大年初一，中國首部以太空為背景的超級大片《流浪地球》上映，一周內拿下20億票房，在預售排名第四的情況下，逆襲成為春節檔冠軍。據在線票務平臺貓眼估算，《流浪地球》最終票房或超過50億，創造《戰狼2》之后的又一票房神話。
《流浪地球》改編自劉慈欣所著同名小說，由郭帆執導，吳京特別出演。故事設定在太陽即將膨脹吞噬整個太陽系，地球面臨毀滅之時。為求生存，人類社會開啟了“流浪地球”計劃，制造“行星發動機”試圖帶著地球一起逃出太陽系并前往新家園。
這部科幻電影在引發“宇宙級鄉愁”的同時，更撬動了人們對中國科幻作品未來的期待。《紐約時報》稱，中國在太空探索領域是后來者，在電影業中，中國也是科幻片領域的后來者。不過，這種局面就要改變了。
本篇課程首發于2019年2月13日，選自 The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/movies/wandering-earth-china.html
作者：Steven Lee Myers
China's Film Industry Finally Joins the Space Race
① China's first blockbuster set in space, "The Wandering Earth," opened last week amid grandiose expectations that it will represent the dawning of a new era in Chinese filmmaking.
② "The Wandering Earth," shown in 3-D, takes place in a distant future in which the sun is about to expand into a red giant and devour the Earth.
③ The impending peril forces the world's engineers to devise a plan to move the planet to a new solar system using giant thrusters. Things go very badly when Earth has to pass Jupiter, setting off a desperate scramble to save humanity from annihilation.
④ The film is adapted from the namesake novel by Liu Cixin, the writer who has led a renaissance in science fiction here, becoming the first Chinese winner of the Hugo Award for the genre in 2015.
⑤ His novels are sprawling epics and deeply researched. That makes them plausible fantasies about humanity's encounters with a dangerous universe.
⑥ The opening came as China reached a milestone in space: the landing of a probe on the far side of the moon in January.
▍生詞好句
space race: 太空競賽
blockbuster /?bl?k?b?st?r, ?blɑ?k?b?st?r/: n. 大片
be set in: 設定在……的背景下
be set against the background of: 設定在……的背景之下
wander /?w?nd?r, ?wɑ?nd?r/: vi. 游蕩；漫游 (to move without a fixed course, aim or goal)
grandiose /?ɡr?ndi??s/: adj. 宏大的，壯闊的；浮夸的 (impressive because of uncommon largeness or scale)
grandiose ideas: 宏大的想法
grandiose plans: 宏偉的計劃
verbose /v???b??s, v??r?b??s/: adj. 啰嗦的；冗長的
jocose /d???k??s/: adj. 愛開玩笑的
represent /?repr??zent/: vt. 代表；表現；象征
dawning /?d??n??, ?dɑ?n??/: n. 開端；開始
dawn /d??n, dɑ?n/: n. 破曉；黎明
distant /?d?st?nt/: adj. 遙遠的
far /fɑ?, fɑ?r/: adj. 遙遠的 (一般作表語)
a distant/far-away place: 一個遙遠的地方
red giant: 紅巨星
devour /d??va??, d??va??r/: vt. 吞噬；吞沒
impending /?m?pend??/: adj. 迫在眉睫的；即將來臨的
peril /?per?l/: n. 危險；冒險 (serious and immediate danger)
devise /d??va?z/: vt. 設計；策劃 (to form in the mind by new combinations or applications of ideas or principles；腦力策劃的過程)
design /d??za?n/: vt. 設計 (多指可以用圖紙實現的設計過程，比如時裝、建筑、工業等等)
solar system: 太陽系
thruster /?θr?st?, ?θr?st?r/: n. 推進器
Things go badly. 事態惡化；情況不妙；發展不順利
Jupiter /?d?u?p?t?, ?d?u?p?t?r/: n. 木星
set off a desperate scramble for sth. / to do sth.: 觸發了……的渴望；引發了一個……的緊急狀況
desperate scramble: 迫切渴望/需求
humanity /hju??m?n?ti/: n. 人類；人性；(humanities) 人文學科
annihilation /??na???le???n/: n. 徹底毀滅；湮滅
be adapted from: 改編自
best adapted screenplay: 最佳改編劇本
best original screenplay: 最佳原創劇本
namesake /?ne?mse?k/: n. 同名的人或事物
lead a renaissance in: 引領了一場……的復興
renaissance /r??ne?s?ns, ?ren??sɑ?ns/: n. 某種文化的再次興起
genre /???nr?, ??ɑ?nr?/: n. (文藝作品的) 流派；類別
sprawling epic: 宏大的史詩
plausible /?pl??z?b?l, ?plɑ?z?b?l/: adj. 看起來可信的
fantasy /?f?nt?si/: n. 幻想
reach a milestone: 取得一個里程碑
probe /pr??b/: n. 探測器
▍詞匯拓展
1. be set in: 設定在……的背景下
· be set against the background of: 設定在……的背景之下
The costume drama was set in the Song dynasty.
這部古裝劇的背景設定在宋朝。
The story was set against the background of Chinese Civil War.
這個故事設定在中國內戰的背景之下。
2. wander: vi. 游蕩；漫游 (to move without a fixed course, aim or goal)
I wandered lonely as a cloud. (William Wordsworth)
我似浮云，獨游于天際。
3. represent: vt. 代表；表現；象征
The popularity of short video apps like Douyin represents a new trend in Chinese cultural consumption.
抖音這樣的短視頻 app 的流行，代表著中國在文化消費領域出現了新的趨勢。
4. Things go badly. 事態惡化；情況不妙；發展不順利
Things are going very badly with the project.
項目的進展很不順利。
Things are going very badly with him.
他的狀況不太妙。
5. set off a desperate scramble for something/to do something: 觸發了……的渴望；引發了一個……的緊急狀況
The economic recession has set off a desperate scramble for a layoff in the Internet industry.
經濟的衰退在互聯網行業觸發了一輪裁員潮。
6. sprawling epic: 宏大的史詩
The book is a sprawling epic on race in America.
這是一部關于美國種族議題的史詩級的作品。
▍配樂
流浪地球主題音樂（阿鯤）
▍責任編輯
高晴、李煥
▍內容校對
武志琳、章曉丹
