Lesson50 The Land of Dreams
In the 1840's, California was almost uninhabited. There were a few Spanishmissions, some ranchers and farmers, and of course, bandits who stoleanything they could find.
In 1848, everything changed. Gold was discovered, and people from all overthe country rushed to California. They all dreamed of making their fortunesby finding gold. Mining towns were built anywhere gold was found. As a rule,these towns had no more than a saloon, a hotel, a stable, a jail — and acemetery.
Almost a century later people again rushed to California. This time, theydreamed of making their fortunes not in gold, but in the movies. LosAngeles, a large city that was not even there in 1848, had become the moviecapital of the world.
These were the days of the great movie stars — actors and actresses likeCary Grant and Rita Hayworth — heroes and heroines like John Wayne andSusan Hayward. Thousands of would-be stars dreamed of being a Hollywoodprince or princess.
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.
The California scenery has changed, too. A century or so ago there wereunclimbed, snow-topped mountains, uninhabited deserts, and unspoiled beacheswith high surf. The scenery is still there, but so are thousands of miles ofhighways, millions of cars, dozens of suburbs — and smog. Most films arenow made inside, and the best place to find gold is in a jewelry store.
uninhabited 无人居住的
rancher 牧场主
bandit 强盗
saloon 酒吧
cemetery 墓地
梦想的土地
十九世纪四十年代，加利福尼亚几乎是个不毛之地。那里只有几个西班牙传教士、一些牧场主和农民，当然还有强盗，他们偷窃一切他们所能找到的东西。
1848年，一切都变了。人们在这里发现了黄金，全国各地的人涌向加利福尼亚。他们都梦想可以找到黄金发财。只要哪儿找到黄金，哪儿就立刻出现一个小镇，并且无一例外，这些小镇不过是一个酒吧，一个客栈，一个马厩，一座牢房和一块墓地而已。
大约一个世纪以后，人们再次涌向加利福尼亚。这次，他们不是梦想通过黄金而是通过电影发财。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。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。成千上万的未来明星们梦想成为好莱坞的王子或公主。
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。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。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。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。 |