时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:英文杂志-Magazine


英语课

Canada?You can’t see much of Canada in American films like in the 1953 film 'Niagara' (1953). For me, Canada is a place that starts somewhere on the other side of that enormous 1 waterfall.


Like most people I suppose, I know the USA from watching American films. I think my view of Canada is nearly the same, the only problem is that you can’t see much of Canada in American films. Marilyn Monroe became a star after the 1953 film “Niagara”. In it, she visits the falls on her honeymoon 2 and plans to kill her husband. Like in that film, Canada for me is a place that starts somewhere on the other side of that enormous waterfall.


From Toronto you can drive to Niagara Falls in about 2 hours. It lies between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario on the border between The United States and Canada. There are lots of fun things to do there. If you are interested in the waterfall itself you might like to go on “The journey behind the fall” a tunnel in the rock behind the water. The place is also popular with lovers 3. Actually the tradition of honeymoon journeys was started as a way to promote Niagara Falls as a tourist destination. The spot also attracts crazy people who want to throw themselves over the edge. These days it’s not bad if you like casinos. The latest one to open is called Fallsview casino, which, they say, is more luxurious 4 and sophisticated 5 than the Casino Niagara.


I have a two-sided DVD which is my main source of information for this article. There’s a film called “Bowling 6 For Columbine” on one side, and on the other “Owning Mahowny”.


Bowling for Columbine is a film about the United States. More specifically 7 about a mysterious something that makes it such a violent society. Canada appears for comparison 8. In Canada 165 people are killed by guns every year, in the United States 11,127.


Is violence caused by unemployment? Well that’s higher in Canada.


Is it caused by having lots of guns? In Canada there are about 10 million families and about 7 million guns. They are a nation of hunters.


Guns are easy to buy in The States – but the same seems to be true in Canada too.


The film doesn’t exactly solve the mystery, but it seems to have something to do with politics.


Mahowny, the main character in the other film, is Canadian, and the film is based on the real story of the biggest fraud 9 ever committed in Canada. It begins with a very short shot of a huge powerful waterfall, if you watch to the end of the film and still remember those first few seconds you might realise that this is Niagara Falls. Mahowny is being interviewed by a psychotherapist, and the words come up on the screen “Based on real events in Toronto, 1980-82”… but then we go right back to the beginning of the story. Mahowny works 10 in a bank, and seems to be doing well, but we quickly learn that he has serious problems. He can’t stop gambling 11, and he’s getting further and further into debt.


Instead of trying to save and pay back the money, he starts flying to Atlantic City and gambling his bank’s money in a casino. Of course this doesn’t help. He takes more and more from the bank. It’s a sad and painful process to watch. He is unpleasant to everyone, especially his girlfriend. She waits for him at home and he always disappoints her. He takes her for a weekend in Las Vegas and she thinks they are going to get married – but he spends the whole time in the casino. He doesn’t care about anything except the results of his bets 12.


On Mahoney’s last trip to the States he flies with the ladies from the casino. One of them says Niagara Falls looks “just fantastic”.


“I’ve never been” he says, “I guess I don’t want to use up all of Canada too soon.”


Of course in the end he goes to prison, but there is some hope for the future, if not exactly a happy ending. He takes his girlfriend to Niagara Falls.

 



1 enormous
adj.巨大的;庞大的
  • An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
  • They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。
2 honeymoon
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月
  • While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
  • The happy pair are leaving for their honeymoon.这幸福的一对就要去度蜜月了。
3 lovers
爱好者( lover的名词复数 ); 情人; 情夫; 情侣
  • They were off-screen lovers. 他们是真实生活中的情侣。
  • Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧和朱丽叶这一对莎士比亚笔下命运多舛的恋人
4 luxurious
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的
  • This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
  • The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。
5 sophisticated
adj.老练的,精密的,尖端的,高雅的
  • She has become very sophisticated since she went to live in London.移居伦敦后她变得世故多了。
  • This is a very sophisticated machine.这是一台非常精密的机器。
6 bowling
n.保龄球运动
  • Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
  • Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动,高尔夫还是保龄球?
7 specifically
adv.明确地,具体地;特别地,特意
  • The book was written specifically for children.这本书是特地为儿童编写的。
  • I told you specifically not to do that.我明确地告诉你不要那样做。
8 comparison
n.比较,对照;比拟,比喻
  • They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
  • This dress is really cheaper by comparison.比较起来,这件衣服确实便宜。
9 fraud
n.骗子,欺骗,欺诈,诡计
  • We will introduce legal safeguards against fraud.我们将推行防止欺诈的法律条款。
  • The prosecutor accused the defendant of fraud.原告控告被告犯有欺诈罪。
10 works
n.作品,著作;工厂,活动部件,机件
  • We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
  • The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
11 gambling
n.赌博;投机
  • They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
  • The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。
12 bets
v.敢说,八成儿( bet的第三人称单数 );打赌(on,against,with);敢断定;敢说
  • Place your bets now—the race begins in half an hour! 现在可以下赌注——赛事于半小时后开始。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • But he did not enter all the losing bets in the accounts-book. 但输家交来的赠金,他并不全部登记入册。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
4-wire normal quality
accident liability
air-breathing jet engine
anco
architectural
atmospheric interaction
Bacchation
beta-stable isotope
boromlya r.
breaker plough
brons
Cape hunting dog
carnavals
certain extent
Chrysograyanin
cocarcinogens
coinage strip
columnar type oil hydraulic press
coolore
cotton yellow g
countermandments
crayme
crossed gridle
cutting out dollies
cystic hyperplasia of breast
d-line
die sets for presses
directory facility
distent(s)ion
drawbench bed
Dārfūr ash Shamālīyah, Mudīrīyat
echo method
ejaculatio
electronic radiography
electronic totalizer
Esylate
Evers,Medgar(Wiley)
export crops
fashed
festbier
hadrie
haessler
hay ricking machine
heat exharution
hemigaleids
Hintikka set
horizontal-shaft current metre
input-output accounting
inventative
Joke Insurance
katsav
lane rental
leges barbarorum
lewises
Lisnaskea
magneto-absorption
main carrier
Manazuru-misaki
marine insurance
mastoid branch
maxillectomies
mercury phenide
mobile game
mucomembranous lupus
nonscreen film
nuclear cell
Oubala
oxidizing tower
pilot selector switch
pin-stripe
pneumopexy
Polkton
price abatement
process of separation
public needs theory of taxation
put into force
renaud
reorganizing
reservoir delta
schuilingite-(Nd)
score-cards
scraping dredger
secchis
sector model of city
set of tools
simple assignment statement
single furrow deep digger
snowy mespilus
spinaceous
statisticized
stretchreflex
tacked-on
taenioid
Tiruchchirappalli
transportation noise
two fluid cell
unquantifiables
urochs
vaccarotetraoside
veut
wastrine
whistler valve