Look into my eyes. The text is a sketch from the show Little Britain
Transcription
Look into my eyes. The text is a sketch from the show Little Britain
Look into my eyes. The text is a sketch from the show Little Britain, on channel BBC. The scene takes place in a restaurant. There are two main characters: Kenny Craig, a hypnotist, and a girl he wants to seduce: Cathy Starter Main course Dessert Baked lobster Waiter / waitress Bottle of bubbly / champagne Set menu Spring roll Chicken Soft drink = alcohol-free Glass, plate, knife, fork, spoon (tea spoon / table spoon) According to these words, we may assume that the restaurant is a posh / expensive one. They serve Chinese food. In the first two lines, Kenny tries to convince Cathy to order the cheapest menus because he’s selfish/tight-fisted/ he’s a churl and doesn’t want to spend a lot of money for her. At the beginning Cathy seems to be in a good mood. She likes the place and finds it very nice. But on the other hand she’s also puzzled as she doesn’t remember having accepted a date with Kenny. He probably used his powers / hypnotised her so that she would accept his invitation. Cathy wants to order very expensive food, and Kenny doesn’t want being bled dry, so he hypnotises her so that she would change her mind and order a less expensive menu (such as the set menu) and water (instead of champagne). Let’s analyse his technique step by step: In order to hypnotise, he first tells her / asks her to look into his eyes. Then he snaps his fingers and claims she’s under his control. After that, he tells her what he wants her to do/ gives her his orders, and finally he counts down from three to one and snaps his fingers again. Then the “victim” is conscious again. Kenny Craig can be said to be a good hypnotist because he succeeded in hypnotising/ managed to hypnotise Cathy / changing Cathy’s mind. But on the other hand, he uses his power for silly reasons / in order to achieve ridiculous goals. His reaction is very dishonest because he pretends she can order what she wants, but he’s just hypnotised her so she doesn’t really have the choice and she’s going to have what he had in mind. In the end Kenny goes for the lobster and the champagne, exactly what Cathy wanted to order / and that was Cathy’s choice. He’s ready to have the most expensive things for him, but he resents paying a lot for Cathy. Vocabulary Channel : chaine (de television) Posh : chic Expensive : cher ≠ cheap : bon marché To convince sb to sth : convaincre qqn de faire qqch Tight-fisted : grippe-sou / avare A churl : un goujat qui refuse de dépenser son argent pour sa copine Puzzled : perplexe Date = rendez-vous : rendez-vous To bleed sb dry : (ici) faire dépenser à qqn tout son argent Step by step : pas à pas / étape par étape To snap one’s fingers : claquer des doigts To succeed in + Ving = To manage to + BV : réussir à faire qqch Silly : idiot, ridicule To achieve one’s goal : atteindre son but Dishonest : malhonete To go for sth = to order sth : commander qqch (au restaurant) To resent doing sth : refuser de faire qqch Grammar Comparative + = - Adjectifs courts Cheaper than as cheap as Not as cheap as Superlative + The cheapest Adjectifs longs More expensive than As expensive as Not as expensive as Less expensive than The most expensive