems to think this kind of behavior is something to be proud of.
Lester: And your mother seems to prefer that I go through life like a fucking prisoner while she keeps my dick in a 3)Mason jar under the 4)sink.
Carolyn: How dare you speak to me that way in front of her. And I 5)marvel that you can be so 6)contemptuous of me on the same day that you lose your job.
Lester: I didn’t lose it, it’s not like 7)whoops where did my job go? I quit! Someone pass the asparagus to me.
Carolyn: Oh, oh, oh, oh, and I want to thank you for putting me under the added pressure of being the 8)sole bread winner now.
Lester: I already have a job.
Carolyn: No, no, don’t give a second thought as to who’s going to pay the 9)mortgage, we’ll just leave it all up to Carolyn. You think you’re going to take care of everything now, Carolyn? Yes, I don’t mind, I really don’t. You mean everything? You don’t mind having the sole responsibility. Your husband feels he can just quit his job and you don’t care what’s going to happen 10)fat chance.
Lester: Will someone please pass me the fucking asparagus?
Jane: I’m not going to be a part of this.
Lester: Shut up! I am sick and tired of being treated like I don’t exist. You two do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it and I don’t complain. Now all I want is the same…
Carolyn: Oh, you don’t complain. Oh, please excuse me, excuse me. I don’t feel 11)psychotic then. If you don’t complain, what is this? Let’s bring in the 12)laugh meter and see how loud it gets on that one. Do you know the look…
簡：對不起，我晚了。
凱洛琳?伯翰姆：不，不晚，親愛的，一點都不晚。你父親和我正在談論他今天的工作。為什么不把這件事告訴我們的女兒，親愛的?
萊斯特?伯翰姆：簡妮，今天我辭職了，我告訴老板說，去你媽的，然后我敲了他6萬美元。把龍須菜遞給我。
凱洛琳：你父親好像覺得這種行為很讓人自豪。
萊斯特：你母親好像更愿意我像個囚犯似地過日子，可以把我的命根子藏在玻璃罐里，放在陰溝中。
凱洛琳：你怎么敢當著孩子的面說這種話。我真服了你了，在丟了工作的當天還可以這樣藐視我。
萊斯特：我沒有丟，哦，我的工作哪去了，這不是那么回事。是我辭職!麻煩誰把龍須菜遞給我。
凱洛琳：噢，哦，哦，哦，我還要感謝你讓我的負擔更重了，讓我成為唯一的面包供應者。
萊斯特：我已經有工作了。
凱洛琳：別，別，別再想誰來支付抵押，把這一切都交給凱洛琳吧。你覺得你要負擔這一切了嗎，凱洛琳?是的，我不介意，我一點也不介意。你是說所有的一切嗎?你不介意這都成為你一個人的責任，你丈夫覺得他可以就這樣辭職，你才不管會發生什么，沒門。
萊斯特：有人把他媽的龍須菜遞給我嗎?
簡：我不想參于你們的爭吵。
萊斯特：閉嘴!我厭倦、討厭被人當作沒這個人一樣。你們倆愛做什么就做什么去吧，隨時都可以做，我沒意見。現在我要的同樣是……
凱洛琳：噢，你沒意見。哦，請原諒，請原諒，我沒有瘋。如果你沒意見，那這是什么?可以把笑聲測量儀拿來，看看用它測出來的聲音有多大。你不知道這種樣子……
句子模仿秀
這句話用詞簡單，但有多層含義，通常我們會用幾句話來表達。我們會說我現在肩上的擔子重了，全家人就靠我賺錢養活。然而只用of一個單詞，就把兩句合成一句。這種妙用英語中比比皆是，希望多加注意。
學習指導
跟讀朗誦，最佳朗誦時間為5秒鐘。
