VOA标准英语2012--Damsels in Distress Now A Thing of the Past

 

Damsels in Distress¹ Now A Thing of the Past

In 1937, Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs² captured the imagination of children the world over.

The princess, from Grimm's fairytale, was presented as fragile and helpless, waiting for her prince to rescue her from the wicked stepmother.

But fairytales are being reinvented. Brave, the newest one in theaters, takes us to Scotland and Merida, a princess who rejects marriage and shows up the men in archery. Even Snow White is getting a remake, with two recent versions.

In Mirror Mirror, the lighter³ twist on the story, Snow White is feisty and smart.

She still ends up in the Prince's arms. But she also outsmarts the queen and wins the kingdom.

The second version, Snow White and the Huntsman, is ominous⁴. The wicked stepmother is a dark soul.

Snow White battles for her kingdom. She even saves her man.

These films and others like them are sparking the appetite of young children for fairytales, says Wendy Tucker, a librarian at a Washington area elementary school.

"When the movies come out, they want the book which is great for me," said Tucker. "I try to encourage them to read the book before the movie, and oftentimes they've seen the movie and I tell them there is a book. They get excited." 

While going for the newer takes, kids still appreciate the classic tales. 

GIRL1: "They give us a different look of different time periods and how people acted back then. Also they include magic and fantasy."

GIRL2: "Sometimes I like the calm elegance⁵ of the old ones. But sometimes I sort of feel like I need a big production to be in front of me."

Once upon a time, parents read these stories to their children to teach them lessons, says Wendy Tucker.

"They wanted to emphasize how dark something was in order to make the beauty shine. And a lot of the fairytales and fables⁶ were told to children before television, radio was invented as a way for parents to control and teach good versus⁷ evil," said Tucker.

The stories still teach today, but the lessons have been modernized⁸. 

1 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

2 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

3 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

4 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

5 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。

6 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

7 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

8 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。