VOA标准英语2011-Country Strong Tells Story of Nashville

Country music frames a new romantic drama starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a Nashville diva trying to come back after personal tragedy sidetracks her career. Here's a look at Country Strong.

"Nashville's Kelly Canter left rehab early this morning. You remember the country music star was arrested a few months ago for drunk and disorderly conduct."
"I feel okay, thanks."
"Kelly, do you have anything else to say to your fans?"
"I love you all. Thanks for coming out."

Kelly Canter is a star in trouble. After a drunken onstage fall that causes her to suffer a miscarriage¹, she sinks into a haze² of depression and substance abuse.

"Do you care about Kelly? This is her last opportunity to turn things around."

Sony Pictures
Tim McGraw in scene from COUNTRY STRONG
Her husband and manager James, played by real-life country star Tim McGraw, is determined³ to revive Kelly's career, even though the tragic⁴ events have irreparably broken their marriage. Gwyneth Paltrow says she was drawn⁵ to, but also afraid of playing the damaged diva.

"I did feel fear at the beginning just because this character was in such a different place and was so different from me in so many ways," admits Paltrow. "But also I just didn't know how to do a lot of the things that she does, like play guitar and be addicted⁶ to pills and alcohol. There were so many things that I felt trepidation⁷ about taking on and doing believably. It was a big job for me. I've never prepared so much for anything and I was nervous when we started.

Sony Pictures
Gwyneth Paltrow and Garrett Hedlund in scene from COUNTRY STRONG
Garrett Hedlund, on screen recently as the young lead of Tron: Legacy⁸, co-stars as Beau, who comes into Kelly's life as a staff member at the rehab clinic. An aspiring⁹ singer-songwriter, he moonlights playing his songs at a local honky-tonk bar. Hedlund says it took months of practice and study to gain the confidence it takes to get on stage and sing for an audience.

"It was all day every day listening to country [music] and getting every inflection of every song down," Hedlund says. "That makes it easier, I guess, but to be in the studio and sing the song week after week you find where it works and try to ride that wave. When you see that people are enjoying it, you enjoy it and you enjoy everything."

Sony Pictures
Leighton Meester in scene from COUNTRY STRONG
Leighton Meester, a co-star of the TV hit Gossip Girls, plays Chiles, a young beauty queen who idolizes superstar Kelly and hopes to follow in her footsteps.

The only key member of the cast with real country music experience is Tim McGraw, who does not sing a note as Kelly's husband-manager. A critic of most Hollywood movie versions of the music world, McGraw says the attempt at authenticity¹¹ in Country Strong won him over.

"It's a movie, so nothing is dead on, but I think what is really authentic¹⁰ is the music as it relates to each character," McGraw says. "I think that a lot of times in these films you can have really great music, but the characters kind of fall short or the storyline falls short so you don't believe that these characters can support that music; or, vice-versa, you can have these beautiful characters and story and then the music hits and you think 'there's no way that this music is really good enough in the real world to sustain these characters.' I think in this particular case you have really great characters who you get emotionally invested in and you really want to see what happens to them; and then you have this great music that you can believe, in the sort of fantasy world of this movie, that this music could create these people who want to be stars or this person who is a star or it could propel this guy to be a star."

Sony Pictures
Gwyneth Paltrow in scene from COUNTRY STRONG
Texas-born Shana Feste wrote and directed Country Strong and says for the story to work the audience has to believe the characters really are in that music world.

"The most important thing when I was casting this movie was that I found actors who could sing," explains Feste. "That was most important. I just didn't want to revoice anyone. I thought it was so cheesy and if you're going to make a movie about country music and you want it to be authentic you have to use the actors' real voices. What we ended up doing was the mikes were always live and we ended up, in the editing room, incorporating a lot of their live performance into their pre-recordings ...just so it sounded like they were really performing at these venues¹². "

Country Strong was filmed on location in and around Nashville, Tennessee and many of the extras and background performers are real musicians, technicians and reporters who work in that capital city of American country music.

1 miscarriage   

n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产

参考例句：

• The miscarriage of our plans was a great blow.计划的失败给我们以巨大的打击。
• Women who smoke are more to have a miscarriage.女性吸烟者更容易流产。

2 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

3 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

4 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

7 trepidation   

n.惊恐，惶恐

参考例句：

• The men set off in fear and trepidation.这群人惊慌失措地出发了。
• The threat of an epidemic caused great alarm and trepidation.流行病猖獗因而人心惶惶。

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

10 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

11 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

12 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网