2020年经济学人 列克星顿专栏--美国回溯20世纪50年代(1)

United States

美国版块

Lexington

列克星顿专栏

Mid-century modern

中世纪现代主义

Americans should stop harking back to the 1950s. Many of the decade’s delights are still available

美国人应该停止回想上世纪50年代。那个十年期中的许多乐趣仍然存在。

The giant movie screen at Bengies was illuminated¹ by a thrilling golden sunset when the cinema’s owner and compere², D. Edward Vogel, began reciting the house rules one recent Friday evening. It was dark before he had finished.

在最近的一个星期五的晚上，惊心动魄的金色夕阳照亮了Bengies的巨型电影屏幕，电影院的老板兼报幕员开始列举观影规则。他还没说完就天黑了。

Bengies, a drive-in outside Baltimore, does not allow alcohol, profanity, car-horns or headlights—which seemed reasonable. It also bans barefoot children (even when carried), photography, vehicles left unoccupied without an explanatory note, and refunds³ or ticket changes of any kind, which seemed a bit over the top. “This is not an exclusive list of our rules, but it’s a pretty good start,” said Mr Vogel, as the sky darkened over the 120-foot-long movie screen. He still hadn’t got through his covid-19 stipulations.

Bengies是一家汽车影院，坐落于巴尔的摩，在这里禁止饮酒、谩骂、按汽车喇叭或打开头灯，这些规则都很合理。但这里还禁止儿童赤脚（即使拿着鞋）、拍照、未经说明而擅自离车以及任何形式的退票或换票，这样的规则似乎有点夸张了。当120英尺长的电影银幕上的天空一片漆黑时，沃格尔先生说：“这并不是我们的专属规则，但这是一个相当好的开始。”。他仍没有讲完针对新冠肺炎的规定。

Mr Vogel, whose uncle started Bengies in 1956, says its rules are necessary because many of his patrons are new to drive-ins (of 4,000 fresh-air theatres in 1958, fewer than 400 remain).But this was not true of the families setting out chairs and speakers around Lexington and his tribe. From Pennsylvania, Virginia and far-flung Maryland, they were Bengies habitués. They came for its giant screen, grandiose⁴ playing of the anthem⁵ and unreconstructed snack bar selling Bengies cola, foot-long hot dogs and much more. They revelled⁶ in its eccentricity⁷. The drive-in is named after a 19th century president, Benjamin Harrison, and known for the snarky messages on its neon billboard⁸. Best of all they loved the juxtaposition⁹ of electronic entertainment and hot night air.

沃格尔先生的叔叔在1956年创办了Bengies，沃格尔表示这些规定很有必要，因为其中有许多顾客都是新来汽车影院的（1958年有4000家露天影院，现在只剩下不到400家）。但是，对于那些在列克星敦的专栏作家这群人的周围摆设椅子和扬声器的家庭们来说，并非如此。这些人来自宾夕法尼亚、弗吉尼亚以及遥远的马里兰州，他们是Bengies的常客。他们来到Bengies汽车影院是为了这里的大屏幕、宏伟的电影奏乐以及贩卖Bengies可乐、一英尺长的热狗等许多美食的那家未改装的小吃店。他们沉迷于这家影院的古怪。这家汽车影院以一位19世纪的总统本杰明·哈里森的名字命名，以霓虹灯广告牌上的尖锐信息而闻名。他们最热爱这里并存的电子娱乐以及夜间热空气。

These virtues¹⁰ were also apparent to first-timers. Like time-travelling Michael J. Foxes, your columnist¹¹ and his family found the drive-in at once novel and deeply familiar. The experience has been depicted¹² in a thousand films. More acutely, the same combination of mid-century technology, bossiness¹³ and cheesy familymindedness is still remarkably¹⁴ common. America is suffused¹⁵ with the culture of the 1950s. The pandemic, which has inspired pop-up drive-ins around the country, has made this even more evident.

对于第一次接触的人来说，这些优点显而易见。就像时光穿梭的迈克尔·J·福克斯一样，专栏作家和他的家人都会立刻发现汽车影院既新奇又熟悉。有上千部电影中描述过这段经历。专栏作家深刻地意识到，中世纪的科技、专横和庸俗的家庭观念仍然十分普遍。美国充斥着20世纪50年代的文化。这场疫情激化了全国各地的快闪汽车影院产业，也使这一点愈发明显。

1 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

2 compere   

v.主持（节目）

参考例句：

• Sarita Sabharwal compered the programme.萨里塔·萨巴瓦尔主持了这个节目。
• They asked Paul to compere.他们请保罗来主持。

3 refunds   

n.归还，偿还额，退款( refund的名词复数 )v.归还，退还( refund的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Tomorrow he would return them to the store and claim refunds. 明天他要把它们退还给商店并要求退款。 来自辞典例句
• The new method means that taxpayers get refunds much faster. 这种新办法意味着纳税人可以较快地领到退还款。 来自辞典例句

4 grandiose   

adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的

参考例句：

• His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.他那种夸大的举止给第一次遇见他的人留下了深刻的印象。
• As the fog vanished,a grandiose landscape unfolded before the tourists.雾气散去之后，一幅壮丽的景观展现在游客面前。

5 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

6 revelled   

v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉

参考例句：

• The foreign guests revelled in the scenery of the lake. 外宾们十分喜爱湖上的景色。 来自辞典例句
• He revelled in those moments of idleness stolen from his work. 他喜爱学习之余的闲暇时刻。 来自辞典例句

7 eccentricity   

n.古怪，反常，怪癖

参考例句：

• I can't understand the eccentricity of Henry's behavior.我不理解亨利的古怪举止。
• His eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.在他去世之前他的古怪脾气就早已闻名遐尔了。

8 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

9 juxtaposition   

n.毗邻，并置，并列

参考例句：

• The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling.这两句话连在一起使人听了震惊。
• It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting colors.这是并列对比色的结果。

10 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

11 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

12 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

13 bossiness   

跋扈作威作福

参考例句：

• They resent what they see as bossiness. 他们对自己眼中那些专断蛮横的行为非常厌恶。 来自柯林斯例句

14 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

15 suffused   

v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was suffused with colour. 她满脸通红。
• Her eyes were suffused with warm, excited tears. 她激动地热泪盈眶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》