1、Unit 12: Disney World: Cities of Simulation as Postmodern UtopiasTEXT COMPREHENSIONIV. Explain in your own words the following sentences taken from the text.1. if the great myth of America is the story of progress, then Disney World serves as the happy ending in which progress reaches the ideal stat
2、e of utopia that goes beyond the limits of our physical world and changes the decadent state of nature, society and ourselves. 2. it does so by inviting us to return to an age of childhood happiness and innocence before we became aware of the harsh realities of life when we had no knowledge of the d
3、ifficult truths of the people and society.LANGUAGE WORKI. Explain the underlined parts in each sentence in your own words.1). On the thrill rides, they defy gravity, moving at speeds and in ways that seem to violate what common sense tells them should be possible. refuse to obey; act against2). The
4、effect is not unlike participating in a 365-day-a-year holiday, in which negative emotions are banished from life. taking part in 3). In Disney World, we transcend the mundane. go beyond the uninteresting everyday world4). In all this, Disney undoes the dry “scientism” of the world view of contempor
5、ary societies. works against/reverses the effect of; present-day5). . we could realistically hope that technology would usher in an age of affluence . lead in/bring in; prosperity6). Disney World is a place that masquerades as the happy ending, in which progress culminates in a utopia of transcenden
6、ce that undoes the fallen state of nature, society and ourselves. disguise itself as/appears to be; ends in7). But unlike most others, which were rendered in fiction or put into practice in small communities, in Disney, a perfect world is seemingly brought to life with simulation and offered as a va
7、cation paradise. presented; made more real and exciting8). But it does so by inviting us to regress to a state of happiness before the fall from childhood, with simplified visions of life that filter out the difficult truths of the self and society. go back; remove9). The contradictions inherent in
8、Disney World are deepened by the fact that it is only able to show us its vision of utopia by turning us into passive consumers who are taken for rides. intrinsic; cheated/deceived10). In Disney, we see the ultimate attempt to rely on technology, in which even experiences are manufactured for us by
9、machines. depend onExplain the meaning of the underlined part in each sentence.1). The manager prepared a computer simulation of likely sales performance for the rest of the year. a model of a problem or course of events made by computer2). A forest fire raging in the south of France is defying all
10、attempts to control it. challenging3). They were banished from the library for making noise. sent out4). The change has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. gradual5). My partner is labouring under the illusion that we will be able to complete the project in time. wrongly believes/ with the
11、false hope6). Reports about the accident began to filter in. appear gradually7). Dont rely on finding me here when you get back. Dont expect to find me here8). What a narcissist he must be all these mirrors everywhere. a person with great admiration for himself9). Before buying a pram, make sure tha
12、t it conforms to the official safety standards. reaches/meets10). Have you heard the rumors floating around that the shop is going to close? spreading around/circulating among people TRANSLATIONI. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words or phrases given in brackets.1).她对上菜场买菜
13、之类的凡俗之事不感兴趣。 (mundane) Mundane matters such as going to the market to buy food do not interest her.2). 我还记得我那无忧无虑的学生时代。 (carefree) I still remember my carefree student days.3). 在孩子幼年时由于缺少家长养育造成的损害是很难消除的。(undo) Its very difficult to undo the damage caused by inadequate parenting in a childs early yea
14、rs.4). 观众显然为她的表演所陶醉。(be enchanted by) The audience was clearly enchanted by her performance.5). 威尼斯电影节一直都是展示优秀的意大利电影的盛会。(showcase) The Venice Film Festival has always been a showcase of the Italian movies.6. 她因车祸大脑受损，智力退化到一个五岁孩子的水平。(regress to) She suffered brain damage from a car accident and regre
15、ssed to the mental age of a five-year-old.7). 小心点, 否则他会欺骗你的。 (take sb. for a ride) Be careful or hell take you for a ride.8). 州政府试图对公众隐瞒事件的真相，但是失败了。(conceal) The state government tried to conceal the truth of the accident from the public, but in vain. 9). 昨天报上发表的三篇文章都是围绕着本地区的环保问题展开讨论的。(revolve aroun
16、d) The three articles published in the newspaper yesterday revolved around the issue of environmental protection in this area.10). 他的论点的实质是教育应当贯穿我们的一生。(essence) The essence of his argument is that education should continue throughout our lives.II. Translate the following passage into English.电影专家说，动
17、画艺术的发展要归功于沃尔特迪斯尼。迪斯尼的艺术家们努力将生命注入每幅图画。也就是说，他们必须感受卡通生物的全部情感：喜、哀、怒、惧。艺术家们对着镜子看自己表达各种情感：微笑、流泪、脸红、睁大眼睛，然后把表情画到每一个卡通生物的脸上。迪斯尼的动画艺术在 1940 年的电影木偶奇遇记(Pinocchio)中达到了顶峰。该影片讲的是木头玩具活了起来变成一个小男孩的故事。为了制作木偶奇遇记 ，迪斯尼的艺术家们画了 250 万张画。艺术家们画的是平面画，然而他们创造了空间和实物感。 木偶奇遇记是个想象中的世界，然而它看起来很逼真。参考译文Movie experts say Walt Disney was
18、 responsible for the development of the art of animation. Disneys artists tried to put life into every drawing. That meant they had to feel all the emotions of the cartoon creatures: happiness, sadness, anger, fear. The artists looked at themselves in a mirror and expressed each emotion: a smile, te
19、ars, a red face, wide-opened eyes. Then they drew that look on the face of each cartoon creature.Disneys art of animation reached its highest point in 1940 with the movie Pinocchio. The story is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a little boy. Disneys artists drew two-and-a-half-million pictur
20、es to make Pinocchio. The artists drew flat pictures. Yet they created a look of space and solid objects. Pinocchio was an imaginary world, yet it looked very real.Chinese Translation of Paragraphs1. 迪斯尼世界的本质是什么？这主要与迪斯尼营造幻境的努力有关，这种幻境令游客仿佛进入了完美世界，更符合他们的期待。迪斯尼以多种方式营造这个“完美世界”。譬如，它鼓励游客以童真的眼光去观看乐园，把自己塑造为
21、一个“美梦成真”的地方。然而，最根本的还在于它营造了完美世界的一个虚构版本，使游客可以逃离物质现实世界的束缚而不再受时间、距离、大小以及物理定律的制约。在花样繁多的游乐区中，游客似乎可以穿越人体和 DNA，穿梭于过去和未来之间，并逃离地球。在惊险刺激的乘坐项目中，他们克服重力，以他们觉得不合常理的速度和方式运动。2. 此外，迪斯尼世界还吸引游客逃离社会与自我的坠落状态。它通过营造美国资本主义和政治历史理想化的幻象，将游客拽入一个庆典不断的世界，那里到处是游行与焰火，更有身 穿盛装的表演者和无尽的诱惑邀人作乐。其效果令人仿佛置 身于一项全年 365 天无间断的节庆活动，所有的烦恼与痛苦都被抛到了
22、九霄云外。3. 综上种种，迪斯尼世界显然是以虚拟的形式让游客实现了人类内心最深处的梦想：超脱。在迪斯尼世界，我们超脱了现世。在这里，我们离开了通常所处的世界在这个世界里大多机遇与我们无缘，人们的动机大多秘不示人。我们穿行于象征性的世界里，它们虽然客观而实在，但却似乎是无重量、无忧无虑、如梦如幻的世界，就像我们的想象。4. 在此过程中，迪斯尼瓦解了当代社会世界观枯燥乏味的“唯科学主义”。德国社会学家马克斯韦伯就曾说，随着现代科学的崛起和宗教势力的衰弱，我们正在失去对这个世界的迷恋。迪斯尼世界等模拟文化的产物似乎在使我们重新迷恋上这个世界，它们给我们新的允诺：艺术和技术可以借助太空飞行、外星生命、
23、时空旅行和失落世界的神话等当代新版传奇，重塑我们的世界。5. 然而，迪斯尼世界不仅提供具体化的梦幻世界，它还通过仿真的手段向我们展现了科技将以何种方式赋予我们掌控世界的力量以及逃离现世的自由。迪斯尼还呈现了技术的各种潜能如我们有一天将步入太空，或在地球上自由穿梭，或进化成一个完美社会。通过对这些事情模拟，我们目前就能以虚拟形式去享受未来现实中我们所希望享受的权力。6. 这些特征使迪斯尼世界成了未来技术将如何帮助我们超脱现世的最佳展示场所。现代主义承诺说，我们可以现实地希望技术将会迎来一个富足、理性并可征服自然的时代；而迪斯尼则揭示了由现代主义演变而来的“后现代主义”承诺，它告知我们技术可以使我
24、们摆脱社会和物质世界的条件限制。7. 我们故而可以在迪斯尼看到定义这个时代的两种趋向：一是通过技术的新魔棒逃离生活束缚的渴望，二是在模拟世界中假装我们已经达成此目标的渴望。如果说美国的宏伟神 话（或称为“元故事” ）是个发展的故事，那么迪斯尼世界则是为此伪饰欢快结局的地方。在这里，发展最终促成了超验主义乌托邦的诞生，并使大自然、社会和我们自身坠落的状态予以瓦解。8. 这些特征使迪斯尼世界与西方文明创造的形形色色的乌托邦传统一脉相承。然而，与其他那些小说中所描写的或者小型社区里的乌托邦不同，迪斯尼通过模拟似乎催生了一个完美的世界，并使之成为了度假的天堂。9. 具有讽刺意味的事之一是，迪斯尼世界歪
25、曲了我们追求更加美好世界的愿望，虽然它同时也表达了这种愿望。一方面，它表达了我们对纯真无邪、完美无缺的理想生活的渴望。但另一方面，它却是通过把生活景象简单化、滤掉了人类自我和社会难堪的真相、诱导我们退回至童真丧失之前的幸福境界来达到这个目的的。 10. 事实上，迪斯尼是通过欺骗我们，把我们变成被动的消费者后，才成功地向我们展示了乌托邦的景象，迪斯尼世界的内在矛盾也因此愈加深重。在迪斯尼世界，我们可以体察到我们与技术之间关系的本质危险。通过为我们包办一切，鼓励我们将自己当成孩子看待、迷失在图像和幻想之中，迪斯尼揭示了技术可以通过何种方式促使使用它的人们养成自恋人格的特征。11. 迪斯尼是一个警示性寓言，它不仅展现了未来社会的奇迹，而且显明进步也可能具有导致人类倒退的危险，使人类迷失在自动化、模拟化以及令人深信不疑的智能化幻境中。在迪斯尼，我们可以看到人类依赖技术的终极做法，甚至连我们的体验都可以由机器来制造。
