VOA标准英语2010年-Bollywood-Inspired Love Story Aims to

Members of the National Students Union of India protest against recent attacks on Indian students in Australia, in Ahmadabad, India, Tuesday, June 2, 2009. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he assured Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a telephone conversation on Friday that Australia is a tolerant and embracing society. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

The makers¹ of a Bollywood-inspired film about an Australian who falls in love with an Indian university student hope to ease tensions over recent attacks on foreign students in Melbourne and Sydney. A Mumbai television company has bought the screening rights to the love story Priya, which was made by university students in Adelaide.
 
Priya tells the story of an Australian student Sam who falls in love with Priya, an Indian girl at school. In true Bollywood style, the path to true love is littered with obstacles, not least of which are the objections of the girl's father.
 
The short movie, which began as an undergraduate project at Flinders University in Adelaide, has become an advertisement for cultural harmony following a series of assaults on Indian students in Australia.
 
Writer and director Chris Kellett says the support he has received for the film has been overwhelming.
 
"The Indian community jumped on board and the local Indian community were amazing. We had some calls from Sydney and Melbourne after they saw an ad saying 'Hey you know, we would like to be involved in the film,' and everything. We had to say 'well, that is great. If you can get here that is fine, but we are shooting in Adelaide.' So once they jumped in, the film went to a new level and the fact that we had their support was huge," said Kellett.
 
The movie cost just $2,500 to make, but is expected to be shown in dozens of countries. Zee TV, a satellite television company in Mumbai, has picked up the screening rights for Priya.
 
The attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney have strained diplomatic relations between Canberra and New Delhi. Australian police say some of the violence was racially motivated, but that most of the attacks were the work of opportunistic criminals preying² on easy targets.
 
Politicians and the news media in India, however, accused Australian authorities of not doing enough to protect expatriate students from racist³ gangs.
 
The violence, including an unsolved murder of a Punjabi accounting⁴ graduate, has caused a drop in the number of young Indians coming to study in Australia.

 

1 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 preying   

v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• This problem has been preying on my mind all day. 这个问题让我伤了整整一天脑筋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For a while he let his eyes idly follow the preying bird. 他自己的眼睛随着寻食的鸟毫无目的地看了一会儿。 来自辞典例句

3 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。