Didn’t read the book? Not to worry. Lots of movies adapted[改编] from best-selling books—both classic and contemporary[当代的]—arrive in theaters this fall and winter.
English majors will love Emily Bronte’s romantic Wuthering Heights (October); Tolstoy’s tale of adultery[通奸], Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law in the tragic novel’s 13th movie adaptation (November); and Les Miserables, the musical starring Hugh Jackman (December).
And that’s just the beginning. There’s J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, directed by Peter Jackson and arriving in December; David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, starring Tom Hanks (October); Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (December); Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, starring Tobey Maguire (November); and Pete Dexter’s The Paperboy, with Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey (October).
What’s going on?
“A cynic[愤世嫉俗者] would say this is a case of unoriginality[无独创性], coupled with[外加] the pursuit of commerce[商业],” says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office division of Hollywood.com. “Of course books provide a plentiful source, picture-perfect for producers, writers and studio executives to exploit…and with a built-in[嵌入的] concept and title already attached[附上……的].”
All could be Oscar bait[诱饵], too. Six of the nine nominees[被提名的人] for last year’s best picture were based on books: The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, Moneyball, War Horse and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
Dergarabedian says there’s nothing wrong with the trend, “so long as the movies are good!”
He cites the Lord of the Rings trilogy[三部曲] and Harry Potter series as examples of well-made movies based on books.
“The Twilight books have also made one of the most successful movie franchises[电影系列] of all time,” he adds. “The final installment[一部分] (November) is certain to be a massive worldwide hit.”
It’s not a one-way street, either. Books often see a bump[增加] in sales when a movie tie-in[搭卖的] edition arrives in bookstores. A movie with a Hollywood talent as big as Tom Hanks presents an amazing opportunity for the book (Cloud Atlas).
And coming next summer: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. It had been set for a Christmas Day release, but was moved.
没有读过原著？不用担心。这个秋冬季，一大堆根据经典或当代畅销书改编的电影将陆续登场。
英语专业的学生一定会喜欢以下几部作品：艾米莉·勃朗特那浪漫的《呼啸山庄》（10月）；托尔斯泰笔下那个关于通奸的故事——由凯拉·奈特利和裘德·洛主演的《安娜·卡列尼娜》是这部悲剧小说第13次被搬上大银幕（11月）；以及由休·杰克曼主演的音乐剧《悲惨世界》（12月）。
好戏还在后头呢——由彼得·杰克逊执导、J·R·R·托尔金的《霍比特人：意外旅程》（12月）；由汤姆·汉克斯主演、大卫·米切尔的《云图》（10月）；杰克·凯鲁亚克的《在路上》（12月）；由托比·马奎尔主演、扬·马特尔的《少年Pi的奇幻漂流》（11月）；以及妮可·基德曼和马修·麦康纳主演、皮特·德克斯特的《报童》（10月）。
到底是怎么回事？
“愤世嫉俗者会说这是毫无创意加上追求商业利益的表现，” Hollywood.com网站的票房部执行官保罗·德加拉比迪恩说。“当然了，书籍提供了大量素材，这对于制片人、编剧和电影公司老总们来说是绝佳的素材……而且有设定好的主旨理念，连名字都取好了。”
而且它们往往很对奥斯卡口味。在去年九部获提名最佳影片的电影中，有六部改编自小说：《后人》、《雨果》、《帮助》、《点球成金》、《战马》和《特别响，非常近》。
德加拉比迪恩说这种潮流没有什么不好：“只要电影好看就行了！”
他举了《指环王》三部曲和《哈利·波特》系列这两套电影改编典范作为例子。
“《暮光之城》系列小说也被拍成史上最成功的电影系列之一，”他补充道。“最后一集（11月）必将横扫全球。”
从中得益的不止是电影商。当与电影关联的版本在书店开售时，原著的销量往往也会大增。有汤姆·汉克斯这样的好莱坞大牌参演的电影，对于原著（《云图》）来说是一个很不错的机会。
明年夏天我们还将看到F·斯科特·菲茨杰拉德的经典之作——《了不起的盖茨比》，由莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥和凯瑞·穆里根主演。该片原定在圣诞节上映，但最后改期了。
When you get angry, you can lash out[猛击] or seethe[处于愤怒状态] inside.
Or you can head to the Web to publish a cartoon to share some of that rage. Many people with little to no artistic ability—but with some pretty funny tales—do that in something called rage comics.
They have created a genre of Internet humor that continues to grow nearly five years after its obscure[不出名的] beginnings. Today, thousands of rage comics are posted daily. Most are the creations of anonymous[匿名的] people seeking not fame, but an audience with whom they can air[让人知道] their dark wit. Popular themes are public embarrassment[尴尬], private shame, and most of all, the unbearable burden of dealing with other people’s stupidity.
Despite the growing number of cartoonists, rage comics have maintained a consistent[一致的] recognizable style: stock[备用品] art of faces, some twisted in rage or frustration. Online editing tools also encourage authors to stick to a predefined[预设的] set of images and text styles.
The best way to understand rage comics is to read a couple of dozen of them. The best place to do that is a section of Reddit, known as “f7u12.” Since its founding in 2008, it has grown to about 500 to 1,000 comics posted each day and read by up to a quarter million people daily. Readers on sites like this have set a high bar for both originality and for cruel[令人痛苦的] funniness that rewards making fun of oneself instead of others. Most strips focus on some small moment, a true-life anecdote[轶事] that sent the author spinning into inexplicable[莫名其妙的] fury or burrowing[钻] deep into resignation[放弃] to keep from exploding. Readers identify with the author’s frustration at being forced to deal with all these, and the best stories are those that could happen to anyone.
You might already have an idea for a rage comic of your own. (My editor wanted to do one about my weekly promises to finish this article.) Getting started is easy. There are many rage comic editing and publishing tools, such as ragemaker.net, available online.
Now the best part—showing the world how angry you are!
恼火时，你可以破口大骂，也可以怒火中烧。
又或者，你可以在网上发表一幅漫画，与其他人分享一些火气。许多几乎——甚至完全没有艺术天分的人（不过他们有一些很有趣的故事）就会制作这样的暴走漫画。
暴走漫画缔造了一种不断发展壮大的网络搞笑方式——这种漫画刚出现时并未引起轰动，发展至今已经将近五年了。如今，每天都有上千幅暴走漫画被发布，大多是无名作者的作品，他们不为成名，只想找到一群观众发泄自己的黑色幽默。流行的主题包括当众出丑、私密的羞耻之事等，最主要的题材还是如何面对别人那“生命中不能承受之蠢”。
尽管暴走漫画家的人数不断上升，这种漫画本身依然保持着让人一目了然的风格：脸部表情都有备选，有些因为愤怒或者沮丧而扭曲了。在线编辑器也鼓励作者坚持使用预设的图片与文字风格。
要理解暴走漫画，最好的办法就是看几十幅这样的作品。要看暴走漫画，最好的去处就是Reddit论坛的分区“7fu12”。自2008年创立以来，该区已经发展到每天有近500至1000幅投稿的规模，上去看漫画的人数可高达25万一天。这类网站的读者对原创性以及趣味性有很高的要求——这种苦中作乐建立在取笑自己而不是他人的基础上。大多数漫画故事讲的是一个小小的瞬间，一件真人真事让作者无名火起三千丈，又或者为了不发火只能埋头认命。作者被迫面对这一切的沮丧感让读者很有共鸣，而最棒的故事就是那些可能发生在任何人身上的故事。
你也许已经有漫画点子了（我的编辑就想画一篇，讲的是我每周都承诺写完这篇文章）。要起步并不难。网上有很多像ragemaker.net这样的在线编辑及发表工具。
接下来是最棒的部分——向全世界展示你有多抓狂吧！
Meme Theory 模因论
模因（meme），也有人音译为“米姆”或“谜米”。这个词源自英国著名科学家理查德·道金斯（Richard Dawkins）所著的《自私的基因》（The Selfish Gene）一书，如今已被收入《牛津英语词典》并定义为“文化的基本单位，通过非遗传的方式，特别是模仿而得到传递”——模仿是这种复制因子的主要传递方式。在网络时代，模因在潮流文化中得到极大体现，如恶搞视频、红人PS图、网语吐槽、暴走漫画等都是模因的不同形式。
