The Office Programme 电视剧 办公室
Helen: Hello. This is Ask About Britain from BBC Learning English. I’m Helen.
Feifei: 我是冯菲菲， 大家好。欢迎收听英国问答 Ask About Britain, 我们在这个节目中专门回答有关英国文化习俗的各种问题。
Helen: Our question today is very culturally specific.
Feifei: What do you mean?
Helen: Well, Wangquan from Wuhan watched a British TV drama called The Office and he would like to know how popular this TV drama was in the UK and what people thought of it.
Feifei: Wang Quan 同学对英国的一部名叫The Office 的电视剧很感兴趣，他想了解一下英国观众对这部电视剧的评价和感受。
Helen: Before we answer Quan’s question, we need to let everyone know a little bit more about this TV drama.
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The Office was a very popular TV drama. Iit was made particularly famous by an actor called Ricky Gervais who plays the main part, and it reflected life in an office environment which many people could relate to.
Feifei: 我们刚才听到的是 Amy, 她简单介绍了一下这部电视剧是什么。The Office 就是办公室，故事情节也就是围绕一个虚拟办公室里发生的事情。
Helen: The main character in it, David Brent, is the office manager and he is played by an actor called Ricky Gervais.
Feifei: 主角是办公室主任David Brent, 这个角色是由喜剧演员Ricky Gervais 扮演的。
Helen: It’s a comedy and it’s in the form of a mock documentary.
Feifei: 这是一部喜剧片a comedy, 拍摄形式是模仿纪录片a mock documentary.
Helen: It’s an incredibly popular TV show because an office environment is something that many people can relate to.
Feifei: Relate to 有同感，这部电视剧的真实感觉让很多观众产生共鸣，所以收视率特别高。
Helen: So what do people think of this TV show? We asked a few people for their opinions.
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I love it. It’s one of my favourite shows.
I think it’s very funny.
I think it’s a great programme. Obviously, it’s all taken to the extreme but certainly you can see some aspects of some people you meet in life in eachcharacter.
I love The Office, I think it’s great, it was really popular, wasn’t it? It was incredibly popular and spun off to many different versions internationally.
Feifei: 看来英国人对办公室这部电视剧都很喜欢。
Helen: It’s very funny and a lot of people love it.
Feifei: 有位男士说it’s all taken to the extreme, 这句话的意思是电视剧里的一些场景比较极端化taken to the extreme.
Helen: The Office has also had many different international versions.
Feifei: 这部电视剧还被改编成很多不同国际版本在世界各地上演。
Helen: Let’s hear more.
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It strikes a cord in everybody. Everyone can see some points of each personality in some of the characters in there.
Feifei: 刚才我们听到的是Tony, 他觉得办公室这部剧strikes a cord in everybody.这是一个成语strike a cord, 让人觉得能产生共鸣。
Helen: We can see the characters in real life around us.
Feifei: 是的，故事里的那些角色在我们平常的生活中就能碰到。
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I think it hits on a lot of things that are true about UK offices, not that my office is anything like that. But you can definitely see traits of the characters in virtually every office.
Helen: Nicola feels that it hits on a lot of things that are true about UK offices. The word ‘hit’ here means being accurate about something.
Feifei: 办公室这部剧体现出了很多英国办公室里真实的事情。不过Nicola 否认她自己的工作环境和剧本类似。
Helen: But you can see the traits of the characters in virtually every office.
Feifei: Traits 就是特征，特点。这部剧让观众们觉得自己能感受到剧中角色的特征，几乎在每一个现实生活中的工作场合中都能碰到。
Helen: Ben and Simon love The Office and to them, the central character
David Brent is one big attraction.
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In Britain we have a culture of laughing at and with the underdog. The David Brent character is your typical underdog. He strikes a cord with me. I think we do mock him, but we also feel a lot of sympathy with that character. But he brings it on himself, and you’re there watching going, don’t! Just stop! Just shut the door! Just be quiet please! It’s like watching your dad dancing at a wedding! Feifei: Ben 说英国人有笑话弱者但又偏袒弱者的传统。 Underdog 就是处于劣势的一方，办公室里的主角David Brent 就是一个典型的 underdog.
Helen: The audience mocks him, but also feels a lot of sympathy for him.
Feifei: Mock 嘲笑，讽刺。Sympathy 同情，怜悯。观众对剧中主角David 往往同时产生以上两种感觉。
Helen: Simon adds that David brings it on himself, this means David caused a lot of embarrassing moments himself.
Feifei: David 在剧中往往会出现在一些非常令人觉得难为情的场景，让观众看着都觉得难受。
Helen: And Simon compared the feeling of watching The Office like watching your dad dancing at a wedding!
Feifei: Is it really that bad? 看David Brent 就像看自己的老爸在婚礼上蹦迪一样，惨不忍睹！
Helen: Now that’s embarrassing.
Feifei: 好了，有关英国电视剧The Office 办公室的讨论我们就要结束了。我觉得这部电视剧是典型英国办公室的写照，其中的喜剧卖点是英国人的干幽默。
Helen: That’s right, it has a very dry sense of humour and not everyone will be able to get it.
Feifei: 是的，要想深入感受英国人的幽默方式，那么这部电视剧是值得一看了。就到这里，我们下次节目再见。
Helen: Bye bye.
词汇学习：
1. mock documentary 拍摄形式是模仿纪录片
2. reflect 反映了
3. played by (someone) 由谁演的
4. hits on (something) 很准确
5. taken to the extreme 走极端
6. version 版本
7. strike a cord with (someone) 有同感
8. bring it on himself 自找的
9. underdog 处于弱势的一方
10. sympathy 同情