怪獸哥斯拉踏上好萊塢星光大道英語美文

Godzilla honored with star on walk of fame怪獸哥斯拉踏上好萊塢星光大道

Film character "Godzilla" blows off steam as it arrives for a ceremony to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California November 29, 2004. The movie icon celebrates its 50th anniversary with the star as well as the premiere of the film "Godzilla Final Wars." (Reuters)

Fifty years after he first lumbered from the sea to breathe fire, trample cities and thrill generations of filmgoers, Japan"s most famous movie monster, Godzilla, was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame recently.

The gargantuan reptile is the latest in a pantheon of famous critters, including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker, to have his name enshrined on Hollywood Boulevard along with 2,200 flesh-and-blood stars, like Cary Grant and John Wayne.

Accepting the honor on behalf of the self-proclaimed "King of the Monsters" was the 5-foot-4-inch-tall Japanese actor who plays Godzilla on screen, Tsutomo Kitagawa. The actor donned the fearsome rubber suit he wears in his latest picture, "Godzilla Final Wars," which opens on Dec. 4 in Japan.

The film is the 28th Godzilla adventure produced by Japanese studio Toho Co. Ltd. since the giant, prehistoric lizard, awakened by atomic bomb tests, first roared out of the Pacific to threaten civilization in the original 1954 movie.

A metaphor for the perils of the nuclear age, the film was made nine years after the end of World War II, when the firebombing of Tokyo and atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still fresh in Japan"s national consciousness.

Soon after it was released in Japan, Hollywood producers bought U.S. rights to the film and instead of dubbing it into English, they recut the original with new scenes starring Raymond Burr as an American reporter covering the monster"s rampage through Tokyo.

Although Godzilla was a deadly and destructive force in his big-screen debut, the fire-breathing beast returned in subsequent films to save mankind from other monsters.

Several of his former outsized foes, including the giant moth-like creature Mothra, make comeback appearances in "Final Wars," which Toho is touting as its last Godzilla tale -- at least for now.

"So long as Godzilla can fascinate people, I believe he will be resurrected by new generations of filmmakers in the future," producer Shogo Tomiyama said.

Godzilla"s star was unveiled outside Hollywood"s landmark Grauman"s Chinese Theatre, where his latest film was set for its world premiere.

A throng of onlookers shouted "We love you, Godzilla!" and "Viva Godzilla!" as the monster posed for pictures, spewed bursts of carbon-dioxide gas at photographers from his jaws and danced a few steps with Hollywood"s honorary mayor, Johnny Grant.

50年前，它步履笨重地走出海面，口吐火焰，踐踏城市，令幾代影迷膽戰心驚;50年後，日本最著名的電影怪獸“哥斯拉”在好萊塢星光大道上贏得了一顆“星星”。

這隻體形龐大的爬行動物是星光大道“卡通生物園”裏的新成員，這裏還住着米老鼠、賓尼兔和啄木鳥伍迪等。怪獸哥斯拉把自己的名字銘刻在好萊塢大道上，和卡里·格蘭特、約翰·韋恩等2200名真人明星一起名載史冊。

怪獸哥斯拉的扮演者、身高5英尺4英寸的日本男演員村田雄浩代表自稱“怪獸之王”的哥斯拉接受了這份榮譽。他身穿可怕的橡膠外套，這也是他在最新影片《哥斯拉：最後戰爭》中的怪獸造型。該片將於12月4日在日本公映。

這部電影是自1954年首部哥斯拉電影問世以來的第28部哥斯拉冒險系列電影，由日本學者影業公司製作。在1954年拍攝的最早的影片中，這條龐大的`史前蜥蜴在一次原子彈試驗中甦醒，首次咆哮着浮出太平洋，威脅人類文明。

作為對核時代危機的隱喻，這部電影拍攝於二戰結束後第9年，當時東京遭火焰炸彈空襲事件和廣島、長崎的原子彈爆炸事件在日本民族的意識裏仍然鮮活。

這部影片在日本發行後不久，好萊塢製片人就購買了它在美國放映的版權。他們並沒有用英語給它配音，而是重新剪切了母片，用雷蒙德·伯爾飾演的美國記者的新片段取代了怪獸踐踏東京的狂暴行為。

儘管怪獸哥斯拉首次亮相電影銀屏時代表的是一種破壞性極強的致命力量，但在後來的影片中，這頭噴火野獸迴歸善良，從其他怪獸手中拯救人類。

它從前的幾位頭號敵人，包括蛾形巨型生物摩斯拉也在新片《哥斯拉：最後戰爭》中再次現身。學者影業公司聲稱這是他們製作的最後一部哥斯拉電影——至少現在來説是這樣的。

“只要哥斯拉能讓人們着迷，我相信將來他會在新一代電影製作人手中復興的。”製片人富山莊五説。

哥斯拉的“好萊塢之星”已在好萊塢地標格勞門中國劇院外面揭幕，哥斯拉最新影片也將在這裏舉行全球首映儀式。

當這頭怪獸擺好造型準備拍照，張開大口向攝影師噴出二氧化碳爆炸氣體，還和好萊塢名譽市長強尼·格蘭特跳起了舞，這時，一羣旁觀者大喊“我們愛你，哥斯拉!”，“哥斯拉萬歲!”

Vocabulary:

lumber: to move with a rumbling noise(移動時伴有隆隆的響聲，沉重地走來)

gargantuan: of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic(面積或體積龐大的)

pantheon: a circular temple in Rome, completed in 27 b.c. and dedicated to all the gods(萬神殿，羅馬圓形神廟， 公元前27年完工，供奉所有的神)

critter: a living creature(生物，多帶詼諧意味)

enshrine: to enclose in or as if in a shrine(珍藏，彷彿置入神龕中)

resurrected: to rise from the dead; return to life(復甦，復興)(：夏根建)