VOA标准英语2010年-Unemployed Find Comic Relief in New Bo

Sometimes, the best way to deal with a bad situation is to laugh at it. That's the idea behind "The Adventures of Unemployed¹ Man," a parody² of classic superhero comics, written for America's current economic meltdown. In it, writers Erich Origen and Gan Golan send Unemployed Man on a heroic search for work. With the help of other down-on-their-luck superheroes, he wages an epic³ battle against economic super villains⁵. Will Unemployed Man find a job? Will the villains prevail?
Ultimatum⁶ is a man with a mission. He teaches the power of positive thinking. If you can believe it, you can achieve it! That's until he meets a woman foraging⁷ for food in a garbage dumpster. She explains she has a job and works hard, but is still paid too little and has to go dumpster-diving to survive. When Ultimatum tries to help her, he is fired, and becomes Unemployed Man. Despite his best efforts, he can't find a job. unemployedman.comUnemployed Man secretly lives under his former mansion⁸ in a cave called Rock Bottom. "Unemployed Man lost his house in a fantastic foreclosure," Origen says. "He's living in a cave, Rock Bottom, which is the cave underneath⁹ his former mansion," says co-author Origen.
Co-author Origen explains that early on in "The Adventures of Unemployed Man," our hero meets his silver-haired sidekick, Plan B, who can't get hired because he's too old.
"They meet in a job line and of course Plan B has been in the business for decades and can't afford to go into retirement¹⁰ because the broker¹¹ made a joke with his 401K."Origen and Golan had fun with the names of their characters, making allusions¹² to real superheroes and puns on terms from financial news headlines. Golan says Unemployed Man and Plan B meet others who also emerged from the economic crisis such as Wonder Mother, who built an invisible jet from pieces of the 'glass ceiling' that often keeps women from being promoted and shadow worker, Fantasma.
"Fantasma is perhaps one of the first undocumented immigrant superheroes ever in comics," Golan says. "She is from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her family loses their farm due to NAFTA and The Subsidizer is a villain⁴ flooding the market with cheap corn. So she comes to the United States to look for work and then finds out that she's starting to become invisible. So like a classic superhero her power is being invisible, only she realizes she can't be seen by the people who employ her and her humanity is not seen either."Our superheroes wrestle¹³ with the economic crisis and a group of evil doers who are profiting from it. The villains include Outsource - which is happening to many U.S. jobs - and Pink Slip, the notice that you've been fired. unemployedman.comUnemployed Man's sidekick, Plan B, can't get a job because he's too old.
Classic American superheroes, like Superman and Batman, appeared in the late 1930's, in the wake of the Great Depression, as symbols of hope and determination. Origen says their out-of-work superheroes were also inspired by the economy. But unlike Superman and Wonder Woman, he says, none of Unemployed Man's friends has any superpower other than the ability to face reality.
"We really want people to see how super they are in their own lives," Origen explains. "For instance, Wonder Mother is a working mother who is having to fight economic villains at the same time that she's breastfeeding her baby. That's heroic. Getting up and looking for work and have these astounding¹⁴ interviews with the human resource, that's heroic. We want people to see how heroic they are."Origen and Golan also co-authored a political parody of the children's classic, "Goodnight Moon." Their version features the former president and is called, "Goodnight Bush." Golan says this was their first experience with a comic book. "Comic books are incredibly complicated medium," he says. "It's almost like making a small film and we had so many amazing artists working with us. Really the most rewarding part was to work with artists who began making comics on the 1950s and 1960s, legendary¹⁵ artists like Ramona Fradon, Rick Vietch, Mike Netzer and the whole group of artists."As "The Adventures of Unemployed Man" ends, our hero is still looking for a job. The authors say they chose this ambiguous ending because they did not want to give readers false hope. "A depression is not just an economic term, it's an emotional term," Golan says. "And I think we're providing a kind of comedic stimulus¹⁶ package for the country and for other people who are struggling right now.
Golan and Origen hope to provide relief in uncertain times by making people laugh as they confront their troubles.

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

3 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

4 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

5 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

7 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

8 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

9 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

10 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

11 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

12 allusions   

暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We should not use proverbs and allusions indiscriminately. 不要滥用成语典故。
• The background lent itself to allusions to European scenes. 眼前的情景容易使人联想到欧洲风光。

13 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

14 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

16 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。