精彩对白

Carolyn: Miss Greenleaf? Jack¹ told me you moved out.

Emilia: You talked to him?

Carolyn: Yes, I did. William was very upset to see you leave with your suitcase. You never understood that children have eyes, have you? I called Jack to talk about it, and he told me what happened the night Isabel died.

Emilia: Oh. - Mm-hmm.

Carolyn: He asked if it was possible that you could have smothered³ her with your breast - my medical opinion.

Emilia: What did you tell him?

Carolyn: I told him, yes, it was possible. Yes, you could have accidentally killed Isabel. You probably had. Any woman who's so casual with William's safety could just as easily have fallen asleep and smothered her own child. William was very mad at me. He said I should be ashamed of myself. He's very loyal, William.

Emilia: He knows?

Carolyn: Yes, well, he overheard the conversation. I'm sorry. My apartment's quite small.

Emilia: Your apartment's huge. You must have been shouting.

Carolyn: He said that you loved Isabel and that you couldn't have killed her. And I told him I hadn't said that you'd killed the baby. I told him that you might have accidentally smothered her.

Emilia: Carolyn, why am I here? I'd really like to leave.

Carolyn: William asked me to help you. He said because I'm a doctor, I could find out what really happened to Isabel.

Emilia: I didn't realize he cared, since she wasn't a person, you know, according to the Jewish law.

Carolyn: Your pediatrician got a copy of the autopsy⁴ report.

Emilia I know.

Carolyn: Well, I had his office fax it to me yesterday, and I reviewed it with a classmate of mine from Stanford. She's a pathologist who specializes in neonatal cases. She testifies in criminal trials. And she confirms the coroner's conclusion.

Emilia: I know the official verdict: SIDS.

Carolyn: I asked for more specific conclusions, and she said there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that Isabel was smothered. Smothering⁵ always leaves traces: a torn upper lip frenulum, signs of positional asphyxia, dots of blood in the lungs, and in Isabel's case, there was no evidence that she'd been smothered. So you can't have smothered her. You didn't kill your baby. She died of SIDS. You just had the misfortune of holding her when she died.

Emilia: Your friend's a pathologist?

Carolyn: A perinatal specialist. Yeah, she's 100% secure in her conclusions that Isabel died from SIDS. Based on the facts, it's scientifically impossible that she died from smothering. Are you listening? She also said she'd speak with you if you'd rather hear it from her directly or if you have any other questions. I need to know that you understand what I'm saying, so I'm going to repeat this until you say that you understand. You didn't kill your child, Emilia. You didn't kill your baby. Your baby died because babies do sometimes. They just slip away for no reason. It's no one's fault. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Do you understand?

Emilia: I understand.

Carolyn: Good. I'm gonna leave you alone for a while.

Emilia: Hi.

Jack: Hi.

Emilia: I've-I just came from Carolyn's office. And she told me I couldn't have killed Isabel. She had her pathologist look at the medical report.

Jack: Sit down.

Emilia: I really think you should call her and hear what she has to say, because I didn't do it.

Jack: I never thought you did.

Emilia: But your face, your face when I told you and your face the night that she died-

Jack: How should I look, Emilia, when my daughter dies, when my wife says she killed her? People have their own feelings.

Jack: I talked to my father, and I apologized to him. And you were right. You were right. I've been working through things in our relationship that are really about him and my family and things-

Jack: Emilia, don't. None of this matters.

Emilia: We are not a mistake. You're my family, and I want to be with you.

Jack: William's my family.

Emilia: And me, William and me. I love William.

Jack: Em, please.

Emilia: He loves me. He made his mother find out. He loves me.

Jack: I know. It's the people who love you you're the hardest on. I'm sorry. I just can't.

Emilia: OK.

妙语佳句 活学活用

1. smother²: 使窒息而死；闷死，也可以指抑制；扼杀；忍住

例如： In some of Jame's fiction motive⁶ seems to smother event.（在詹姆斯的一些小说里动机似乎把情节掩盖住了。）

2. be ashamed of myself: 为自己感到羞耻

be ashamed of后面也可以加something，例如： You should be ashamed of what you have done.（你应为自己所做的事感到羞愧。）

3. pediatrician: 儿科医生

4. autopsy report: 尸检报告

5. pathologist: 病理学家

6. neonatal: 新生的，初生的

7. SIDS: 婴儿猝死综合症，全称为sudden infant death syndrome，也称为cot death，crib death（摇篮死亡）

8. asphyxia: 窒息，昏厥

9. We are not a mistake: 我们在一起没有错儿。

10. It's the people who love you you're the hardest on: 对那些爱你的人，你恰恰是最苛刻。

hard on用来表示对……刻薄

例如：The new law is a bit hard on those who were born abroad.（新法令对那些在国外出生的人有点不够公平。）

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