【英语时差8,16】「澳大利亚」：两、三部电影合一的钜片

At 2 hours, 35 minutes, "Australia" has room for both a cattle drive movie and a war movie, with a romantic drama thrown into the mix to tie both parts together.

Nicole Kidman plays British aristocrat¹ Lady Sarah Ashley, who appears in northern Australia in 1939 to visit her property, a huge ranch² called Faraway Downs, and decide whether to sell it to devious³ local cattle magnate King Carney.

Hugh Jackman plays the Drover, who is recruited to take Lady Sarah to Faraway Downs. The Drover's regular job is to, well, drove, as they say, "move cattle from A to B." Naturally, these two get into ferocious⁴ arguments on the trip, and then, of course, eventually fall in love. Once at Faraway Downs, Lady Sarah is informed by her bookkeeper that her station manager has been cheating her. She also comes across young Nullah (completely charming newcomer Brandon Walters), the film's narrator, a half-Aboriginal, half-white child.

Soon enough, nothing will do but that a ragtag bunch of riders led by the Drover and Lady Sarah must attempt to drive 1,500 head of cattle to a waiting British ship in Darwin.

Although dramatic events continue nonstop to the end, "Australia" manages to calm down from its frenetic opening minutes as Kidman and Jackman sink smoothly⁵ into the kind of major star romance we've been waiting for.

1 aristocrat   

n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物

参考例句：

• He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
• He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 devious   

adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的

参考例句：

• Susan is a devious person and we can't depend on her.苏姗是个狡猾的人，我们不能依赖她。
• He is a man who achieves success by devious means.他这个人通过不正当手段获取成功。

4 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

5 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。