Seattleis rarely the first US city that comes to Chinese minds. In fact, few people could probably tell Washington state from Washington DC.
一提起美國的城市，很少有中國人會(huì)首先想到西雅圖。其實(shí)，很多中國人可能根本分不清華盛頓州和華盛頓特區(qū)的區(qū)別。

Two romantic comedy films have irrevocably shaped the image of Xiyatu, as the city is known in Mandarin, among the Chinese public, and as a result it would not be a stretch to say Seattle is seen as the American capital of romance, somewhat akin to how the world perceives Paris.
兩部浪漫喜劇無疑塑造了西雅圖在中國公眾心里的形象。因此，可以毫不夸張地說，西雅圖被國人視為美國浪漫之都，有幾分類似世界對巴黎的看法。

In Sleepless in Seattle, Nora Ephron's 1993 runaway hit, Tom Hanks' character, Sam, moves with his young son from Chicago to Seattle for a fresh start after the death of his wife. The movie portrays the largest city in the Pacific Northwest not as a canyon of high-rises, but as a bohemian enclave of artists and designers, which possibly did not impress Chinese at the time.
在諾拉?艾芙倫1993年執(zhí)導(dǎo)的熱門電影《西雅圖夜未眠》中，山姆（湯姆?漢克斯飾）在妻子離世后帶著年幼的兒子從芝加哥搬到西雅圖，尋求一個(gè)新生活的開始。影片將這座美國太平洋西北地區(qū)最大的城市塑造成了一個(gè)放蕩不羈的藝術(shù)家和設(shè)計(jì)師的聚居之處，而非高樓林立之都。當(dāng)時(shí)或許并未給中國觀眾留下什么印象。

This image may have been altered recently by the screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, which is largely set in the Seattle area and includes frequent aerial shots and the less-than-tasteful flaunting of wealth and kinky sex.
最近上映的小說改編影片《五十度灰》可能改變了人們對西雅圖的認(rèn)識(shí)。這部影片取景地大部分在西雅圖，包含很多航拍、低俗的炫富和性虐的元素。

The narrative setup in Sleepless is almost Chinese to the core: Sam and Annie, played by Meg Ryan, fall in love before actually meeting each other in the flesh. Imagine all those Chinese couples in arranged marriages who were denied the right to face-to-face encounters before their wedding night. This story could have been their silver lining and inspiration.
《西雅圖夜未眠》敘事設(shè)定很中式：山姆和安妮（梅格?瑞恩飾）在素未謀面的情況下就相愛了。試想那些接受包辦婚姻的中國夫婦，在新婚之夜前都沒有見面的權(quán)利。這部影片有可能給他們帶來了一線希望和鼓舞。

By contrast, the Chinese movie Finding Mr. Right- the title in Mandarin translates as Beijing Meets Seattle - is very Hollywood in its dramatic arc. The 2013 sleeper hit employs the opposites-attract strategy: Boy meets girl and nothing works out, but we know they'll end up together because we've been conditioned by the genre.
相較之下，中國影片《北京遇上西雅圖》（Finding Mr. Right）則極具好萊塢戲劇的風(fēng)格。這部2013年的票房黑馬采用了異性相吸的故事策略：男主與女主相遇卻沒有走到一起，但是我們知道他們最終一定會(huì)在一起，因?yàn)槲覀冊缫蚜?xí)慣了這種題材。

Like with Sleepless, the boy and girl in this story are no youngsters in puppy love. Frank, played by Wu Xiubo, is similar to Sam in that he has a child from a previous marriage, but Tang Wei's Jiajia has nothing in common with Annie. She is a gold digger who is in Seattle to give birth to a child by her wealthy, married boyfriend. The father, who remains unseen, is a symbol of the nouveau riche, whose opulent residence stands in sharp contrast to middle-class living in the Emerald City.
與《西雅圖夜未眠》一樣，這部影片中的男女主角并非初涉愛情的年輕人。吳秀波扮演的弗蘭克（Frank）同山姆一樣，帶著一個(gè)跟前妻生的孩子；不過湯唯飾演的佳佳和安妮的經(jīng)歷完全不同。她是個(gè)拜金女，來到西雅圖是為了給已婚的富豪男友生子。孩子的父親是暴發(fā)戶的象征，并未在影片中露面。他豪華的住宅與西雅圖中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的住所形成鮮明的對比。

For financial reasons, the movie was actually shot in Vancouver, while the generic English title does not even hint at the promotional power of a movie that made 500 million yuan ($78 million) at the box office in China.
由于預(yù)算原因，影片實(shí)際上是在溫哥華拍攝的。而這部在中國的票房收入達(dá)到5億元人民幣（合7800萬美元）的影片的通用英文標(biāo)題也完全沒有顯示出這部影片會(huì)有何等的廣告效應(yīng)。

The movie Finding Mr. Right is predominantly set in Seattle and even references Ephron's classic when the female protagonist is questioned by a US immigration officer who waves her in as another Sleepless pilgrim.
《北京遇上西雅圖》的故事背景主要設(shè)定在西雅圖，美國入境處官員向女主角揮手、準(zhǔn)許她入境的情節(jié)借鑒了艾芙倫執(zhí)導(dǎo)的影片的經(jīng)典橋段，也是對《西雅圖不眠夜》的又一處致敬。

The movie, also written and directed by a woman, is neither a remake nor a sequel to the 1993 classic, but it pays almost slavish homage by setting the final scene in New York's Empire State Building. If I were the mayor of Seattle, I would have persuaded director Xue Xiaolu to change the location to the Space Needle, which would have cemented the city's reputation as a magnet for true love.
這部影片的編劇兼導(dǎo)演薛曉路也是一名女性。但該片并非那部1993年經(jīng)典電影的重制或續(xù)集，但是影片將最后一幕場景設(shè)在紐約的帝國大廈，幾乎是對經(jīng)典最原汁原味的致敬。如果我是西雅圖的市長，我一定會(huì)說服薛曉路將最后的拍攝場地改到太空針?biāo)敲催@座城市的真愛磁鐵之名就會(huì)更加鞏固了。

It may not have been necessary anyway. There was reportedly a spike in the number of Chinese tourists in Seattle after the movie was released, and that enthusiasm is unlikely to abate anytime soon, with a sequel on the way next year.
也許大可不必這樣做。據(jù)報(bào)道，影片上映后前往西雅圖的中國游客數(shù)量激增。而明年《北京遇上西雅圖2》即將上映，這股熱情近期不太可能減退。

Vocabulary

irrevocably：無法改變地

flaunting：炫耀

kinky：(尤指性行為或性癖好)反常的

nouveau：新近產(chǎn)生的

riche：暴發(fā)戶

opulent：豪華的

abate：減弱

英文來源：中國日報(bào)

譯者：張靚

編輯：劉明