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文章内容摘自：经济学人2019.5
不谈雅思我们来轻松一下
看一篇外媒眼中的中国人观影
Even if it did not boast a character called Captain America, the superhero film “Avengers: Endgame” is a very obviously American spectacle. Beyond its swagger and expensive special effects（口语素材）, the Marvel comic book film series, of which this is the final instalment, celebrates flawed, individualistic superheroes. That the film just broke Chinese box-office records for its opening weekend could lead outsiders to assume that the American and Chinese film markets—the world’s two largest—are converging. In fact China’s film world is becoming more distinctive and self-confident.
即使不吹嘘“美国队长”这个角色，超级英雄电影“复仇者联盟：终结者”也是一部非常具有鲜明特征的美国奇观（盛大的演出）。 除了大制作和昂贵的特效之外，这是整个漫威电影系列的最后一部，为了庆祝有缺陷的个人主义超级英雄。 这部电影在开幕的第一个周末就打破了中国电影票房纪录，这可能会让外界认为美国和中国的电影市场 - 世界上最大的两个市场正在慢慢融合。 事实上，中国的电影世界正变得更加独特和自信。
Hollywood producers have bet fair sums of money, over the years, on the idea that American and Chinese audiences are not so very different, and will laugh, weep and cheer at the same, carefully globalised movies. China has a habit of proving them wrong. The “Avengers” series has a large but distinctive set of fans in China, who often say they love the films precisely because they identify with its misfit heroes, struggling with a harsh, judgmental world.
多年来，好莱坞制片人多年来赌上大笔资金来证明美国和中国观众并没有多大的差别，因为她们会在同样的国际电影情节中大笑，哭泣和欢呼。中国却总是习惯去证明他们的观点是错的。 “复仇者联盟”系列在中国拥有一大批独特的粉丝，他们却说喜欢这部电影，恰恰因为他们认同这部电影中一些明明不适合当英雄的人，却在这个严酷的，吹毛求疵的世界中挣扎。
Over 1.7bn cinema tickets were sold in China last year, a domestic record. Most sales were driven by locally made hits in which the stories ranged from Chinese military heroics overseas (“Operation Red Sea”) to a bittersweet drama about cancer (“Dying to Survive”). Though Hollywood had a respectable 2018 worldwide, revenues in China for imported films were down year on year.
去年一整年中国一共售出17亿张电影票，并创造了国内记录。大部分销售份额都来自于国产票房保证影片，范围从海外中国军事英雄（“红海行动”）到与癌症有关的苦乐参半的故事（“我不是药神”）。虽然2018年好莱坞电影依旧在全球范围内受人尊敬，但中国进口电影收入部分同比下降。
Before “Avengers: Endgame”, the world’s most successful film this year had been a Chinese science-fiction epic, “Wandering Earth”. But it owed this mainly to its popularity at home. By the end of its American cinema release less than 1% of its revenues came from the American box office. Western reviewers struggled to relate to a film that involved saving the planet, and in which the only speaking role for a non-Chinese was given to a Russian.
在“复仇者联盟：终结者”之前，今年最受瞩目是中国科幻史诗电影 “流浪地球”。 但这主要归功于它在国内的受欢迎程度。 这部影片在美国电影结束上映时，只有不到1％的票房收入。 西方评论家努力把它与拯救地球的某一部电影联系起来，其中唯一一个有台词的非中国人角色给了一个俄国人。
Americans flocked to “Crazy Rich Asians”, a frothy romantic comedy about Chinese-Americans and Singapore’s high society. Despite its supposed crossover appeal, in China it flopped.
受美国人追捧的“摘金奇缘”，这是一部关于华裔美国人和新加坡上流社会的泡沫浪漫喜剧。 尽管它被认为有一定的跨国界跨文化吸引力，但在中国却还是以失败告终。
Celina Horan, a Chinese-American actor, speaks with authority about the two film markets. Educated in Hong Kong and at the London School of Economics, she is fluent in Cantonese, English and Mandarin. Known professionally as Celina Jade and in China as Lu Jingshan, she played the female lead in “Wolf Warrior 2”, released in 2017 and to date the highest-grossing Chinese film ever.
美籍华裔演员塞琳娜·霍兰（Celina Horan）对这两个电影市场拥有一定发言权。 她曾就读于香港和伦敦经济学院，能说流利的广东话，英语和普通话。 因Celina Jade而被知晓，中文名叫卢靖姗，她在2017年发行的 “战狼2” 中扮演女主角，该电影是迄今为止票房最高的中国电影。
Modern China’s first big American import, “The Fugitive” starring Harrison Ford, was allowed into just six cities in 1994. It prompted a spat between state film distributors that took on a nationalist edge. One distributor grumbled about “using socialist money to fatten the capitalist pig”. Officials still resist Hollywood’s charms. A rampant piracy problem is largely resolved. But quotas continue to limit the number of foreign films shown each year (President Donald Trump’s trade negotiators are trying to improve Hollywood’s market access). Foreign studios pre-emptively pander to China’s censors, avoiding taboo subjects like Tibet. The Chinese version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, a biopic about Freddie Mercury, a flamboyant musician, excised most references to his sexuality.
当代中国所引进的第一部美国大片《亡命天涯》 由哈里森·福特主演，在1994年只被允许在六个城市发行。这引起了各地电影发行商之间的争执，有些发行商具有较强的民族主义优势。 一位经销商抱怨“用社会主义的钱来养肥资本主义的猪”。 官员们仍然抵制好莱坞的的影响，当时猖獗的盗版问题基本得到解决。 但每年引进的国外电影数量受到限制（特朗普总统的贸易谈判代表正试图改善好莱坞的市场准入）。外国工作室先发制人地迎合中国的审查，避免像西藏这样的禁忌话题。 中国版的“波西米亚狂想曲”是一部关于弗雷迪·梅尔弗雷德（Freddie Mercury）的传记片，弗雷迪·梅尔弗斯（Freddie Mercury）是一位性格鲜明的音乐家，该片删减掉了大部分涉及他的性取向的片段。
Ms Jade says she is proud to work in today’s assertive, self-confident China. Unbidden, she pays tribute to one-party rule. When tackling environmental challenges, “democracy kind of slows things down”, she says. Ms Jade questions the idea that censorship makes for bad movies: “Sometimes having limitations forces people to be more creative.”
Jade说她很自豪能够在如今坚定自信的中国工作。 她不受限制的向一党统治致敬。 她说在应对环境挑战时，“民主会减慢事态”。 在被质疑审查会破坏电影原有含义的问题中提出：“有时候有限制会迫使人们更有创意。”
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