這個男人來自地球

2015-04-29 00:00:00

瘋狂英語·原聲版 2015年12期

人們常用“世界之大，無奇不有”和“萬事皆有可能”來解釋自己遇到或聽到的不尋常事。是的，我們在生活中不時會聽到一些奇事怪事，多數時候，我們付之一笑；偶爾，我們會與人討論一番，甚至爭論一番，但最終還是會將其拋之腦后。可是，如果你聽到的事嚴重違背你堅信的常理，或者將顛覆早已成為你生命一部分的專業知識，你還會如此淡定嗎？

從形式上看，《這個男人來自地球》是一部沉悶的電影。一位在大學任教十年的歷史教授要離開了，他的同事來向他告別。于是，在一間屋子里，八個人從各自的學科領域出發，一起討論一個嚴肅但聽起來有點滑稽的問題：一個人有可能活一萬四千年嗎？

八年前，小編第一次看這部電影時，被問題本身，及對其討論方式和角度所吸引，絲毫不覺得時間的流逝。時隔八年，重新再看這部電影，它依舊給人一種欲罷不能的感覺。只不過這一次，讓小編感觸更深的是這個嚴肅的專業問題在一群學識淵博的學者中引起的反應。教授們的質疑似乎都很專業，有理有據，但出發點只有一個，就是如何駁倒男主人公的話。當最后被告知這只是一個瘋狂的想法時，大多數人如釋重負，因為他們又可以回到“正常思維”了。

也許，許多人在說Anything is possible的時候，他們只是說說而已。

The Man from Earth

Director

Richard Schenkman

Screenplay

Jerome Bixby

Cast

David Lee Smith…John Oldman

Tony Todd…Dan， an anthropologist

John Billingsley…Harry， a biologist

Ellen Crawford…Edith， an art history professor

Annika Peterson…Sandy， a historian

William Katt…Art Jenkins， an archaeologist

Alexis Thorpe…Linda Murphy， a student

Richard Riehle…Dr. Will Gruber， a psychiatrist

I wonder if I could ask you a silly question.

我想問你們一個很傻的問題。

（John Oldman is pressed by his colleagues to explain the reason for the departure.）

John： There is something I’m tempted to tell you， I think. I’ve never done this before， and I wonder how it’ll pan out. I wonder if I could ask you a silly question.

Art： Oh， John， we’re teachers. We answer silly questions all the time.

John： What if a man from the Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day？

Dan： What…what do you mean survived？ Never died？

John： Yes. What would he be like？

Dan： It’s an interesting idea. What， are you working on a science fiction story？

John： Say I am. What would he be like？

Harry： Pretty tired.

Dan： Well， seriously， as…as 1）Art’s book title suggests， he might be like any of us.

Edith： Dan. A caveman？

Dan： Well， there’s no 2）anatomical difference between， say， a Cro-Magnon and us.

Art： Except that as a rule， we’ve grown taller.

Linda： What’s the selective advantage of height？

Art： Better to see 3）predators in tall grass， my dear. Dan： Actually， tall and skinny 4）radiates heat more effectively in warmer climates.

Art： And as for Neanderthals， I mean， we’ve all seen 5）apish people. That 6）strain’s still with us.

Edith： But he’d be a caveman.

Dan： No， he wouldn’t. John’s 7）hypothetical man would have lived through 140 centuries.

Art： ...yeah， roughly.

Dan： ....and changed with every one of them. I mean， assuming normal intelligence. Well， we think men of the Upper Paleolithic were as intelligent as we are. They just didn’t know as much. John’s man would have learned as the race learned. In fact， if he had an 8）inquiring mind， his knowledge might be astonishing. If you do write that， let me have a look at it. I’m sure you’ll make some 9）anthropological 10）boners.

John： It’s a deal.

Linda： What would keep him alive？

Edith： What does the biologist say？

Harry： Cigarettes， and ice cream. All right， all right， I’ll play. I’ll play. All right， um， in science fiction terms， I would say...perfect 11）regeneration of the body’s cells， especially in the， um， vital organs.

John： Would you really want to do that？

Live 14，000 years？

Art： Well， if I could stay healthy

and I…I didn’t age， I mean，

why not？

Linda： Yeah. What a chance

to learn.

Harry： You know， the more I think about it， yeah， it’s possible. Anything is possible， right？ A…after all， one century’s magic， another century’s science. They thought Columbus was a nut job， right？ 12）Pasteur， 13）Copernicus？

John： 14）Aristarchus long before that.

Art： Right.

John： I had a chance to sail with Columbus， only I’m not the adventurous type.

Dan： What？

John： I was pretty sure the earth was round， but at…at that point， I still thought he might fall off an edge someplace.

（Everyone is shocked at the statement.）

Harry： Look around， John. We just did.

Dan： I…I suppose there’s a joke in there somewhere， but I don’t get it.

John： There’s nothing to get.

Dan： What…what are we talking about？