Marty: Effie White, this is Max Washington.

Effie: Hi, Max. Marty said you needed a singer.

Marty: I was just telling Max that you're serious about working. He knows all about you.

Effie: You do, huh? Daddy, you don't know the half. One night after you hire me, we'll sit down and I'll tell you all about how I blew through half a million dollars in two years!

Marty: Hey, come on.

Effie: Drinking.

Marty: You don't want to take up too much of the man's time. Now, Carl knows all the songs.

Effie: Carl? Where's Bernard?

Marty: He has a job in Evanston.

Effie: But I can't sing with someone I don't know.

Marty: Effie. You got to.

Max: Marty, I don't have the time.

Marty: Max, please. Just give me a minute. Now, you listen, Effie White. For four months, I've been your money. I've taken you to every club in this freezing town, and I'm telling you that this is it. It's time that you stop making excuses so that you don't have to prove anything. You're gonna have to start proving it, just like the rest of us. I don't know. Maybe Curtis was right about you. You want all of the privileges but none of the responsibilities. Hey, Max. Thanks anyway, man. Sorry for wasting your time.

Effie: Do you know the song?

Max: I told you I didn't want to see her.

Effie: Well, you are, mister. You are.
Look at me
Look...

Jimmy: Sooner or later, the time comes around
For a man to be a man
Take back his sound
I gotta do somethin' to shake things up
I like Johnny Mathis
But I can't do that stuff
Jimmy got soul, Jimmy got soul
Jimmy got S-O-U-L soul!
I can't do rock, I can't do roll
What I can do, baby, is show my soul
Jimmy got soul, Jimmy got soul
Jimmy got, Jimmy got, Jimmy got soul!

Man: Take it out. Ladies and gentlemen, please stay in your seats. We're back live in two minutes.

Jimmy: What'd you think of my show, baby?

Curtis: You made a fool out of yourself.

Jimmy: What are you talking about, man? I was just being Jimmy. Lorrell, will you please tell him, if you can?

Lorrell: Jimmy keeps begging you for something new, but all you do is ignore him. Of course he's confused. It don't take a whiz to know that only a desperate man would drop his pants in living color on network television.

Jimmy: Thanks, Lorrell. You told it like it is.

Lorrell: Yeah, well, that ain't all I got to say to you, sugar.

Curtis: My brother, we're through.

Jimmy: What you talking about? What do you mean, we're through?

Curtis: Come on, Jimmy, your time has passed.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. Blow

Blow 在口语中可以表示"To spend (money) freely and rashly大手大脚地花钱"，例如：He blew a fortune on racing cars.

2. Take up

这里的take up指的是"占用，占有"，即可以指"占用时间"，也可以指"占用空间"，例如：The extra duties took up most of my time.
This desk takes up too much space in the office.

3. Shake up

意思是"Subject to drastic rearrangement or reorganization 把……打散后重新组合"，例如：New management was bent on shaking up each division. （新领导集中全力对公司进行整顿。）

此外，shake up 还可以表示"受惊吓"，例如：Even though no one was hurt, he was greatly shaken up by the accident.

4. Make a fool out of

这个片语也写作 make a fool of，make an ass or monkey out of，意思是"Cause someone or oneself to look foolish or stupid"，例如：John doesn't mind making a fool of himself at parties.

永远的抒情大师--Johnny Mathis

Birth Name: John Royce Mathis
Genre: Vocal Music
Active: '50s - 2000s
Instrument: Vocals


Johnny Mathis, 1959
One of the last and most popular in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, Johnny Mathis concentrated on romantic readings of jazz and pop standards for the ever-shrinking adult contemporary audience of the '60s and '70s. Though he debuted with a flurry of singles-chart activity, Mathis later made it big in the album market, where a dozen of his LPs hit gold or platinum and over 60 made the charts. While he concentrated on theme-oriented albums of show tunes and traditional favorites during the '60s, he began incorporating soft rock by the '70s and remained a popular concert attraction well into the '90s.

Unsurprisingly, given his emphasis on long sustained notes and heavy vibrato, Johnny Mathis studied with an opera coach prior to his teenage years, and was almost lured into the profession; his other inspirations were the smoother crossover jazz vocalists of the 1940s -- Nat "King" Cole, Billy Eckstine, and Lena Horne. Mathis was an exceptional high school athlete in San Francisco, but was wooed away from a college track scholarship and a potential spot on the Olympic squad by the chance to sing. He was signed to a management contract by club owner Helen Noga, who introduced the singer to George Avakian, jazz producer for Columbia Records. Avakian signed him and used orchestras conducted by Teo Macero, Gil Evans, and John Lewis to record Mathis' self-titled debut album in 1957. Despite the name talent and choice of standards, it was mostly ignored upon release.


Johnny Mathis in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, on May 25, 2006.

Columbia A&R executive Mitch Miller -- known for his desperately pop-slanted Sing Along albums and TV show -- decided the only recourse was switching Mathis to Miller's brand of pop balladry, and the formula worked like a charm; the LP Wonderful, Wonderful didn't include but was named after a Top 20 hit later in 1957, which was followed by the number five "It's Not for Me to Say" and his first number one, "Chances Are." From that point on, Johnny Mathis concentrated strictly on lush ballads for adult contemporary listeners.

Though he charted consistently, massive hit singles were rare for Johnny Mathis during the late '50s and '60s -- half of his career Top Ten output had occurred in 1957 alone -- so he chose to focus instead on the burgeoning album market, much like Frank Sinatra, his main rival during the late '50s as the most popular traditional male vocalist. Mathis moved away from show tunes and traditional pop into soft rock during the '70s, and found his second number one single, "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late," in 1978. Recorded as a duet with Deniece Williams, the single prompted Mathis to begin trying duets with a variety of partners (including Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, and Nana Mouskouri), though none of the singles enjoyed the success of the original. Mathis continued to release and sell albums throughout the '90s -- his fifth decade of recording for Columbia -- among them 1998's Because You Loved Me: Songs of Diane Warren and 2000's Johnny Mathis on Broadway. (John Bush, All Music Guide)

考考你

用今日所学将下面的句子译成英语。

1． 他买新家庭影院花了很多钱。
2． 你的车得要多大的地方放？
3． 看他怎么涮这个业余棋手吧。

Dreamgirls《追梦女郎》（精讲之五）考考你 参考答案

1. 他得修正自己的行为，遵守规定。
He'll have to clean up his act and obey the rules.

2. 各个机构联合起来对抗非法药品的使用。
Various agencies gang up to combat the use of illicit drugs.

3. 她下定了决心戒烟。
She resolved to lay off smoking.

影片对白 It's time that you stop making excuses so that you don't have to prove anything.