麦哲伦英语 第 79 课:The Land of Dreams
梦想的土地
Los Angeles, a large city that was not even there in 1848, had become the movie capital of the world. 在一八四八年还不存在的洛杉矶现在已经成为了世界电影中心。
These were the days of the great movie stars — actors and actresses like Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth — heroes and heroines like John Wayne and Susan Hayward. 这是电影明星辈出的时代——像卡里.格莱特和丽塔.海华斯那样的男女演员——像约翰.韦恩和苏珊.海沃德那样的男女主人公。
Thousands of would-be stars dreamed of being a Hollywood prince or princess. 成千上万的未来明星们梦想成为好莱坞的王子或公主。
Few people look for gold now, and Los Angeles is no longer a movie city. It's a factory town where time is money and TV companies control the time. 现在没人再来找黄金了,洛杉矶也不再是一个电影城市了,它成为了一个工业城市,在那里时间就是金钱,电视公司控制着一切。
The California scenery has changed, too. A century or so ago there were unclimbed, snow-topped mountains, uninhabited deserts, and unspoiled beaches with high surf.加利福尼亚的景象也已经完全改变了。大约一个世纪前,那里有未经攀登、山顶积雪覆盖的山脉,无人居住的沙漠和未经破坏的海浪拍打着的海滩。
The scenery is still there, but so are thousands of miles of highways, millions of cars, dozens of suburbs — and smog.如今,自然景物仍在,但也出现了数千公里的高速公路,数百万的汽车,大片大片的郊区——和烟雾。
Most films are now made inside, and the best place to find gold is in a jewelry store.如今的电影大多都在室内拍摄,能找到黄金的最好的地方是在珠宝商店里。