2016考研英語閱讀熱點：小黃人這么蠢只能是男孩

考研英語來源：英語點津 2015-07-24　

導演:小黃人這么蠢只能是男孩

Animator reveals the surprising reason why there aren't any female Minions

For anybody who has ever questioned the lack of female Minions, filmmaker Pierre Coffin has some answers for you.

為什么小黃人(Minions)中沒有女孩子呢?如果你也曾這樣質疑，就來聽聽電影導演皮艾爾·柯芬(Pierre Coffin)的回答吧。

The gender and sexuality of the tiny yellow troublemakers who first appeared in “Despicable Me" have been debated since the animated franchise’s original film was released in 2010.

小黃人最早出現在動畫片《卑鄙的我》(“Despicable Me" )中，自2010年這部系列動畫最早的電影上映以來，小黃人的性別與性的問題便一直為人們所討論。

One widespread theory was that Minions were gender neutral, since they don both traditionally male and female attire.

一種普遍的觀點認為小黃人是中性的，因為它們既穿傳統的男性服裝也穿傳統的女性服裝。

Other fans viewed them as boys who occasionally cross-dress: all of the Minions have male names, such as Stuart, Kevin, and Bob.

其他的粉絲認為它們只是偶爾男扮女裝的男孩子。你看它們的名字都是男孩子的：斯圖爾特(Stuart)，凱文(Kevin)還有鮑勃(Bob)。

Now, as the "Despicable Me" spinoff movie "Minions" hits theaters, the filmmaker has spoken, and it’s official: all Minions are, in fact, male.

當下《卑鄙的我》衍生電影《小黃人》正在各大影院熱映，其制作人開口稱，這次可是官方消息：實際上所有的小黃人都是男孩子。

Why make such a choice in a time when male-dominated children’s movies are so rare?

為什么在男性主導的兒童電影如此罕見的情況下做出這樣的選擇呢?

“Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldn’t imagine Minions being girls,” Coffin told The Wrap. According to the French animator, all of the title characters are voiced by male actors.

柯芬在接受The Wrap采訪時說：“我無法想象這幫時常犯傻的小蠢貨會是女孩子。”據這位法國動畫制作人稱，影片中所有小黃人角色都是由男演員配音的。

The film is not without female characters, of course: the villain, Scarlett Overkill, is voiced by Sandra Bullock.

當然，這部影片還是有女性角色的：大反派斯嘉麗·奧佛吉爾(Scarlett Overkill)，由桑德拉·布洛克(Sandra Bullock)為其獻聲。

But the gender imbalance has drawn criticism from some concerned parents.

但這一性別失衡的現象招致一些憂心忡忡的父母的批評。

“Why can’t we show children a fantasy world where gender equality exists? ‘Minions’ does the opposite, reproducing and in fact, managing to exaggerate sexism so that females have hardly any place or representation in the world at all,” writes one blogger, the mother of three girls. “I’m appalled and disgusted that movies like ‘Minions’ are allowed to be made in 2015 and shown to little kids, teaching a new generation to expect and accept a world where girls go missing.”

一名育有三個女兒的母親在博客中寫道：“我們為什么不能展現給孩子一個性別平等的夢幻世界呢?《小黃人》卻正相反，重現(事實上是設法夸大)男性至上主義，女性在這樣的世界根本沒有任何地位及存在感。令我感到震驚和厭惡的是，像《小黃人》這樣的電影在2015年居然還獲許拍攝并放映給小孩子看，這只會教會新一代人去期待并接受一個沒有女孩子的世界。”

Despite such concerns, “Minions” opened at the box office with record numbers this past weekend, garnering $115.2 million in North America and making it the second biggest animated film opening in history. The film has received mixed reviews from critics, earning a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

盡管人們有著這樣那樣的擔憂，上周末開畫，《小黃人》依然創下北美票房紀錄，斬獲1.152億美元，創造動畫電影開畫史上第二高的好成績。影評人對影片的評論褒貶不一，《小黃人》在爛番茄(Rotten Tomatoes)獲得了54%的支持率。

Now only one question remains on the minds of movie-goers: if there are no girl Minions, how does the species propagate?

現在只有一個問題令電影觀眾們百思不得其解了：如果小黃人都是男孩子，那小黃人是如何傳宗接代的呢?

There are currently two competing fan theories to explain where the little guys come from.

這些小家伙們到底是哪兒來的?目前粉絲間主要有兩種互相矛盾的說法對其作出解釋。

One is that regular humans are turned into Minions by a Minionizer machine, a ray gun-like instrument similar to the one seen on the Minions ride at Universal Studios theme park. Another is that they are cloned from a single strand of mutated DNA, as suggested by one of the short films.

一種說法是小黃人是“小黃人制造機”將普通人類轉變而來的。“小黃人制造機”是一個類似射線槍的機器，跟在環球影城主題公園的小黃人過山車那里可以看到的很像。另一種說法是根據其中一部小黃人短片推測，小黃人是由一個突變的DNA單鏈克隆而成的。

Coffin has declined to reveal the exact origin of the tiny yellow henchmen so far, but the Minions aren’t done telling their story yet: they’ll be back soon enough in “Despicable Me 3,” slated to open in June 2017.

柯芬至今還不愿向廣大影迷們透露小黃人的確切起源，但是小黃人的故事并未告一段落，我們很快將會在《卑鄙的我3》中看到它們的身影，影片暫定于2017年6月份上映。

重點詞匯：

sexism: 男性至上主義

henchman：忠實的追隨者