The devil wears Prada 《時尚女魔頭》（精講之三）
[ 2007-03-09 18:24 ]
影片對白
Well, this is Miranda Priestly we're talking about. There is no Plan "B".
There's only Plan "A".
我觀之我見
本段故事是影片中Miranda 和 Andy 之間的又一場交鋒。在聽從了Nigel的建議后，開始認真對待工作、變得時尚的Andy
在工作上已開始得到Miranda的贊許，被允許將雜志送到她家去。
考考你
一展身手
5. beat to the punch
這個片語也寫作beat to the draw，意思是“比另一方/其他人反應更快、更快采取行動”，例如：The new salesman tried to
serve one of my customers, but I beat him to the draw.
文化面面觀
Harry Potter: its cultural
impact and commercial success
 The Harry Potter books are an extremely popular
series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling and have made her the
richest writer in literary history.
The books depict a world of witches and wizards; the protagonist is the
eponymous young wizard Harry Potter. Since the release of the first novel,
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (retitled Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States) in 1997, the books have gained
immense popularity and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video
games, and a wealth of other items.
The six books have collectively sold more than 300 million copies and have
been translated into 47 languages. The first volume has been translated into
Latin and even ancient Greek, making it the longest work in that language since
the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the third century AD.
A large portion of the narrative takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry, focusing on Harry Potter's struggle against the evil wizard Lord
Voldemort. At the same time, the books explore the themes of friendship,
ambition, choice, prejudice, courage, growing up, love, and the perplexities of
death, set against the expansive backdrop of a magical world with its own
complex history, diverse inhabitants, unique culture, and parallel societies.
Six of the seven planned books have been published, and the unnamed seventh
book is yet to be released. The latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince, was issued in its English language version on 16 July 2005. The
first four books have been made into very successful films, and the fifth began
filming in February 2006. English language versions of the books are published
by Bloomsbury, Scholastic Press, and Raincoast Books.
Awards and honors
J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been the recipients of a host
of awards since the initial publication of Philosopher's Stone
including four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in
2001), three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes (1997-1999), two Scottish Arts Council
Book Awards (1999 and 2001), and the WHSmith book of the year (2006), among
others. In 2000 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated
for Best Novel in the Hugo Awards while in 2001 Harry Potter and the Goblet
of Fire won said award. Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie
Medal (1997), a shortlisting for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and
numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists
of the American Library Association, New York Times,
Chicago Public Library, and Publishers Weekly.
Perhaps the most prestigious "award" was granted in 2001, when the New York
Times Best Seller list created a separate list for children's books. Most
observers feel that this split occurred because the Harry Potter books were
occupying too many positions in the lucrative "adult" list.
Commercial success
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Costumes from the 2005 film,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, used as a promotion at Hong Kong's
Times Square. |
The popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial
financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related
licence holders. The books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have
also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of
which have been successful in their own right with the first, Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone, ranking number four on the list of all time
highest-grossing films and the other three each ranking in the top 25. The films
have in turn spawned five video games and have in conjunction with them led to
the licensing of over 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an iPod)
that have, as of July 2005, made the Harry Potter brand worth an estimated 4
billion dollars and J.K. Rowling a US dollar billionaire, making her, by some
reports, richer than Queen Elizabeth II.
Cultural impact
Since the publishing of Philosopher's Stone a number of societal
trends have been attributed to the series. In 2005, doctors at the John
Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford reported that their research of the weekends of
Saturday, 21 June, 2003 and Saturday, 16 July, 2005 (the dates of the two most
recent book releases of the series) found that only 36 children needed emergency
medical assistance for injuries sustained in accidents, as opposed to other
weekends' average of 67. Anecdotal evidence such as this suggesting an increase
in literacy among children due to Harry Potter was seemingly confirmed in 2006
when the Kids and Family Reading Report (in conjunction with Scholastic)
released a survey finding that 51% of Harry Potter readers ages 5-17 said that
while they did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter,
they now did. The study further reported that according to 65% of children and
76% of parents, they or their children's performance in school improved since
they started reading the series.
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