VOA标准英语2011--Cold War Films Reflected Shifting US Attitudes
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(十二月)
Cold War Films Reflected Shifting US Attitudes
In 1946 speech, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill coined the term “Iron Curtain” to describe the physical and symbolic 1 wall separating East and West across Europe. Churchill's speech signaled the beginning of the Cold War.
It ended 20 years ago, with the dissolution of the Soviet 2 Union in 1991. However, during the Cold War, American films reflected the changing mood of the United States towards the USSR.
Few movies have captured the history of early Communist Russia as well as David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago.” The film was an epic 3 love story between Yuri Zhivago and Lara, the wife of a communist leader. But it was also a bleak 4 treatise 5 on communist Russia.
Peter Rollberg, professor of film studies at George Washington University, says David Lean’s human treatment of Russians in "Doctor Zhivago" was the exception rather than the rule in Cold War films. “The Cold War created a field of tension that made for well-motivated good stories."
Some of these films, such as “The Manchurian Candidate,” explored the Communist threat on American soil. In the film, war hero Raymond Shaw is brainwashed into assassinating 6 the president of the United States.
Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin in 1990's "The Hunt for Red October," which did not portray 7 the Soviets 8 as caricatures.
At the time, Rollberg says, the film served as a warning to Americans. “The possibility of brainwashing, of the total manipulation of human beings, who will carry out whatever you charge them with, that was a warning that went beyond just the actual political situation. It meant, ‘society beware.'”
Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove" was released in 1964, two years after the Cuban missile crisis. A demented American Air Force general orders an unwarranted nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. The political satire 9 reflected the nationwide terror of the nuclear holocaust 10.
The 1966 film “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” makes fun of the uncontrolled panic about the Soviets.
Meanwhile, the James Bond films gave espionage 11 a Hollywood twist. Her majesty’s spy, 007, was a debonair 12 playboy while the enemy was a fearless killing 13 machine.
In the 1970s, films took a more conciliatory approach towards the Soviet Union, reflecting the era of détente. Two production companies, one American and one Soviet, worked together to produce the 1975 fantasy, “The Blue Bird," starring Elizabeth Taylor.
But the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and Ronald Reagan’s election as president the following year marked the end of détente.
Anti-Soviet rhetoric 14 in film made a comeback. In the film "Rocky IV," the US-Soviet antagonism 15 is reduced to the lowest common denominator - blood and brawn 16.
Rocky, played by Silvester Stalone, delivers the knock-out punch.
Soviet defections were also a popular theme in 1980s American filmography. In “Moscow on the Hudson,” Vladimir Ivanoff, a Russian musician played by Robin 17 Williams, arrives in New York with a visiting circus troupe 18.
He defects in Bloomingdale’s, an icon 19 of capitalism 20.
The attitude toward the Soviets changes again in the 1990 action film, “The Hunt for Red October,” made as the Soviet Union was in collapse. Sean Connery, as a Soviet submarine captain, turns his nuclear vessel 22 towards American waters. The Americans need to decide whether he intends to defect or attack.
The Soviet captain is no longer a caricature; he's an intelligent human being.
Rollberg says the US audience had varied 23 reactions to Cold War films. "On the commercial level, for many audiences, just as entertainment. On a more intellectual level, just looking at the consequences, and in a way at us, at humanity and what we are capable of.”
Robert Altman's film "Ready to Wear," showcases a post-Soviet Moscow as a fashionable place where people live life open to the world and all its possibilities.
- It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
- The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。
- Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
- Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
- I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗,而写了这个小故事。
- They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。
- They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
- The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。
- The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
- This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。
- They struck a blow for freedom by assassinating the colonial governor. 他们为了自由而奋力一博,暗杀了那位殖民地总督。 来自互联网
- It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
- Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗?
- A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
- The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。
- The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
- Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。
- The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
- Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀,因为他像希特勒一样残忍。
- The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
- Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。
- He strolled about,look very debonair in his elegant new suit.他穿了一身讲究的新衣服逛来逛去,显得颇为惬意。
- He was a handsome,debonair,death-defying racing-driver.他是一位英俊潇洒、风流倜傥、敢于挑战死神的赛车手。
- 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。
- Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗?
- Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后,他和军队的关系岌岌可危。
- People did not feel a strong antagonism for established policy.人们没有对既定方针产生强烈反应。
- There is still much antagonism between trades unions and the oil companies.工会和石油公司之间仍然存在着相当大的敌意。
- In this job you need both brains and brawn.做这份工作既劳神又费力。
- They relied on brains rather than brawn.他们靠的是脑力,而不是体力。
- 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。
- The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
- The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。
- They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
- Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。
- The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
- Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。
- The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
- The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
- The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
- You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。