2007年VOA标准英语-Hollywood Celebrates 30 Years of "Star Wars"

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
29 April 2007

For even the most popular movies, fame is often fleeting¹; but every so often - perhaps once or twice in a generation - a film transcends² entertainment to become part of the culture. That is certainly the case for an outer space adventure that premiered in May 1977. The film's writer-director recently joined many of his technical experts and cast members for a special anniversary event at the Motion Picture Academy. Alan Silverman has more on 30 years of "Star Wars."

Mark Hamill, who starred as Luke Skywalker in the first three "Star Wars" films, poses in May 2005 in front of an actor dressed as Darth Vader

Just about anyone old enough to remember 1977 can hear the fanfare⁴ that introduces a Twentieth Century Fox film and almost instinctively⁵ recall that thrilling moment when the blackened screen lit up with blue letters reading "A long time ago, in a galaxy⁶ far, far away..."

"Star Wars" was an old-fashioned adventure, borrowing liberally from the traditional western, but, un-traditionally, was set in outer space:

It gave us Jedi knights⁷ dueling⁸ with light sabers, spacecraft that made the jump to hyper-space (once the navi-computers were set), a long-haired and volatile⁹ Wookiee co-pilot, eccentric 'droids' or robots, white-armored storm troopers and a spiritual concept called "The Force:"

Screen veteran Sir Alec Guinness played venerable Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, the guide and mentor¹⁰ to fresh-faced young Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. The characters are well-known today, but writer-director George Lucas admits until opening weekend 30 years ago, he was not sure that many people would get to see them. "We were in 32 theaters. I felt that science fiction usually does pretty well in the first week so we were kind of expecting to do okay; but then it just went crazy. There were lines around the block and people trying to get in. They immediately had to start releasing it in more theaters just because there was such a demand for it," he says.

Subtitled "Episode Four: A New Hope," it was the first in a cycle that would span six films; and Lucas says it succeeded in creating what he calls 'a modern mythology¹¹'. "It makes me feel very good. The whole idea was to create a modern myth that families could watch together and provoke certain questions between kids and their parents that would allow them to ask some of the more interesting questions in life and have some enjoyment¹² - give a young person some inspiration and something to feel good about," he says.

"A lot of it was just happy circumstance, you know ...like anything else that clicks on levels you did n-o-t expect," says Mark Hamill, who was 25 when he first played Luke Skywalker, one of his first feature film roles. His career since spanned movies, TV and the Broadway stage; but Hamill says "Star Wars" scenes like the rowdy cantina at Mos Eisley Spaceport ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy") stood out even amid the costumed chaos¹³ of the film set. "It 'pops' in the screenplay. People forget that it was all on the page ...everything was. You talk about that cantina sequence: it immediately arrests you in the screenplay because it's one of those movies where you're waiting for 'the monster' and then out of nowhere you go through a door and it's not just one monster, it's thousands of monsters."

"It did not behave itself, that movie ...it was a great script," says Carrie Fisher, who co-starred as spunky Princess Leia. Her career path took her behind the scenes to become a leading Hollywood screenwriter and, in the anniversary panel discussion at the Motion Picture Academy, she recalls wondering how Lucas would be able to film his "Star Wars" vision. "I read it out loud with a friend of mine who is an actor, Miguel Ferrer, and it was extraordinary and I wanted to do it ...I wanted to play Han Solo, but since that part wasn't available, I wanted to do it to see how he would do that. I'd never seen anything like what the script was talking about. I thought it would be a film I would really like to see and that is all I knew. I thought 'I'll want to see this and it will be like this groovy cult³ film.'

Far, far away from suffering the fate of a midnight 'cult' favorite, that original "Star Wars" became the second-highest grossing film in history ("Titanic" is number one). It also helped make George Lucas very, very wealthy and he believes its unexpected success has had a lasting¹⁴ effect on film entertainment. "It diversified¹⁵ the audience for films. They used to make films for a very small group of people and now they realize that there is room for movies for all ages. They kind of relegated¹⁶ children's films to Disney, but now all of the studios are doing it. We now have art films that we never had when we were doing "Star Wars." I think it has broadened the whole arena¹⁷ of cinema in the United States," he says.

The thirtieth anniversary screening and discussion of "Star Wars" launched this year's edition of the Motion Picture Academy series titled "It's Great To Be Nominated," spotlighting¹⁸ films that received the most Oscar nominations¹⁹, but did not win Best Picture. At the 1978 ceremony that Award went to "Annie Hall." "Star Wars" had ten nominations and won six Academy Awards, including one to John Williams for his original musical score.

1 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

2 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。

3 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

4 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

5 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

7 knights   

骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• He wove a fascinating tale of knights in shining armour. 他编了一个穿着明亮盔甲的骑士的迷人故事。

8 dueling   

n. 决斗, 抗争(=duelling) 动词duel的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• More light-hearted But somewhat puzzled, Vladimir prepared to meet Eugene on the dueling ground. 弗拉基米尔心里轻松了一些，但仍感到有些困惑，在这种心情下，他准备去决斗场地迎战叶甫盖尼。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• They had been dueling for hours and finally called a draw. 他们一直决斗了数小时，最后打成平局。

9 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

10 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

11 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。

12 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

13 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

14 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

15 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 relegated   

v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

• She was then relegated to the role of assistant. 随后她被降级做助手了。
• I think that should be relegated to the garbage can of history. 我认为应该把它扔进历史的垃圾箱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

18 spotlighting   

v.聚光照明( spotlight的现在分词 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

19 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句