英语听力精选进阶版 6214

Big Scary Scorpions¹ 庞大恐怖的蝎子

The trend of 3D blockbuster movies continues with this week's release of Clash of the Titans, a film which delves² into the rich world of Greek mythology³.

It tells the story of the hero Perseus as he battles a host of fearsome creatures including giant scorpions, a huge sea monster called the Kraken and the terrifying Medusa with writhing⁴ snakes instead of hair.

Perseus is played by Australian actor Sam Worthington, who made his name as the lead in Avatar, and who seems to be enjoying his sudden rise to international fame. Talking about filming Clash of the Titans, he said:

"Some movies you do because they're a hell of a lot of fun. That's what this one was. Me in a skirt with a rubber sword, killing⁵ monsters. It ain't that hard. That's a good day at the office."

The film also features Irish actor Liam Neeson as Zeus, King of the Gods and father of Perseus, and British actor Ralph Fiennes as Hades, the evil Lord of the Underworld.

This year's film is a remake of a 1981 version of the same name, though the look and feel of the two could not be more different.

The original film made use of stop-motion technology to bring model monsters to life. This painstaking⁶ technique animates⁷ models by moving them in tiny increments⁸ one frame at a time and photographing each frame individually.

These days of course CGI and 3D technology allow directors to realise even their wildest visual fantasies.

Nonetheless, the film's French director Louis Leterrier and the cast and crew still wanted to pay homage⁹ to the original movie.

Actress Alexa Davalos, who plays Perseus' love interest in the film, said:

"There's a tip of the hat to the original throughout. It was a labour of love to the original. We all really want to honour it. I hope we did that."

Glossary 词汇表

delves into 深入研究，钻研 

Greek mythology 希腊神话 

a host of 许多，一群 

fearsome creatures 令人害怕的怪物 

scorpions 蝎子 

writhing snakes 蠕动的蛇 

a hell of a lot 好多，超级 

rubber sword 橡皮剑 

Underworld （神话中的）阴间 

stop-motion technology 逐格动画技术 

model 模型 

painstaking 极小心的，需专注的 

animates 使栩栩如生地动作 

increments 增量 

frame （电影里的）一个画面、画格 

wildest visual fantasies 最漫无边际的视觉幻想 

pay homage 表示敬意 

love interest 爱慕对象 

tip of the hat 致敬 

labour of love 为了兴趣爱好而做的事情

1 scorpions   

n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You promise me that Black Scorpions will never come back to Lanzhou. 你保证黑蝎子永远不再踏上兰州的土地。 来自电影对白
• You Scorpions are rather secretive about your likes and dislikes. 天蝎：蝎子是如此的神秘，你的喜好很难被别人洞悉。 来自互联网

2 delves   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That delves the grave duly. 误不了你的洞房。 来自互联网
• The exhibition delves deep into the physics, aromatics and even the timbre of flatulence. 此次展览向人们介绍了人体物理、气味甚至肠胃胀气的声音等各方面知识。 来自互联网

3 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

4 writhing   

（因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was writhing around on the floor in agony. 她痛得在地板上直打滚。
• He was writhing on the ground in agony. 他痛苦地在地上打滚。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• 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。

6 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

7 animates   

v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命

参考例句：

• The soul animates the body. 灵魂使肉体有生命。 来自辞典例句
• It is probable that life animates all the planets revolving round all the stars. 生命为一切围绕恒星旋转的行星注入活力。 来自辞典例句

8 increments   

n.增长( increment的名词复数 )；增量；增额；定期的加薪

参考例句：

• These increments were mixed and looked into the 5.56mm catridge case. 将各种药粒进行混和，装在5．56毫米的弹壳中。 来自辞典例句
• The Rankine scale has scale increments equal to the FahrenheIt'scale. 兰氏温标的温度间距与华氏温标的相同。 来自辞典例句

9 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。