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Ladder 49 Portrays Firefighters as Imperfect Heroes

时间:2005-05-24 16:00:00

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(单词翻译)

 

By Alan Silverman

Real-life everyday heroes who fight fires and save lives come to the screen in a sweeping1 drama set at a big city fire station in the new film, Ladder 49.

(Movie Snippet)

In firehouse jargon2, a "ladder" is a truck equipped with a long extension ladder to reach high up to burning buildings. Ladder 49 is the story of the crew of ladder truck number 49 in the East coast city of Baltimore.

Joaquin Phoenix3 stars as Jack4 Morrison who goes from novice5, fresh out of the fire academy, to skilled firefighter, putting his life on the line. To play the role, Phoenix and fellow cast members went through intensive training with real firefighters and on the set they dealt with not computer-generated, but real flames.

"It was amazing to go into the training and face a lot of these fears. You don't overcome the fear, you learn to control it. That's what the firefighters will say: if you're not scared, then get out of the job. You have to have a level of fear and respect for the fire, but you never get over the fear. It's always there; it's just that you learn to control it."

Phoenix says Ladder 49 portrays6 the crewmembers as real human beings, not perfect heroes.

"Typically in Hollywood when we tell stories about heroes, it seems that everybody obsesses7 over 'how can we make them as perfect as possible? How can we make them sympathetic?' That's always the concern. With this we felt we were able to explore the less savory8 moments, in a way."

(Movie Snippet)

John Travolta, who has played his share of Hollywood heroes, is the captain in charge of the firehouse in Ladder 49. He says meeting the real-life counterparts to these film characters verified the instincts that he had about firefighters.

"I knew them to be very humble9 men and women that really didn't want a lot of attention and didn't like looking at themselves as heroes. That made me feel that they deserve this movie and the attention much more than anyone."

Travolta also says he took on the role of captain with the mostly younger cast off-screen as well.

"It felt like my seniority to these guys ... I'm older than they are, I've been around, they kind of grew up on me, [and] I'm the first person that Joaquin Phoenix ever asked for an autograph from when he was nine-years-old ... it felt like that was a built-in, innate10 thing I could play," Travolta says.

Director Jay Russell admits he was hesitant to take on this film when it was first offered to him just about a year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"The thing that excited me about the project was also the thing I was very hesitant about. I was skeptical11, to be honest, with the motivation behind the making of the movie. My uncle was a 25-year-plus veteran of the fire department and I just did not want to make this movie unless our hearts and minds were in the right place. There was no way any of us involved in this movie myself and the actors were going to make it if it felt like an exploitation."

However, filmmaker Russell points out that the original script had the story set in New York and, even though the action was moved to another city, he acknowledges that 9/11 influenced the film.

"Is this a tribute to the firefighters of 9/11? Of course it is; but it's also a tribute to the firefighters of 9/10 and 9/12 and 9/13. The story is the same. The world saw that particular day, in the extreme, what we do every day. That was my motivation and the story that I wanted to tell."

Joaquin Phoenix says the entire cast and crew shared that sense of responsibility to 'get it right.'

"If firefighters see this film and like it and feel that it's authentic12, that's all we could ask for and that takes precedence over whether the film is considered financially or critically successful. It's just been amazing to go to firehouses and meet these guys and have them come up, shake our hands and look us in their eyes  and say 'thank you for making this movie.' I've never had that experience in my life. No one has ever thanked me for making a movie before."

(Movie Snippet)

Ladder 49, was written by Lewis Colick, and shot on location in Baltimore with a cast that also includes Robert Patrick and Morris Chestnut13 as members of the fire crew; and Australian actress Jacinda Barrett plays the wife of Phoenix's Jack Morrison character.

Alan Silverman, for the Voice Of America, in Hollywood.

注释:
jargon 行话
novice 新手,初学者
savory 美味的,可口的
verify 验证
autograph 亲笔签名
motivation 动机


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的
参考例句:
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗?
2 jargon I3sxk     
n.术语,行话
参考例句:
  • They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
  • It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.
3 phoenix 7Njxf     
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生
参考例句:
  • The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
  • The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。
4 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
5 novice 1H4x1     
adj.新手的,生手的
参考例句:
  • As a novice writer,this is something I'm interested in.作为初涉写作的人,我对此很感兴趣。
  • She realized that she was a novice.她知道自己初出茅庐。
6 portrays e91d23abfcd9e0ee71757456ac840010     
v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 );描述;描绘;描画
参考例句:
  • The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 obsesses 55aed064e433586b13cd2709d7f63cc9     
v.时刻困扰( obsess的第三人称单数 );缠住;使痴迷;使迷恋
参考例句:
  • I suppose no artist achieves completely the realization of the dream that obsesses him. 我认为哪个艺术家也不可能把昼夜萦绕在他心头的梦境完全付诸实现。 来自辞典例句
  • As source and, nature obsesses us, as do childhood and spontaneity, via the filter of memory. 作为资源和来源,自然总是纠缠着我们,经由记忆的过滤,就像童年和自发性所做的。 来自互联网
8 savory UC9zT     
adj.风味极佳的,可口的,味香的
参考例句:
  • She placed a huge dish before him of savory steaming meat.她将一大盘热气腾腾、美味可口的肉放在他面前。
  • He doesn't have a very savory reputation.他的名誉不太好。
9 humble ddjzU     
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 innate xbxzC     
adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的
参考例句:
  • You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
  • Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。
11 skeptical MxHwn     
adj.怀疑的,多疑的
参考例句:
  • Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
  • Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。
12 authentic ZuZzs     
a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的
参考例句:
  • This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
  • Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。
13 chestnut XnJy8     
n.栗树,栗子
参考例句:
  • We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
  • In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

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