"I am not Eleanor and I will not stand by and watch this disgusting,pitiful spectacle of you destroying yourself."   ---- Patrick Melrose

    今天我们要讲的这部剧，是这段时间一直比较火的高分剧情片 Patrick Melrose,之前有个小姐姐在公众号后台问我能不能分享这部剧的学习笔记，刚好那段时间听说了这部剧，看了卡司阵容，既然有“卷福”在场，自然是不容错过的一部好剧了。

    提到“卷福”——Benedict Cumberbatch ,大家都不陌生，因为在Sherlock中的对于不近人情但超高智商的“consulting detective Sherlock Homes”这个角色的精彩演绎而被中国观众亲切地称呼为“卷福”。

    前几天给大家分享了第一集中值得分享的语言点，今天就系统地给大家说说这部剧。Patrick Melrose是没落英国上层阶级的作家爱德华·奥宾写的带有自传性质的同名小说改编而成的英剧，一共有五集，每一集代表一部分，导演以插叙的拍摄手法表现了Following the death of his father in the 1980s, Englishman Patrick Melrose attempts to overcome his addictions and demons rooted in abuse by his father and negligent mother.（在上世纪80年代，在PM的父亲死后，他试图克服自己对于毒瘾和小时候父亲对他的虐待以及母亲对于父亲恶行的熟视无睹的伤害）。

    下面我们来看一下每一部分的剧情：

1"Bad News"

In 1982, Patrick Melrose is dispatched to New York City to retrieve the ashes of his father David. He decides to quit using drugs but finds himself unable to stop as he recollects his father's abuse and encounters associates of his father. Patrick resorts to using heroin, alcohol, and other drugs and finally breaks down with a botched suicide attempt. Patrick places a call to his friend Johnny telling him he wishes to finally give up drugs.

dispatch：[dɪˈspætʃ] 及物动词：派遣，调用

retrieve：[rɪˈtriv] 及物动词：取回

resort to：动词短语+doing：采取，动用

botch：[bɑ:tʃ]  及物动词：笨手笨脚地搞砸（这里用过去分词做定语，表示拙劣的自杀企图）

2"Never Mind"

While going through heroin withdrawal, Patrick recalls a traumatic day he experienced as an 8 year old while on holiday in France with his parents. His father David is manipulative and cruel, his mother Eleanor an alcoholic who is terrified of her husband. It is revealed through a series of flashbacks that the young Patrick was abused by his father, while his mother more or less acquiesced.

manipulative： [məˈnɪpjəleɪtɪv]  形容词：有操纵欲的

flashback：[ˈflæʃˌbæk] 名词：闪回

acquiesce：[ˌækwiˈɛs] 不及物动词：默许；形容词默认的

3"Some Hope"

It's 1990 and Patrick has been invited to a party where Princess Margaret will be present. Patrick is trying to put his substance abuse in the past and has help from his friend Johnny who is in a therapy group. At the party, Princess Margaret behaves unpleasantly due to her social status and humiliates the French ambassador. She also dismisses the hostess' daughter from meeting her and this reminds Patrick of himself as a boy when his father wouldn't allow his mother to talk to him during dinner in France. Patrick later reveals to Johnny that he was sexually abused by his father for a number of years as a young boy. The episode ends with Patrick meeting the drug dealer Chilly Willy, who appeared in the first episode as the drug dealer who passed out, as he is about to leave from playing in the band at the party.

substance： [ˈsʌbstəns]  不可数名词：主旨；要点；实质；基本内容

4"Mother's Milk"

In 2003, Patrick is sober and has become a lawyer. He brings his wife Mary and two children to the South of France to visit his gravely ill mother, who has suffered a stroke. Eleanor has been taken in by a shady guru named Seamus, who has convinced her to sign the deed to the house over to the "foundation" which he leads. Being disinherited conjures up Patrick's buried resentment toward his mother, causing him to begin drinking and using prescription drugs again. His marriage to Mary is also in trouble, which he makes worse by engaging in an affair with his old girlfriend Julia when she visits. Patrick comes to terms with the loss of his childhood home and gives his blessing to his mother's plans, offering to arrange for her to be brought to London. Thereafter Patrick brings his family to Connecticut to see his snobbish aunt Nancy, where his drinking spirals out of control. After an angry confrontation with Nancy, Mary confronts Patrick and gives him an ultimatum: sober up or leave.

shady：[ˈʃedi] 形容词：背阴的;可疑的;隐蔽的;名声不好的

guru： [ˈɡʊru, ɡʊˈru] 名词：专家;领袖;权威;个人的宗教教师[指导]

deed： [did] 名词：行为;行动;<律>契约;证书

resentment：[rɪˈzɛntmənt]  名词：愤恨，不满

snobbish： [ˈsnɑ:bɪʃ] 形容词：势利眼的

spiral：[ˈspaɪrəl] 名词：旋涡

confrontation：[ˌkɑ:nfrənˈteɪʃn] 名词：对峙

utimatum：[ˌʌltəˈmeitəm, -ˈmɑ-] 名词：最后通牒

5"At Last"

April 2005 - Eleanor Melrose has passed away and Patrick presides over her funeral. There are flashbacks of Patrick's life over the past two years, in which his drinking problem continued unabated after separating from Mary and his children. Eventually he returns to a rehab center, and after initially resisting the process and even escaping, he returned to focus on his recovery. His mother, bedridden in a London nursing home, insisted on being euthanised, so Patrick petitioned the British government to allow her to be brought to Switzerland. After gaining approval, Eleanor changes her mind at the last minute. There is also a flashback to years earlier, when Mary and Patrick realize that his father was a serial child molester, and Patrick for the first time confronts his mother about the abuse, who claims to have also been abused by David. In the present day, Eleanor's funeral and wake turn into a bizarre show as old faces converge. Patrick struggles to reconcile the positive portrait of Eleanor which others knew to his own experience of her as a neglectful mother.

unabated：[ˌʌnəˈbetɪd] 形容词：不减退的

bedridden： [ˈbɛdˌrɪdn:]  形容词：因生病或年老而卧床不起的

euthanise/euthanize:：['ju:θənaɪz]  及物动词：使安乐死

petition：[pəˈtɪʃən] 及物动词：（向法庭）申诉

molester：[məˈlestə] 名词：猥亵者

bizarre：[bɪˈzɑr] 形容词：离奇的

converge：[kənˈvɜ:rdʒ] 不及物动词：汇集

reconcile： [ˈrɛkənˌsaɪl] 及物动词：和解

neglectful：[nɪˈɡlɛktfəl]  形容词：玩忽职守的

Good Expressions in The Other Four Episodes

1

fawn： [fɔn]

fawn，有很多个意思，在这里用作不及物动词，表示“摇尾乞怜、阿谀奉承”的意思

2

hold one's nerve：

相当于劝某人calm down

3

虽然说这句台词不长，但是有两个语言点想跟大家分享：一是pious，[ˈpaɪəs] 形容词，表示伪善的意思，二是这个serves her right其实省略了主语it，这句话按字面意思理解是“生活中的结果正确地服务了她”，其实也就是地道表达出了“活该”的意味

4

I won't breathe a word.

这句的翻译表达的意思是I won't say a word.但其实这里之所以用breathe，是想要表达更加强烈的“不会说出去”的语气

5

这里“How are you bearing up？”可以跟“How are you holding up？”原意替换，可以丰富自己的英文表达库