2020年经济学人 美国电影院--幕间休息之后(1)

The lights are off in many Florida businesses.

佛罗里达州的许多公司都熄灯了。

But after dark, the glow of the Ocala Drive-In's 90-foot screen can be seen from a quarter of a mile down the highway.

但天黑后，从四分之一英里外的高速公路上就能看到Ocala汽车露天电影院90英尺高的屏幕。

With half the parking spaces in its sevenacre plot fenced off to allow for social distancing, the Ocala has room for 240 vehicles—and it is full every night.

因为社交隔离，在其7英亩的地块上，有一半的停车位被栅栏隔开，Ocala的空间可容纳240辆车——且每晚都满座。

"We're the only thing going right now," says John Watzke, the owner.

其所有者John Watzke表示，“我们是目前唯一正常营业的”。

Families sit out in deckchairs or perch¹ beneath open tailgates to see a double-bill of "Trolls World Tour"

一家人坐在躺椅上或坐在敞开的车后挡板下，连看两场电影——《魔发精灵2》

and "Back to the Future" for $6 per adult (under-fives and pets go free).

和《回到未来》，成人票价为6美元（5岁以下和宠物免费）。

Mr Watzke decided² to stay open because of his experience of Hurricane Katrina in 2005,

鉴于Watzke在2005年卡特里娜飓风的经验，他决定继续营业，

when "anything that brought a few minutes of normal lifestyle to us was appreciated."

当年“任何能给我们带来几分钟正常生活方式的东西都值得赞赏。”

For most of America's nearly 6,000 cinemas, life is far from normal. All but a handful have been shut since March.

美国有近6000家电影院，对其中大部分来说，生活非常不正常。自3月份以来，除了少数几家外，其余都已停业。

And although some states have begun to ease the lockdown, it will be months before theatres raise their curtains.

虽然一些州已经开始放松封锁，但影院开门营业还将要几个月时间。

A quarter of Americans say they won't go back to the movies until at least the autumn, so studios are holding their films.

四分之一的美国人表示，他们至少在秋天以前是不会去电影院的，所以电影公司没有上映他们的电影。

No releases are planned for the July 4th weekend, normally a coveted³ slot.

7月4日的周末没有上映计划，这通常是一个令人垂涎的时段。

The next big-budget premiere, "Tenet", an action flick⁴ from Warner Bros, is tentatively down for July 17th.

华纳兄弟的下一部动作电影大片《信条》暂定于7月17日首映。

That may be longer than some cinemas can wait. Already indebted after years of investing in reclining seats and the like,

一些影院可能等不了这么久。在多年将投资用于升级影院座椅等设备后，他们已经负债累累，

they face four months without revenue, followed by only a slow return to business as usual.

还要面临4个月没有收入的局面，接下来只是缓慢地恢复正常。

The world's largest chain, AMC, which has around 1,000 theatres, the bulk of them in America,

全球最大的连锁影院AMC拥有约1000家影院，其中大部分在美国。

last month borrowed an emergency $500m, which ought to tide it over until November.

上个月，该公司借了5亿美元应急资金，这笔钱应该可以撑到11月。

But this will bring its total debt to nearly ten times gross operating profit, according to Moody's, a rating agency. Restructuring looks likely.

但根据评级机构Moody's，这将使其总债务接近总营业利润的10倍。该公司可能会进行重组。

Cineworld, the second-largest chain, said in March that it would be at risk of bankruptcy⁵ if forced to close for more than three months.

第二大连锁影院Cineworld在3月表示，如果被迫停业超过3个月，公司将面临破产风险。

The stock prices of both firms have plunged⁶ since the start of the year.

这两家公司的股票价格自年初以来一直在下跌。

America already has 1,600 fewer cinemas than at the turn of the century.

与世纪之交相比，美国的电影院数量已经减少了1600家。

Back then the average American went to the movies five times a year; last year it was three and a half.

那时，美国人平均每年看5次电影；去年是3.5次。

As more theatres close or cut costs and the virus lingers, the couch will become more tempting⁷ still.

随着越来越多影院停业或削减成本，病毒横行，露天影院将变得更有吸引力。

So Hollywood studios are exploring alternatives.

因此，好莱坞电影公司正在探索其他选择。

Although it hit screens on April 10th, amid the pandemic, "Trolls World Tour" has been seen well beyond the Ocala,

虽然《魔发精灵2》在4月10日疫情流行期间上映，但自环球影业决定在同一天在网上上映这部电影以来，

since Universal Pictures decided to put the animation⁸ online on the same day.

更多人选择去Ocala观看这部电影。

At $20 for a 48-hour download, it took $95m in America in its first three weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

据《华尔街日报》报道，48小时下载收费20美元，在美国上映的头三周就赚了9500万美元。

That is less than the $125m the previous "Trolls" movie made at the box office in the same period.

这还不及上一部《魔发奇缘》同期的1.25亿美元票房。

But Universal could keep about 80% of download revenues rather than giving almost half to theatres.

但环球影业可以保留大约80%的下载收入，而不必将近一半的收入交给影院。

The studio hailed the experiment as a success and said it would do more simultaneous releases in future.

电影公司称赞这一尝试取得了成功，并表示未来将推出更多同步发行的电影。

Cinema bosses are naturally horrified⁹ by this breaking of the 90-day window in which films are normally shown exclusively on the big screen;

影院老板们自然对打破90天放映时间窗而感到震惊，通常在这段时间内，电影都只在影院放映；

AMC says it will no longer show any Universal films, adding with a suitably theatrical¹⁰ flourish that this is "not some hollow or ill-considered threat".

AMC表示其将不再播放环球影业的任何影片，并以适当的夸张说辞补充称，这“不是什么空洞的或欠考虑的威胁”。

Cineworld says it too will boycott¹¹ films that break the window. But Universal is not the only studio going online.

Cineworld称其也将抵制打破时间窗的电影。但是环球影业并不是唯一一家线上上映电影的公司。

1 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

7 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

8 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

9 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

10 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

11 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。