美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Avengers: Infinity War,' The Superheroes Have Their Work Cut Out For Them

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Marvel¹ movie "Avengers: Infinity² War" opens this weekend. Advance ticket sales are topping even those for "Black Panther." The film brings together storylines from all over the Marvel Universe, and it's being advertised with a certain finality.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

JOSH BROLIN: (As Thanos) The end is near.

SHAPIRO: That's the villain³ talking. And critic Bob Mondello says he is in a way talking about the series itself.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE⁴: The Avengers are forever saving the world. They've done that in three movies, countless⁵ comic books. But this time, they're up against a big guy named Thanos, and it's not just the world that's in danger, at least according to Thanos' estranged⁶ daughter.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

ZOE SALDANA: (As Gamora) The entire time I knew him, he only ever had one goal - to wipe out half the universe. If he gets all the infinity stones, he can do it with a snap of his fingers, just like that.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR: (As Iron Man) We're going to need some help.

MONDELLO: Some help is soon on the way. And by that, I mean so many superheroes and hangers-on from every nook and cranny of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that the only way I can fit them all into this review is to tap into my own admittedly minor⁷ super power and release my inner-Gilbert and Sullivan.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MONDELLO: (Singing) Hulk and Thor and Cap and Loki, Pepper Potts and Iron Man, Black Widow, Heimdall, Bucky Barnes and teen web-slinging Spider-Man. From "Guardians⁸" there's Rocket, Groot and big-eyed Drax the Destroyer plus Star-Lord and Gamora and her cyborg sibling⁹ Nebula¹⁰. Wakanda's sending T'Challa, who is Black Panther, as you know, along with brilliant Shuri, Okoye, M'Baku and Ayo. The Scarlet¹¹ Witch and Mantis¹² will be joined by Dr. Strange and Wong plus Falcon¹³, War Machine and Vision. Man, this list is getting long.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

MONDELLO: But will they be enough? Well, that's the story in Marvel's, shall we say, "Ocean's 28." And I'm honor-bound not to spoil it. I can say that our heroes have their work cut out for them not just battling Thanos and his metal-gray henchfolk but also explaining things like infinity stones so you'll know why folks are throwing asteroid-sized objects at one another. Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Strange do the expository heavy lifting.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: (As Dr. Stephen Strange) He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of.

DOWNEY JR: (As Iron Man) Did you seriously just say hitherto undreamt of?

CUMBERBATCH: (As Dr. Stephen Strange) Are you...

MONDELLO: Speaking of Downey and Cumberbatch or, rather, of their screen lives elsewhere, I remember finding a volume of the complete "Sherlock Holmes" when I was a kid and sitting down to gorge¹⁴ on the stories all at once and realizing as I got to the 11th or so that I'd learned the rhythms and wasn't being surprised anymore. We are now at number 19 in the Marvel movies. I say this simply as an aside.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

CUMBERBATCH: (As Dr. Stephen Strange) Went forward in time to see all the possible outcomes.

DOWNEY JR: (As Iron Man) Did we win any?

MONDELLO: The three Chrises - Evans, Hemsworth and Pratt - are present and accounted for with Captain America doing his decent soldier thing while the others, playing intergalactic pretty boys...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: (As Thor) Join us.

MONDELLO: ...Puff¹⁵ out their chests amusingly.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

HEMSWORTH: (As Thor) Join Earth's mightiest¹⁶ heroes.

CHRIS PRATT: (As Star-Lord) Not today, Sir.

BRADLEY COOPER: (As Rocket) Are you making your voice deeper?

PRATT: (As Star-Lord) No.

DAVE BAUTISTA: (As Drax) You are.

POM KLEMENTIEFF: (As Mantis) He just did it again.

BAUTISTA: (As Drax) You're imitating the god man.

PRATT: (As Star-Lord) This is my voice.

MONDELLO: Give credit to directors Joe and Anthony Russo for keeping storylines straight and for impressive crowd control despite some understandable overlap¹⁷ in costumes and superpowers when you cram¹⁸ this many heroes into one movie. It's mostly possible to tell who's doing what to whom even if the filmmakers lay on too many climactic battles that aren't actual climaxes¹⁹. To leave no stone unturned as it were, the film travels to Greenwich Village, Scotland, a planet called Knowhere, as in, I know where they've hidden the stones - also to Wakanda, which got the biggest cheer at my screening with Black Panther having the honor of hosting the Earth version of the apocalypse.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

DANAI GURIRA: (As Okoye) When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world, this is not what I imagined.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN: (As Black Panther) What did you imagine?

GURIRA: (As Okoye) The Olympics, maybe even a Starbucks.

MONDELLO: Central to all this is Josh Brolin's wistfully misguided, persuasively²⁰ villainous villain conducting a galaxy-crushing scavenger²¹ hunt for the stones that will give him one bedazzled glove to rule them all.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR")

BROLIN: (As Thanos) This (laughter) does put a smile on my face.

MONDELLO: "Infinity War's" place in the "Avengers" saga²² is much like that of the middle chapters in "The Lord Of The Rings" or "Star Wars" trilogies. Its chief purpose is to leave you hungry for the finale, and it does that not so much with inspiration as with the well-oiled efficiency we've come to expect from Marvel. I'm Bob Mondello.

1 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

2 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

3 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

8 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

9 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

10 nebula   

n.星云，喷雾剂

参考例句：

• A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
• A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。

11 scarlet   

n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的

参考例句：

• The scarlet leaves of the maples contrast well with the dark green of the pines.深红的枫叶和暗绿的松树形成了明显的对比。
• The glowing clouds are growing slowly pale,scarlet,bright red,and then light red.天空的霞光渐渐地淡下去了，深红的颜色变成了绯红，绯红又变为浅红。

12 mantis   

n.螳螂

参考例句：

• Praying mantis has two powerful claws like sharp knives.螳螂有一对强壮的爪子，它们像锋利的刀。
• In her mind,it was a female mantis,devouring her mates.她的意识中，是一只雌螳螂正吞咽她的配偶。

13 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

14 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

15 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

16 mightiest   

adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的

参考例句：

• \"If thou fearest to leave me in our cottage, thou mightiest take me along with thee. “要是你害怕把我一个人留在咱们的小屋里，你可以带我一块儿去那儿嘛。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
• Silent though is, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs. 确实，沉默毕竟是人类事件中最强大的代理人。 来自互联网

17 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

18 cram   

v.填塞，塞满，临时抱佛脚，为考试而学习

参考例句：

• There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
• The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的，再也挤不进去人了。

19 climaxes   

n.顶点( climax的名词复数 )；极点；高潮；性高潮

参考例句：

• There are two climaxes to this novel. 这部小说有两个高潮。 来自辞典例句
• At least that is the way the February and October revolutions in Russia reached their climaxes. 至少俄国的二月革命和十月革命就是这样进入高潮的。 来自互联网

20 persuasively   

adv.口才好地；令人信服地

参考例句：

• Students find that all historians argue reasonably and persuasively. 学生们发现所有的历史学家都争论得有条有理，并且很有说服力。 来自辞典例句
• He spoke a very persuasively but I smelled a rat and refused his offer. 他说得头头是道，但我觉得有些可疑，于是拒绝了他的建议。 来自辞典例句

21 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

22 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。