VOA标准英语2011--Power Portraits Capture World Leaders

Power Portraits Capture World Leaders

World leaders and heads of state are always in the public eye. We watch them on TV and see their photos in newspapers and magazines. But when New Yorker staff photographer Platon Antoniou - who uses just his first name professionally - embarked¹ on a journey to capture images of world leaders, he wanted to discover the personalities² behind the public faces. He also wanted to explore power.
When world leaders came to the United Nations for the General Assembly in September 2009, Platon felt it was the right moment to complete his project. He set up a studio on the floor of the General Assembly. His goal was to show each of these politicians up close, in a very personal way.
"Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister of England in the new British coalition³ government, he's in the book. I said to him, ‘I want you to think of something that has nothing to do with business or politics, something that's deeply human.' And the most beautiful look came over his face," Platon says. "At the end of the photo shoot, he said to me, ‘Do you know what I was thinking about when you took that picture?...I was imagining rubbing my baby's foot.'"
Sometimes, the moments are unsettling, such as when photographing Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
"Very chilling. He didn't say much. He was dressed perfectly⁴ in a very gentlemanly suit. His entourage was very suspicious, eyes were moving around their surroundings all the time," Platon recalls. "He had the strangest skin. It looked like it was really oily but it was actually very dry, but stretched so finely over his flesh. His eyes were just deep crystal irises⁵ of cyan blue.I remember he walked away after his sitting and another head of state came to sit for me and refused to sit on the same chair. So I said, 'What's wrong with this chair?' He said, ‘I'm not sitting in this chair, there is blood on it.'"
Capturing Libya's Muammar Qaddafi on film was also unforgettable.
"I see this giant crowd marching towards me and, in the middle, is Qaddafi marching in a slow motion movement," Platon says. "And he had all this incredible regalia, all these robes, and his hat that tamed his wild black hair. And he was surrounded by female bodyguards⁶ dressed head to foot in dark green military clothing. It was a scene from a James Bond movie."
Also featured in "Portraits of Power" are President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
"I got eight seconds with Chavez. It was the shortest photo session of my life. And although he gave me such a little time, he gave me so much in terms of his personality and his spirit. I do believe I captured his power as a human being, not just political power."
In Platon's book, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas face each other on opposite pages.
"Netanyahu approached me and he's a very confident person. You feel a force of energy from him. He has very big charisma⁷. He grabbed my hand and shook it strongly and he put his other hand on my shoulder and he said, ‘Platon make me look good.' So it became a running joke between us. The irony⁸ is that I think he does look good in the picture. You can see in his eyes that he's actually talking to you saying, ‘I will look good in this picture. I will look good,'" Platon says. "Abbas was very different. He seemed more fragile as if he was feeling the world on his shoulders. He seemed very humble⁹ and he seemed a very dignified¹⁰ person."
Platon tried to capture the essence of his subjects at a given moment. Leaders who have just risen to power, he notes, have a different feeling and look than what you see after they've been in office longer.
"Obama, for instance, it's not the obvious charismatic Obama that we all fell in love with during the campaign. It's the thinking Obama, the philosophical¹¹ Obama."
Among the more than 100 heads of state Platon photographed for his book, only four are women.
"The women I photographed seemed to be more comfortable in their seat perhaps because the battle is harder to the top and they have a better sense of humility¹² and dignity."
Platon's quest to explore power continues, with a twist.
"I think it's time for me to turn my lens onto the people who have been robbed of power, people who have shown great courage in the face of oppression, people like Aung San Su Kyi, who I recently photographed and got her on the cover of Time magazine," he says. "I just got back from photographing all the leaders of the Egyptian revolution: humble kids, from 22 year olds who were torture victims, to parents who - with their kids - were in Tahrir square, to old ladies whose sons were taken and killed by the secret police. These are all everyday people who are so brave and who are actually really changing the world around us."
Platon considers his book a sort of yearbook of those who are now running our world, and he offers it up to readers for their evaluation¹³.

1 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

2 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 irises   

n.虹( iris的名词复数 )；虹膜；虹彩；鸢尾（花）

参考例句：

• The cottage gardens blaze with irises, lilies and peonies. 村舍花园万紫千红，鸢尾、百合花和牡丹竞相争艳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The irises were of flecked grey. 虹膜呈斑驳的灰色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 bodyguards   

n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks came to Jim's office accompanied—like always—by his two bodyguards. 和往常一样，在两名保镖的陪同下，布鲁克斯去吉姆的办公室。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Three of his bodyguards were injured in the attack. 在这次袭击事件中，他有3名保镖受了伤。 来自辞典例句

7 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

8 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

9 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

10 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

11 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

12 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

13 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。