力争上游

男主因为帮教授做研究而错过了和教授女儿的Cape之行, 超市里两人争执。教授女儿的一长段话点明主旨。我把对话摘录如下：

Hart: “ We could go to the Cape next weekend.”
Susan: "We aren't going anywhere."
Hart: "I, uh, wish you wouldn't treat me like this. I haven't had a decent meal in four days. I haven't had any sleep. Look, he tested me, I failed. I worked so hard on that goddamn paper. Well, he may flunk me! "
Susan: "They finally got you, didn't they, Hart? They sucked all that Midwestern charm right out of you. Look it, he's got you scared to death. Oh you're gonna pass, because you're the kind the law school wants. You'll get your little diploma, your piece of paper that's no different than this, and you can stick it in your silver box, with all the other paper in your life. Your birth certificate, your driver's license, your marriage license, your stock certificates, and your will. "
Hart: "You don't even care."
Susan: "I wish you would flunk. There might be some hope for you. "


我想，题目中的PAPER不仅指人生中的各类证书，也包括Hart试图完成老师指定的那篇论文，以及Susan苦苦等待的那张离婚判决吧。他失败了，但是那又如何？人生的目的不只为了通过考试，为一个分数而耽误了攸关我们生命的事情才真正是舍本逐末。在Susan看来，吃好饭，睡好觉，享受和情人相伴的时刻显然比考试不挂科来得更有价值。在讨论Kevin因功课压力太大企图自杀时，Susan在海边说了这样一段话： “You've gotta stand up. You've gotta grow. I can't explain it, but you just gotta stop being so soft, so easily manipulated. It's very dangerous for one's intelligence.”

最值得追求的不是分数，而是生活。

纸，Bell在窗口一不小心就洒落满天的东西，终究灰飞烟灭，就像学期会结束，知识会遗忘，也许再努力教授也记不住你的名字。 然而，我们看待世界的眼光，思考问题的方式，战胜困难和自我超越的勇气，就像在海滩和爱人共度的时光一样，会永远印刻在我们心里，相随相伴。

PAPER CHASE这个名字无疑起的很好。我们从小到大都在追求的，只是这一张薄薄的被我们平白无故地赋予太多的纸片。就好像在影片最后那个HART成绩单做成的纸飞机，他可以成为BIG FIRM的敲门砖，但终究只是一张纸而已。
影片开始时，HART是一个书生意气风发的法律新鲜人（L one).卯足劲去攻克合同法（CONTRACT LAW）的课程，不惜一切去揣摩教授的思想精髓。在KINGSFEILD的书房里YY他和各级名流的照片，贼溜进图书馆的RED SET ROOM查阅教授50年前在哈佛法学院做学生时的笔迹，一面感叹图书馆是“智慧的心脏”（heart of the intelligence). 直到被红颜SUSAN一句" why are you so soft, so easy to be manipulated" (你为何如此软弱，如此容易让他操纵）一语激醒。而后在LECURE HALL被教授公然羞辱时，脱口而出一句SOB，震惊四座。
想起一句话：I won't let education block my way to pursuit the true knowledge.
教育？真知？不要迷失自己。
很喟叹HART的同学KEVIN，开始年轻气盛，越看越让人心寒，落得自杀未遂。退一步海阔天空，看穿，无他，仅纸一张。

The paper chase, we Chinese translated it as寒窗恋，or 力争上游、平步青云、纸追，an old movie shot in 1973, scored 8.3 in Douban movie. Considering the harsh words people use in movie commenting and they prefer negative attitudes to the movie they take, it’s a relative high mark, which means a good movie. However, what disappointed is, it’s not wonderful movie, what we saw the students done in the movie is familiar to what we know, or what we’ve heard about, nothing special.

Different to our native classroom, the classroom is hemicycle, a conference center, the relationship between the professor on platform and students in the classroom are equal, teaching method here is Socratic approach, there even are insulting language between them, what we can’t imagine in we Chinese classroom.

In 1973, American director James Bridge shot “The paper chase” according to the practical situation in Harvard Uni. law school, which translated ”寒窗恋“ in CCTV, or “力争上游”、“平步青云”, some people translated it “纸追“ literality, which tell us life situation of students in law school, what they read, what they think about, what they chase and many other things they want. Frankly speaking, actors and actresses in the movie are not famous, while it achieved great success, many law schools in the U.S. consider it “the first required course” in tens of years later.

Chase, we Chinese translate it “追击” or “追逐“, frank, and directly implies us competitions in law, “平步青云” or “寒窗恋” are not related to what the director wants to show us, “纸追” is more like a joke, maybe the translator think students had entered law school are sure to have a decent life after graduation, what so called “chase” is worthless, sadly to say, the translator misunderstood the essence in the movie or ignore it consciously. In life Harvard law school have, what most important is combatant spirit in their daily life, but not what they would get in the future, after all, what they learned in law school is limited, but the combatant spirit they cultivate is everlasting, keeping their excellent ability in the future life. Kevin, a IQ 190 boy, attempted to suicide and even quit school under learning press, some other students had many problems too, we may call somebody madness, considering their ambition and confidence at the beginning, especially Kevin, a IQ 190 boy, the end in the movie is more like an irony to somebody conceited.

——TO BE CONTINUED