时间:2019-01-06 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(九月)


英语课
By Rebecca Ward 1
Washington
25 September 2007
 

He was a bank robber, a train robber and cold-blooded killer 2.  But to the poor in the south after the U.S. Civil War, Jesse James was nothing less than a hero.  VOA's Rebecca Ward explores the myth behind the man - who comes to life in a new movie starring Brad Pitt.


Think of it as an early form of gangsta rap.  There are 30 recordings 3 at the Library of Congress in Washington that immortalize the outlaw 4 as a folk hero.  Kind of like Robin 5 Hood 6 -- who he clearly was not.


Stephen Winick, a folk historian with the Library Of Congress, explains. "By and large, when he robs trains, he didn't go through the train and steal from individual people as some train robbers did.  He just stole what was in the safe.  But, of course, when you rob a bank, especially in those days before federal insurance, you're robbing the money of the people who put it in the bank." 


For nearly 20 years, Jesse James stayed one step ahead of the law.  But he was not just a gunslinger, he was a ruthless gang member - and a former Confederate [a supporter of the Confederate states that seceded 7 during the U.S. Civil War] guerilla. 


Winick says it was the latter affiliation 8 that really helped his reputation.  "He was a confederate - a sort of guerilla fighter on the Confederate side.  And there was a concerted effort in Missouri during his lifetime to get the Confederates, the former confederates, back into power politically, who were the Democratic Party at that time.  And that was one of the things behind Jesse James becoming a folk hero."


Based on the novel by Ron Hansen, "The Assassination 9 of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 10" explores the months and days leading up to Jesse James' death.  Brad Pitt is the notorious outlaw whose trust was obviously misplaced in a relatively 11 new gang member -- Bob Ford. 


Winick says, "One of the reasons people reviled 12 Bob Ford so much is that it was pretty clear that he was in cahoots with the governor at the time that he committed the assassination, or killing 13, of Jesse James.  He was arrested for that, he and his brother, and they went to jail.  And they were immediately pardoned by the governor and they also got part of the award money."


Jesse James' status as folk hero or merciless bandit notwithstanding, many believe that with Brad Pitt in the leading role it makes the movie a surefire hit.




n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开
  • The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
  • During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时,我要点根火把,抵挡蚊虫。
n.杀人者,杀人犯,杀手,屠杀者
  • Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
  • The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法
  • The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
  • The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟
  • The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
  • We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟,知道春天要到了。
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖
  • She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
  • The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。
v.脱离,退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The Republic of Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. 巴拿马共和国于1903年脱离哥伦比亚。
  • One of the states has seceded from the federation. 有一个州已从联邦中退出。 来自辞典例句
n.联系,联合
  • There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似,但我们之间并没有关系。
  • The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。
n.暗杀;暗杀事件
  • The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
  • Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年,林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
  • They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
  • If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
adv.比较...地,相对地
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
v.辱骂,痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The tramp reviled the man who drove him off. 流浪汉辱骂那位赶他走开的人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • The old man reviled against corruption. 那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
学英语单词
a catch
additional stresses abutment
age-based maintenance
as grown crystal
Astronomical Society of Australia
attedit
automatogen
averaged light measuring
body-piercings
bonville
calixarenes
capping the t
catch title
chinese society
clipper-clapper
countryfying
creative team
dairy-woman
date of large corrections
Denige's reagent
dichloronitroethane
duyker
edge rail
El Berrón
electric welded short link chain
electroencephalophone
empirical survival function
English proof agar
enman
expenditure encumbrance
eyewashing
Fahrenholz rule
faulty dental
finite free module
flatcompositron
fore-brain
gun car
harlock
immersional wetting
incised leaf
intermenstraal fever
interzooecial
IRS deadline
keitol
kokoretsi
light-bulb
liquid flow
mainline section
malocas
matriees
medianoche
meteorological element series
misknowledges
modified control limits
Mokhtārān
mollenkott
mowatts
Muang Ham
ni hao
non-weather-protected location
nonwives
Norlelobanidrine
normal tax rate
Ore Bay
overload recovery
partial pressure vacuum gauge
phonon-phonon collision
pigeoning
pollymite
polydiene rubber
proteidogenous
prune off
Punnett square method
receiver operating characteristic curve
relessors
rent-collector
restraint of marriage
ring hollow
rochambeaux
rouquet
run of river turbine
screw pair
sinisterness
skinmags
steady irrotational flow
Striatran
supersquare
tectonite
terminating network
the freedom of
thiocol
thrash something out
tongue joint with lug
traditional-styles
traffic utilization
transcription repression
tumuluses
unguiltiness
uniformly bounded above
video track straightness
Wehlerian