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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
By Penelope Poulou
Washington
03 October 2009
Michael Moore in a scene from his new movie, "Capitalism1, A Love Story"
In his new documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story," Director Michael Moore turns his lens on one of the most contentious2 subjects in America today: the economic crisis. Mixing scathing3 satire4 with human drama, Moore talks about the housing collapse5, the credit crunch6, the Wall Street shakeup and the U.S. government's $750 billion bank bailout.
In "Capitalism: A Love Story," Michael Moore says unfettered greed plunged7 middle America into the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression. In his usual theatrical8 style, Moore puts the blame on banks and other financial institutions.
"Here's how it worked. First, tell these home owners that they own a bank and that bank is your home. And you can use your bank to get more money. Just refinance! Everyone is doing it. Of course, hidden in the dozens of hundreds of pages of fine print are tricky9 clauses that allow the bank to raise your interest rate to a number you didn't know about. Perhaps so high, that you won't be able to repay your loan. But that's o.k. If you can't repay it, we'll just take your house," says Moore.
Moore says housing is just one facet10 of America's economic crisis today. "Stock markets crash, bankruptcy11, foreclosures, a global meltdown and the government bails12. By spending just a few million dollars to buy Congress, Wall Street was given billions," he says.
Moore alleges13 that government officials, along with corporate14 executives, created a doomsday scenario15, saying the financial system would collapse without a hefty bank bailout.
Congress agreed to give $750 billion of taxpayer16 money to imperiled financial giants. But Elizabeth Warren, of the Congressional Oversight17 Panel, says in the film the money is unaccounted for.
In his trademark18 baseball hat and jeans, Moore knocks at the doors of giant corporations demanding answers and …the people's money. "I'm gonna take it back to the U.S. treasury19. Right in this car. It's safe. You can trust me," he says.
Vitriole aside, Moore delivers a heartbreaking picture of middle class Americans, hard working people who cannot get jobs, put food on the table or pay for their homes.
Moore questions the morality of capitalism which he describes as an unregulated economic system where the few maximize their profits at the expense of the many. He repeated that point at a post-screening discussion moderated by journalist Ariana Huffington. "It's not capitalism versus20 communism discussion I want to have. I just want to go back to our root values, what Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin and all those guys said about democracy," he says.
The right to vote, says Moore, is the people's most effective weapon against abuse of power.
His documentary does not offer economic alternatives nor does he prove allegations about corporate corruption21.
His preachy tone about greed may alienate22 many, who seek a more cerebral23 treatment.
But Moore's intent is not intellectual dialogue. He wants to spark a visceral reaction. This way, he hopes, Americans will get angry enough to do something about it. "There's got to be some kind of rebellion between the people that have nothing and the people that's got it all," he says.
1 capitalism | |
n.资本主义 | |
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2 contentious | |
adj.好辩的,善争吵的 | |
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3 scathing | |
adj.(言词、文章)严厉的,尖刻的;不留情的adv.严厉地,尖刻地v.伤害,损害(尤指使之枯萎)( scathe的现在分词) | |
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4 satire | |
n.讽刺,讽刺文学,讽刺作品 | |
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5 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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6 crunch | |
n.关键时刻;艰难局面;v.发出碎裂声 | |
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7 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
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8 theatrical | |
adj.剧场的,演戏的;做戏似的,做作的 | |
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9 tricky | |
adj.狡猾的,奸诈的;(工作等)棘手的,微妙的 | |
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10 facet | |
n.(问题等的)一个方面;(多面体的)面 | |
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11 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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12 bails | |
(法庭命令缴付的)保释金( bail的名词复数 ); 三柱门上的横木 | |
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13 alleges | |
断言,宣称,辩解( allege的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14 corporate | |
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的 | |
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15 scenario | |
n.剧本,脚本;概要 | |
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16 taxpayer | |
n.纳税人 | |
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17 oversight | |
n.勘漏,失察,疏忽 | |
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18 trademark | |
n.商标;特征;vt.注册的…商标 | |
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19 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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20 versus | |
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下 | |
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21 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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22 alienate | |
vt.使疏远,离间;转让(财产等) | |
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23 cerebral | |
adj.脑的,大脑的;有智力的,理智型的 | |
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