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
83
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.
【B8】
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
glamour
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/UNSO777K
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
AlmosteverydaythemediadiscoversanAfricanAmericancommunityfightingsomeformofenvironmentalthreatfromlandfills,ga
AlthoughIliketheappearanceofthehouse,whatreallymademedecidetobuyitwasthebeautifulscenerythroughthewindow.
WelearnedthatColumbushasdiscoveredAmericain1492.
KarlMarx’ssocialhistoricalresearchdeeplyrevealsthe________relationsbetweenthesocialdevelopmentandhuman’sfulldevel
OnememberwhichlivesinHanoverParkexplainshisinitiationintotheAmericans,probablythelargestgang.
Children’ssurvival,protectionandgrowthhaveadirectbearingonacountryandanation’sfutureanddestiny.TheChinesena
InterpretthefollowingpassagesfromEnglishintoChinese.Startinterpretingatthesignalandstopatthesignal.Youmaytak
尽管出现了禽流感,鸡肉仍然是当今最受欢迎的肉类食品,原因如下:第一,鸡肉价格合理,人人皆可承受。第二,鸡肉吃法众多,比如,可以同通心粉汁或面条或汤一起煮。鸡肉烧、煮、炸皆可。最为重要的一点,即鸡肉营养价值很高。4盎司的鸡肉含有28克的蛋白质,几乎是人体每日
Icameacrossanoldcountryguidetheotherday.Itlistedallthetradesmenineachvillageinmypartofthecountry,andit
ImetCameronathishomeinthevillageofNewtonmore,intheScottishHighlands.He’s【C1】______,sowhenwewentoutofhisco
随机试题
有关合伙企业的解散和清算,下列说法正确的有哪些?()
分权制的特点是【】
阅读《国殇》中的一段诗句,回答问题:出不入兮往不反,平原忽兮路超远。带长剑兮挟秦弓,首身离兮心不惩。诚既勇兮又以武,终刚强兮不可凌。身既死兮神以灵,魂魄毅兮为鬼雄!解释这段诗句中画线字的含义。忽:惩:
非淋菌性尿道炎的病原体以沙眼衣原体和支原体为主。
提示胎儿肺成熟度L/S比值是( )。
3岁,男孩。智能低下,智能落后,表情呆滞,眼距宽,眼裂小,鼻梁低,口半张,舌伸出口外,皮肤细嫩,肌张力低下,右侧通贯手。可诊断为
《混凝土结构工程施工质量验收规范》(GB50204-2002)规定,当采用应力控制方法张拉预应力筋时,实际伸长值与设计计算理论伸长值的相对允许偏差是()。
民事责任的承担方式不包括()。
π/8
有以下程序#include<stdio.h>voidmain(){chars[]={"01axy"};inti,n=0;for(i=0;s[i]!=0;i++)if(s[i]<
最新回复
(
0
)