首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Las Vegas was founded【B1】______ years ago and was officially【B2】______ in 1905. Since then, Las Vegas has transformed itself int
Las Vegas was founded【B1】______ years ago and was officially【B2】______ in 1905. Since then, Las Vegas has transformed itself int
admin
2017-03-15
84
问题
Las Vegas was founded【B1】______ years ago and was officially【B2】______ in 1905. Since then, Las Vegas has transformed itself into the fastest growing city in the United States.
I assumed the city is a fantastic fountain of【B3】______ and 【B4】______, the high 【B5】______ of Kitsch. I consumed its image from the 【B6】______ and 【B7】______ in "Ocean’s Eleven" to the high rolling【B8】______ of Scorsese’s "Casino". You’ll partake freely of the supposed "【B9】______" the city sells; from gambling, to shopping to the【B10】______ of sex.
On the【B11】______ the city is everything it promises to be: home to the【B12】______ museum, a mini 【B13】______ tower, a shiny black pyramid, a【B14】______ and out of scale replicas of【B15】______ St. Mark’s Square, New York’s skyline and【B16】______Bridge. For the right price, Vegas can make anything possible. It is an unabashed advert for【B17】______ and cash. But the truth is slightly different. Las Vegas is all about【B18】______. Everything that happens here takes on a【B19】______ quality. For many people, the ultimate American dream offering anyone who cares to try their【B20】______ the chance to get rich quick will never be realised.
【B3】
It’s one hundred years since Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the United States, was founded. In 1905, to mark the community growing up round the new railroad, the city was officially inaugurated—an oasis in the middle of the desert. Since then, Las Vegas has sucked dry the natural springs it was founded upon and transformed itself into the fastest growing city in the United States.
Before arriving here, I believed the city to be a fantastic fountain of fakes and forgeries, the high priestess of Kitsch. I consumed its image from the mobsters and villains in "Ocean’s Eleven", the remake; to the high rolling glamour of Scorsese’s "Casino".
But Las Vegas is all about facade. Everything that happens here takes on a surreal quality, making it the perfect backdrop for film and TV directors.
Las Vegans love to tell you conspiratorially that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"; Presumably so you’ll partake freely of the supposed "sins", the city sells; from gambling, to shopping to sex, or at least the allure of sex, in the form of showgirls and strippers. But, like many other things in the city, the truth is slightly different.
In the fifties, one of the Casino owners Jack Binyon was famously quoted as saying "this is a city which will find your weakness, and exploit it". Even today, a journey up the strip, is like a journey into the heart of darkness; a voyage to the core of conspicuous consumption, and a pilgrimage to the temple of mammon.
On the surface at least, the city is everything it promises to be. Home to the Liberace museum, a mini Eiffel tower, a shiny black pyramid, a sphinx and out of scale replicas of Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, New York’s skyline and Brooklyn Bridge. It is indeed, fabulously fake. But after being dazzled by the bright lights and neon signs which illuminate the city like a Christmas tree it was hard to tap into this adult Disneyland.
Las Vegas might have clad its newest buildings in veneers of mirrored glass, and built a tower to reach into the stratosphere but in essence, it’s still a frontier town, with a wild west mentality.
Bright-eyed tourists in voluminous shorts troop up and down the walkways and moving carpets from one casino to the next. One Ohioan woman I stopped on the street told me that Vegas encapsulates everyone’s favourite fantasies. She told me that here you can fit the whole world into the palm of your hand, or at least the length of the strip, and that there was really no need to go anywhere else. That’s certainly what the town’s hoteliers would have you believe. Vegas might be four hours’ drive from the sea but one hotel has built its own beach, complete with wave machine, shark reef, and beach parties to create the illusion of seaside fun. In a city where classics are less than 40 years old, and most things survive only a few years, culture has been shipped in from the world’s greatest museums. For the right price, Vegas can make anything possible. Perhaps that is why it’s the fastest growing city in the United States, an unabashed advert for Capitalism and cash.
The ultimate American dream, offering anyone who cares to try their luck, the chance to get rich quick. However, rubbing shoulders with all that money is poverty and misery. The flash cash and upbeat music of the casinos do nothing to hide the darkness that pervades them. As scantily clad cocktail waitresses, downmarket versions of the bunnygirl, deliver drinks, lone figures sit hunched for hours over the slot machines, their only movements, the flicker of their eyes and their hands as they feed their masters with money. It’s estimated that one in four households in the city is affected by compulsive gambling. Linda was one of its victims.
"I wasn’t happy", she told me, "it was as though I was in a timewarp, I lost everything, money, car, the respect of my family, but most of all I lost myself." Off the strip, the crime, homelessness, drugs and sex trade of any big city show up in stark contrast to the manicured lawns, and marble malls of the plush hotels.
I went with a team of crime investigators to the scene of a drive by shooting on the freeway. One of about 150 homicides they have a year. As we approached, we found a black woman with a hole in her head slumped across her car, her sports top and chunky gold chain covered in blood. But this shocking scene failed to register its full horror, mediated as it was by countless other American cop shows. The helicopters buzzing overhead and the Italian American names of some of the investigators made the whole thing seem like I’d just walked onto the set of a film. I kept expecting the woman to sit up and call for someone to wipe off the fake blood and walk away. Unfortunately of course, this was reality and that didn’t happen. She was probably a victim of gang violence, and her dreams, like those of many in the city, will never be realised.
选项
答案
fakes
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/PNSO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Idonotadvocatebuildingtheparknearajetport,whichmightmakepeopletosufferfromdefectivehearing.
Sincethedawnofcivilization,peoplehavebeencuriousabouttheageofEarth.Inaddition,wehavenotbeensatisfiedinbein
Fornearlyacentury,twoUnitedStatesgovernmentalagencies,theUnitedStatesArmyCorpsofEngineersandtheBureauofRecla
Wehavesentanordersliptoallwhowehavereasontobelieveareinterestedinourbooks.
CitingOhioordinancesthatallowindividualstoseekchargesagainstsomeonethey’veseencommitacrime,sevenEuclidresident
Seekingtoframehisnewadministrationasonewithafirmfocusonclosingthegapbetweenchildrenfromaffluentandpoorfami
1986年全国人大常委会副委员长班禅喇嘛在西康地区大法会上教诲信徒们,要爱惜民族团结,维护祖国统一。在中国,公民的信仰自由受到法律保护。目前全西藏在寺僧尼约有14,000多人,另有800位宗教界人士在各级人大、政协、佛教协会和政府部门中工作。
下面你将听到的是一段有关经济发展的讲话。Iwouldliketocommentontherelationshipbetweenthegrowthoftheworldeconomyandtheroleofmac
Accordingtothespeaker,evenAmericaissufferingfromeconomicdepression,theAmericaneconomywillsoonberecoveredifAme
A、Theshipcrewignoredrepeatedwarnings.B、Thepassengersdidnotlistentothecaptain.C、Thecrewrefusedtoobeythecaptai
随机试题
静压滑动轴承的整个系统通常由()部分组成。
甲企业目前的资产负债率为0.6,分期付款购买固定资产一台,将会导致甲企业()。
A.苍术B.厚朴C.白豆蔻D.木瓜E.砂仁具有燥湿健脾功效的药物是
甲、乙、丙、丁共有一艘大型轮船,甲占该船88%份额。现甲欲将该船作抵押向某银行贷款400万元。各共有人事先对此未作约定,则下列说法中正确的是:
新建桥梁可采用基于技术状况检查的检算评定来确定其实际承载能力。()
下列关于历史成本计量的表述中,不正确的是()。
阅读下面材料,回答问题。某日上午,没有完成数学作业的张津津被黄二洲老师叫到讲桌前,然后黄老师向全班下达任务:“每个人去打十棍,谁打得不狠就打谁”。结果,全班有36名学生,除了另外3个没有做完作业的学生外,其余32名学生全部动了手,共打了张津津32
按照加涅的学习结果分类观点,了解自己的学习特点并能适时调节学习进程的学生具备了较高水平的()
造成南北经济差距进一步扩大的主要根源是
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNUMBERSAND/ORNOMORETHANTHREEWORDSforeachanswer.
最新回复
(
0
)