2006年VOA标准英语-Los Angeles Billy Wilder Theater Highlights Cla

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
05 December 2006

A new theater in Los Angeles promises to be a gathering¹ place for both film lovers and art aficionados². Mike O'Sullivan reports, the venue³ is named in honor of movie director Billy Wilder, and will showcase classic movies, modern literature and art.

 
Billy Wilder Theater
Located in the Hammer Museum near the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, the Billy Wilder Theater will present material from the school's extensive archive of film and television productions. UCLA's Cheng-Sim Lim says the archive is the second-largest repository of moving-image media in the world, after the U.S. Library of Congress. She says the theater handles all major formats⁴, including digital video. "We show cinema from all eras, from the earliest cinema to the most current in all formats. We show silent movies at their appropriate projection⁵ speed. We show nitrate films, which is a very, very rare and incredibly privileged thing, if you are able to watch it," he said.

Early films that used the chemical silver nitrate cast a distinctive⁶ glow on the screen, giving rise to the term "silver screen" in describing cinema. The Wilder Theater is one of a handful of sites around the United States that can show the nitrate prints.

The Hammer Museum, where the theater is located, grew out of the private art holdings of the late industrialist⁷ Armand Hammer, who founded of the Occidental Petroleum⁸ Company. The museum has expanded its scope beyond his personal collections to include modern painting, photographs, sculpture and electronic media art.

Museum director Ann Philbin says, in addition to showing films, the new theater will be an important cultural center. "We have a very strong literature reading series. We have performance. We obviously do the visual arts. We have more and more music programs. And now that we have a theater, film will become an important part of what we do as well," he said.

 
Michael Maltzan
Architect Michael Maltzan says the Hollywood theme is seen in many parts of the theater, from the image of Billy Wilder looking down on the entryway to the long mural that resembles a filmstrip with a three-dimensional image. "There are a number of architectural elements along the way, a long strip of lenticular film which acts as a kind of ever-changing three-dimensional image of one of Wilder's famous films, Sunset Boulevard, a famous scene from that," he said.

The scene shows Gloria Swanson, the late actress who is well known for her role as a fading Hollywood starlet.

Billy Wilder's other credits include the comedy Some Like it Hot, which starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack⁹ Lemmon, and the murder mystery Double Indemnity¹⁰, with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. The director died in 2002, and a $5-million gift from his widow, Audrey, made this theater possible.

Inside the venue, one seat stands out from the others. A lone¹¹ brown chair in a sea of pink marks the place where Billy Wilder would sit in similar theaters while watching screenings of his movies. The architect says it marks his symbolic¹² presence.

That is appropriate, says Robert Rosen, dean of the UCLA school of theater, film and television, who notes that Wilder was a commanding presence in Hollywood. "Here we have a man who was extraordinarily¹³ prolific¹⁴, who was a writer, who was a director, who was a producer, who loved actors, who respected the collaborative nature of the film project, as strong an ego¹⁵ as he had. He embodies¹⁶ the notion of quality, the real notion of excellence¹⁷ in the history of American film, and world film," he said.

The new Billy Wilder Theater will present hundreds of films and videos each year, and host a range of public programs, from presentations by modern writers to dialogues on the arts.

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 aficionados   

n.酷爱…者，…迷( aficionado的名词复数 )； 爱看斗牛的人

参考例句：

• West Coast aficionados of postwar coffee-shop architecture(Karal Ann Marling) 西海岸战后咖啡店式建筑的狂热追随者（卡拉尔安马林） 来自互联网
• Clay developed a radical style which appalled boxing aficionados. 克莱发展出一种震惊拳击迷的全新风格。 来自互联网

3 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

4 formats   

n.（出版物的）版式( format的名词复数 )；[电视]电视节目的总安排（或计划）

参考例句：

• They are producing books in all kinds of different formats. 他们出版各种不同开本的书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. 真正的图形用户界面包括表示文字和图形的标准格式。 来自互联网

5 projection   

n.发射，计划，突出部分

参考例句：

• Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。
• The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。

6 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

7 industrialist   

n.工业家，实业家

参考例句：

• The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。
• Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家，可他对生活感到不满意。

8 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

9 jack   

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。

10 indemnity   

n.赔偿，赔款，补偿金

参考例句：

• They paid an indemnity to the victim after the accident.他们在事故后向受害者付了赔偿金。
• Under this treaty,they were to pay an indemnity for five million dollars.根据这项条约，他们应赔款500万美元。

11 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

12 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

13 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

14 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

15 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

16 embodies   

v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This document embodies the concern of the government for the deformity. 这个文件体现了政府对残疾人的关怀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。