英格蘭英語電影口語練習(跟著電影全球風暴學英語)
2023-06-13 00:13:51 1
【往期回顧】
跟著電影《女孩我最高》學英語:stand tall是什麼意思?
【本期內容】
當你聽到a shining city on a hill,你會想到什麼呢?
接下來,我們就先來看看由迪安·德夫林執導、由傑拉德·巴特勒、吉姆·斯特吉斯、艾比·考尼什、亞歷山德拉·瑪麗亞·拉那、吳彥祖、艾赫尼奧·德伯茲、艾德·哈裡斯、安迪·加西亞聯合主演、於2017年10月在美國上映的科幻災難片《全球風暴》(Geostorm)中的片段:
在該片段中,反派男主這總統這麼說道:
-Tomorrow, the sun will rise, all our enemies will be gone. Wiped away as if by the hands of God!
(- Why would you do this?)
- Because no one else would. I'm turning the clock back to 1945 when America was a shining city on a hill, not just a back disguised as a country.
當反派男主說道「America was a shining city on a hill」時,估計很多人不知道他這話是什麼意思。
其實,a shining city on a hill源自《聖經》,其原文如下:
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
—Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16.
1630年,美國麻薩諸塞灣殖民地最初的統治者約翰·溫斯羅普發表過一篇著名的布道詞,題為「基督徒慈善的典範」。他引用了馬太福音第5章14-16節登山寶訓中關於鹽和光的隱喻(「你們是世上的光。城立在山上,是不能隱藏的。」)來提醒在新英格蘭建立麻薩諸塞灣殖民地的清教徒殖民者,他們的新社區將成為一座「山上的城」,被整個世界所注視。
"For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses . . ."
—John Winthrop, aboard the Arbella, 1630.
a shining city on a hill的字面含義是「山巔上的光輝之城」,用來喻指「令人嚮往、萬人矚目的希望之地」。
比如,《中國日報》(China Daily)2020年7月4日有這麼一篇題為「62 pct of Americans no longer regard US as 'shining city on the hill' -- poll」的報導,其大意是62%的美國民眾不再把自己的國家當作「理想之國」了。
歡迎繼續關注廖懷寶的原創頭條號「新概念英語的教與學」!
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