影片對白 Amelia, courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.
文化面面觀
The Princess Diaries 受歡迎的公主傳記
The Princess Diaries is a series of novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The Princess Diaries novels are divided into journal entries of varying lengths, not chapters as in most novels.
 |
| Meg Cabot as pictured at a British book signing for The Princess Diaries. The series has enjoyed international success since its original release in 2000. |
The series spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List and has been sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. As of January 2007 eight books in the series have been published.
The story of Mia's adventures as an average teenager who happens to be a princess of royal descent are chronicled in Mia's ongoing journals. Themes of teenage angst, love, betrayal, are explored through her very opinionated eyes.
Main characters
Her Royal Highness, Princess Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Crown Princess of Genovia - Mia is a vegetarian and animal-rights activist who cares deeply about the environment. She often laments her looks; she says she has triangular, "dishwater blond" hair, "a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis," and that at 5'9" she is the tallest girl in her class, which she does not appreciate. According to her outspoken best friend Lilly Moscovitz, her "only attractive feature" is her grey eyes. Mia often struggles to understand her new role in the world as princess of Genovia. She prefers to wear combat boots and overalls, though she wears a uniform to school. She speaks French very well due to speaking it with her grandmère from a very young age, though she sometimes humorously mistakes synonymous words for one another, such as poulet ("chicken"/"prostitute"). Though Mia often does something inappropriate or mortifying, in the end she learns from her mistakes. She is known for biting her nails, obsessing over her cat "Fat Louie" (whom she admits to loving the most in the world, over her mother and friends), being concerned about her life to an exaggerated degree, and writing in her diary whenever she can. After receiving the news about being a princess, she also receives her own bodyguard, Lars, who is friends with Wahim, Tina's bodyguard. She feels she is not self-actualized and lives on take out from Number One Noodle Son.
Lilly Moscovitz
- Mia often feels inadequate compared to Lilly, who is a slightly overweight feminist with an IQ of 170. Regardless, they have been best friends since kindergarten; Mia lists her as one of her heroes. She is portrayed as having a "squished" visage and brown curls. She frequently talks down to Mia and uses an extensive vocabulary that Mia cannot always understand. She always says what is on her mind and has a very loud voice. She hosts her own public access television show, Lilly Tells it Like it Is, financed by her psychoanalyst parents, the Drs. Ruth and Morty Moscovitz. They rescind their financing after Lilly baits Norman, the stalker who has repeatedly asked for her to remove her shoes on camera. She finds a new producer in Tina Hakim Baba, who has been receiving an allowance of fifty dollars per week.
Michael Moscovitz - Lilly's older brother, a senior. With high intelligence and an extensive vocabulary, he sometimes steps in with his own well-formulated argument to stop Lilly from intimidating someone. He is the treasurer of the computer club and co-valedictorian, and he spends a lot of time in his room. Mia notes that he has a "surprisingly" well-defined chest. He is a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Wars. Mia has a crush on Michael until Princess in Love, when they become boyfriend and girlfriend the night before Mia has to leave to spend her Christmas in Genovia. They remain a couple until the end of Volume Eight, where Mia breaks up with him on account of dishonesty, the night before he is to fly to Japan for a year, where a company has expressed interest in his robotic arm prototype that will replace open heart surgery.
Clarisse Renaldo - Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo, the dowager Princess of Genovia and Mia's paternal grandmother. She speaks French most of the time; though she can speak English, she considers it vulgar - she refuses to be called grandma by Mia. She perceives herself as superior to many, and often dresses in purple to flaunt her royalty. As a young woman she married King Rupert Renaldo and had one son, Phillipe. Clarisse is a disdainful and manipulative woman who constantly scolds Mia, drinks Sidecars, and smokes French filterless cigarettes. She is usually indifferent towards Mia's feelings. When using Mia's full name, she habitually leaves out Thermopolis, Mia's mother's maiden name, which annoys Mia. Nevertheless, Clarisse sometimes offers profound advice to Mia that surprisingly eases Mia's pain at being her granddaughter. She is very short, and in the eighties, she had black eyeliner tattooed on her eyelids in "a brief manic phase shortly after Princess Grace died."
Helen Thermopolis
- Mia's mother, a 36-year-old Greek-American painter who begins dating the high school algebra teacher, Mr. Frank Gianini. She is rather scatterbrained, but Mia notes that "she always keeps track of Mia." With black curly hair, Mia thinks she's very pretty, like Carmen Sandiego (minus the trench coat). Like Lilly, she is a feminist and most of her friends are very outspoken performance artists who tend to be on the wild side. She's an extremely laid back parent who doesn't believe in much punishment.
Josh Richter - The most popular senior at Albert Einstein, on whom Mia has a huge crush, though he is dating Lana Weinberger. He is on the crew team and is valedictorian. Mia believes he is the most attractive boy in school; he is very tall and muscular and has "electric" blue eyes. She also believes that Josh is the most sensitive boy in school. At the end of the first book, Josh Richter uses Mia for a chance to be in the media spotlight by taking her to the "Cultural Diversity Dance" dance and kisses her on the steps leading to the entrance of her school. Mia realizes Josh used her, and so avoids and dislikes him; this is difficult due to their adjacent lockers.
Lana Weinberger - A popular cheerleader and freshman at Albert Einstein who is very spiteful towards Mia. She has long blonde hair, a peaches-and-cream complexion, baby blue eyes, large breasts, and regularly Brazilian waxes. She dates Josh Richter, with whom she has slept, if the scrawl on the bathroom wall is true. She breaks up with him between the fifth and sixth books, due to the four-mile distance that tears them apart over summer break and his leaving to go to college. She has a younger sister Gretchen, who starts at AEHS in Volume Eight.
Volumes in The Princess Diaries series include:
The Princess Diaries, October 2000
The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, June 2001
The Princess Diaries, Volume III: Princess in Love, March 2002
The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting, April 2003
The Princess Diaries, Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess, August 2003
The Princess Diaries, Volume V: Princess in Pink, March 2004
The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Training, March 2005
The Princess Diaries, Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present, October 2004
The Princess Diaries, Volume VII: Party Princess, March 2006
The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess, May 2006
The Princess Diaries, Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess, December 2006
The Princess Diaries, Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink, January 2007
The Princess Diaries, Volume IX: Princess Mia (tentative), January 2008
The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess, January 2009
In the United Kingdoms and Australian editions of the books, the titles differ from the US release. Instead of referring to the plot line, the titles are puns on the book number. They are: The Princess Diaries, The Princess Diaries: Take Two, The Princess Diaries: Third Time Lucky, The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth, The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five, The Princess Diaries: Sixsational, The Princess Diaries: Seventh Heaven, and The Princess Diaries: After Eight. (answers.com)
考考你
將下面的句子譯成漢語。
Amelia, courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. From now on, you'll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey.
The princess diaries《公主日記》1 精講之五 考考你 參考答案
1. Well, not to put too fine a point on it, it's entirely your fault.
哎，確切地說，這全是你的錯。
2. Now, if you'll excuse me, Mr. Butler is our guest.
抱歉，現在巴特勒先生是我們的客人。
3. In the age of internet, everyone can get 15 minutes of fame.
網絡時代，每個人都可能短暫成名。
4. Young golfer plays beyond her years.
年輕高爾夫球手的表現超越了她的年齡。
影片對白 Amelia, courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.
點擊進入:更多精彩電影回顧
(英語點津Annabel編輯)
