Coco: A Mexican Journey Pays Colorful Tribute to Family墨城为骨，家庭为魂——《寻梦环游记》的奇幻之旅

⊙By Bob Mondello ⊙ 翻译：思苇

在这个辞旧迎新的寒冬，有一部动画片用绚烂的色彩、欢快的音乐和温馨的故事给全球动画迷捎来了一股散发着浓郁墨西哥风情的感人暖流——皮克斯工作室带着新作《寻梦环游记》回来了！

Pixar’s animators[动画师]seem willing to go anywhere in pursuit[追求]of fresh enchantment[魔法]. They plunged[跳进]to the ocean’s depths in Finding Nemo, levitated[飘浮]with helium balloons[氦气球]in Up, and entered a child’s mind in Inside Out. Now in the movie Coco, they’re visiting the afterlife.

Twelve-year-old Miguel lives with his shoemaking family in a Mexican village, his days happy except for one thing: His family has been music-free for three generations.His grandmother allows no blowing into soda[苏打]bottles…

Grandma: No music!

No listening to passing car radios…

Grandma: No music!

No singing with strolling[巡演]players…

Grandma: No music!

Miguel: I think we’re the only family in Mexico who hates music.

Miguel knows why. Years ago, his musical great-great-grandfather grabbed[抓]his guitar and left, never to return. On Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), when it’s said the deceased[死者]return to visit their families,no one so much as[甚至]mentions great-greatgranddad—which means Miguel gets a bit of a shock when he strums[拨弄]a guitar in a cemetery on that day, and finds himself and his street puppy[小狗]transported to the land of the dead.

It’s the most eye-popping[惊人的]and lively afterlife you can imagine, with streets paved[铺]in fluorescent[发光的]flower petals;but you can’t blame Pixar’s animators for splurging on[挥霍]images when the point of everything they do is family.

Coco, I should mention, is Miguel’s great-grandmother, the child of that musical great-great-grandfather who never came back. She anchors[压阵]the film, as you’d expect a matriarch[女家长]to do, and she also figures[突出]in a moment that will reduce audiences to tears—but the tears are joyous[欢乐的]about memories that can unite families and even transcend[超越]death.

见招拆招

动词搭配：reduce to sth.

我们都知道reduce最常用的意思是“减少”，但它其实还有更丰富的含义，除了像本文例句一样表示“迫使”，还可以表示“捣碎，简化”等意思，而且经常和to搭配使用，要注意to后面只能接名词，如：

● Finally, the class was reduced to silence. （全班同学这才安静了下来。）

● You can use this machine to reduce pebbles to powder. （你可以用这台机器把小圆石碾成石粉。）

● Try to reduce all the questions to one.（尽量将所有的问题归纳成一个吧。）

参考译文

为了寻找新的动画魔法，皮克斯工作室的动画师们不惜上天下地。他们在《海底总动员》里跳进海洋深处，在《飞屋环游记》里乘着氦气球升空，在《头脑特工队》里造访一个孩子的心灵。这回的《寻梦环游记》，他们甚至跑到了亡灵世界！

十二岁的米格尔出身于一个鞋匠之家，他们生活在墨西哥的一个小村里。米格尔的日子过得挺快活的——只有一个问题：他家三代人都没碰过音乐。他的奶奶不许他吹汽水瓶……

奶奶：不准玩音乐！

不许他听路过小车传来的电台声……奶奶：不准玩音乐！

不许他和巡游艺人一起唱歌……

奶奶：不准玩音乐！

米格尔：我觉得全墨西哥只有我们家这么讨厌音乐。

米格尔倒也明白个中缘由。许多年前，他有个热爱音乐的高祖父，有天突然带着吉他远走高飞了，再也没有回来。在墨西哥，人们都说死去的人会在亡灵节这天回来，与在世的亲人团聚，家里却没有人愿意提及高祖父——结果，米格尔在这天跑到墓地里弹吉他，吃惊地发现他和他那只流浪犬“搭档”竟然穿越到了亡灵世界！

这里的大街小巷铺满了光灿灿的花瓣，是你能想象到的最为惊人、最生机勃勃的死后世界；可你也别怪皮克斯的动画师在画面上极尽铺张之能事，毕竟他们所做的一切都围绕着“家庭”这个主旨。

要说明的是，英文片名的“可可”其实是指米格尔的曾祖母，她正是那位为了音乐离家出走的高祖父的亲生女儿。就像你所期待的大家长一样，可可是整部电影的“定海神针”，她在其中一幕的表现还会让观众潸然泪下——但这并不是悲伤的泪水，那里面承载着满满的回忆，这些回忆甚至可以超越死亡，将一家人维系在一起。