Lara Croft, The Tomb Raider

Lara Croft, The Tomb Raider

 

Lara Croft is the ¹⁾heroine of Tomb Raider, one of the most successful computer games of all time. With 26 million copies sold to date, Lara Croft is richer than the Queen of England. She’s appeared on more magazine covers than a ²⁾supermodel, the advertising¹ industry can’t get enough of her. The government used Lara to promote British technology across the world.

"This is before any work has begun on the game, before we have anyone else on the game except me basically. It was very clear that I wanted to make it a ³⁾feminine character, so to be feminine, I had to ⁴⁾exaggerate feminine characteristics. So for a start, gave her long hair but the only way that we could represent that in a game in any ⁵⁾considerable way would be to give her a ⁶⁾ponytail. To make her seem athletic², I need to give her a... basically, a ⁷⁾leotard. OK? Because she’s an adventurer, we need to give her something to put her goods and ⁸⁾chattels in so a ⁹⁾backpack had to be ¹⁰⁾strapped onto her back so, you know, so that was fine. The walking boots done at the bottom. The double gun ¹¹⁾holsters, we clearly had to have her having that. The way the straps⁵ go across the leg which sort of make the whole leg more interesting. At the time it was generally ¹²⁾acknowledged that you had to have a male, a strong male character, that the male character had to be American, otherwise you wouldn’t sell to an American audience. And female characters just didn’t sell and also female characters at the time were being ¹³⁾portrayed⁷ in games that were in games often in ¹⁴⁾subsidiary roles. And they were very much like Loaded cover girls, they weren’t portrayed with any, I don’t think with any respect really, so I just wanted to turn all those sorts of things on their heads all the time. But making a very British female character that was an action hero that wasn’t ¹⁵⁾appealing to you know, base sexuality but was strong and you know powerful, it just seemed like it would sell... it seemed to me that it would sell. There were a few people who really thought that we were mad, but it turned out alright.”

“There was pressure from us, from lots of different areas for people saying, look, you know, if you are just going to have a female, maybe put a option in for a male character, so you can have either one or the other. But we actually felt that it ¹⁶⁾diluted everything. It split the whole focus of the game up, it split it right down the middle. You know, there were things that you would just do with a male that you probably wouldn’t do with Lara. So we were very keen to make sure to keep the ¹⁷⁾essence of saying, look, this is a game and it’s going to have Lara in it, and or Lara as she was originally called. And she is going to be the single character that you play and you can ¹⁸⁾relate to that.

When Tomb Raider was released in 1996, it was a sensation. And not just in teenage bedrooms, its sexy, sassy heroine had caught the public’s imagination. Lara Croft wasn’t just a character in a game, she was a celebrity⁹ and people wanted to know more...

 

“古墓丽影”，话说从头

罗拉·克洛夫特是最受欢迎的电游之一--《古墓丽影》的女主角。迄今为止该电游已疯卖2600万件，罗拉·克洛夫特真是比英国女王还富有呢。她在杂志封面的露面率比超级名模更频繁，广告对她的青睐从不间断。英国政府还利用罗拉的影响力在全球宣传英国科技。

“在还没开始做这个游戏前，设计这个游戏的除了我以外可以说还没有其他人。我很明确实要有个女性角色，为了这个目标，我就要突出她的女性特征。所以一开始，我给她设计了长长的秀发，但是要想在游戏中体现出这个特征，不管怎样都只有让她束起马尾辫。为了赋予她运动的气质，我让她穿上紧身衣裤。好。因为她是一名冒险家，我们还要给她一个用来放置物件的配备，于是她就背起了背囊，就这样。她脚上蹬着一双靴子。双枪皮套显然是她必需的。腿上绑着皮带让整条腿增添了情趣。当时所有的人都认为，应该要个强健的男性角色，而且必须是个美国男性角色。不然美国人就不买这个游戏。女性角色卖不动，而且当时游戏里出现的女性都是配角。她们很像男性潮流杂志《Loaded》的封面女郎，我觉得不太受人尊重，所以我很想把她们的形象地位扭转过来。塑造一个非常英国化的女性动作角色，不靠性感来哗众取宠，但要强壮有力，这似乎有卖点……我觉得这似乎有卖点。有的人认为我们这么做太离谱了，可结果证明是好的。”

“我们的压力有来自内部的和来自许多方面的，比如人们会说，如果你们想要个女性角色，或许还应该配个男性角色以供选择，那么一个不行还有另一个。但我们感到这样一来冲击力就不够了。游戏的焦点就不集中，被分成两半了。有些东西让一个男性角色来做可以，但罗拉可能就做不来。所以我们非常努力地保存精华部分，让这个游戏一定是罗拉的，她本名就叫做罗拉。她是游戏里的唯一主角，让你在玩的时候有认同感。”

1996年《古墓丽影》的发行轰动一时。它不仅为青少年追捧，游戏中性感而富有活力的女主角激发了公众的一切想象力。罗拉·克洛夫特的魅力超越了电游的范畴，她的名声如日中天，人们仍然期待着进一步了解她……

 

注释:

1) heroine [5herEuin] n. 女主人公，女英雄

2) supermodel [7sju:pE5mCdl] n. 超级名模

3) feminine [5feminin] a. 女性的

4) exaggerate [i^5zAdVEreit] v. 夸张，夸大

5) considerable [kEn5sidErEbl] a. 相当可观的，值得考虑的

6) ponytail [5pEJnIteil] n. 马尾辫

7) leotard [5li:E7tB:d] n. 紧身连衣裤

8) chattel³ [5tFAtl] n. 个人所有的杂物用品

9) backpack [5bAkpAk] n. 背包

10) strap⁴ [strAp] v. 皮带

11) holster [5hEulstE] n. 手枪用的皮套

12) acknowledge [Ek5nClidV] v. 承认

13) portray⁶ [pC:5trei] v. 描绘

14) subsidiary [sEb5sidjEri] a. 辅助的，补充的

15) appeal to 吸引

16) dilute⁸ [dai5lju:t] v. 冲淡，变弱

17) essence [5esns] n. 精髓

18) relate to 涉及，联系

 

 

1 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

2 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

3 chattel   

n.动产；奴隶

参考例句：

• They were slaves,to be bought and sold as chattels.他们是奴隶，将被作为财产买卖。
• A house is not a chattel.房子不是动产。

4 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

5 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

6 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

7 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 dilute   

vt.稀释，冲淡；adj.稀释的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The water will dilute the wine.水能使酒变淡。
• Zinc displaces the hydrogen of dilute acids.锌置换了稀酸中的氢。

9 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。