英语博客(A cup of English):048 The Ring of Power

　　Beginners.
To be a film 'buff' is to be a film enthusiast¹; a person who loves to watch films and who follows film production quite closely. I am a film buff, but a choosy one. There are certain films that I love, and others that I cannot stand. A film series that I have followed closely is The Lord of the Rings. When the first of the three films came out, it was immediately popular. The films are based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkein who was British, but born in South Africa. The genre² of his books is fantasy. At the center of the books is a fight between good and evil. The story is set in a place called 'Middle Earth', a fictitious³ country with incredible countryside. The films were directed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand, where he comes from. If you watch the films, you will see why New Zealand is the perfect Middle Earth. There is a huge variety of landscapes in that small country. The incredible Alps, large rolling grasslands⁴, rocky hills, and wind swept valleys are all places where the filming took place. I never get tired of watching the movies; infact, I have watched them so many times that I know a lot of the dialogue by heart. I also have the music score from the films. When my family find me watching the films or listening to the music, they just roll their eyes and say, "Oh, she's at it again."
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: fantasy, historical, drama, adventure, romance, war film, documentary, cinematography, dialogue, play, special effects, script, themes.
Verbs: Past perfect: I have watched that film many times. We have watched his moves very closely; he is suspicious. They have played tennis so much in their garden that they have worn the lawn thin.
Advanced.
Sometimes my children give me little gifts. They are often items that they have made at school, a picture, a collage⁵, occasionally a bracelet⁶ made out of paper or beads⁷. The other day, though, my oldest son gave me a metal ring that he had acquired from a friend of his. He had traded a small toy for it. He presented it to me with great pride; he knew that I would like it. It was a replica⁸ of the 'ring of power' from the Lord of the Rings. My kids know how obsessed⁹ I am with the trilogy, so this gift was quite meaningful. I wore it with pride for a few weeks; I even showed it to a few people. I noticed, however, that my finger was developing a brown patch under the ring, so I promptly¹⁰ took it off. I didn't want to get poisoning from a cheap quality paint. Anyway, it made me think about the concept of having a ring of power. I suppose it is an age-old idea, possessing an object that gives supernatural power. What would you do if you had one? Would you bring about world peace, or world domination? Would you help all of the needy¹¹ people, or oppress them? Would you replant all of the rainforests, or chop them down and turn them into toothpicks? There would be lots of decisions to make and, I'm sure, lots of tempation to resist. Life could be a lot more comfortable, though, couldn't it? What do you think?
Grammar notes.
Verbs: to present, to resist, to acquire, to trade, to wear (wear, wore, worn), to suppose.
Would: pronounced the same as 'wood'. Easy to use; simply place infront of infinitive¹². Exs: I would go to the doctor if I were you. She would help you if you asked. They would get a new car if they could afford it.

1 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

2 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

3 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

4 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 collage   

n.拼贴画；v.拼贴；把……创作成拼贴画

参考例句：

• A collage of coloured paper covers a table top.一副彩纸拼贴画盖在桌面上。
• He has used a mixture of mosaic,collage and felt-tip pen.他混合使用了马赛克、拼贴画和毡头笔。

6 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

7 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

8 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。

9 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

10 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

11 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

12 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。