VOA慢速英语--'Free Solo' Film Brings Climber Alex Honnold to Hollywood

 

Alex Honnold lives life dangerously.

Honnold, who is 33, is one of the best-known “free solo” rock climbers in the world. That means he climbs huge rock faces hundreds of meters up -- alone and without any safety equipment.

Now, one of his riskiest¹ climbs -- the 900-meter-high El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park -- is taking him to the Academy Awards. A film about the 2017 climb has been nominated for a best documentary Oscar.

It is called “Free Solo.” It looks at Honnold’s experience of preparing for and ascending³ El Capitan, one of the most famous climbing places in the United States. Many climbers make it their goal to ascend² the huge wall. But most of them use the usual rock climbing equipment that helps keeps them from falling to the ground.

The extreme danger of Honnold’s climb and the ever-present possibility of death causes great fear for those around Honnold in the film. Even an extremely small misstep of his foot or misplacement of a finger could have sent Honnold falling to his death.

Honnold himself finds it all liberating⁴. He said free solo climbing lets him lose “that sense of self, just being fully⁵ present in what I’m actually doing, just doing the moves,” Honnold told the Reuters news agency.

At the center of the documentary is the problem that filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi struggled with during production: whether recording⁶ Honnold’s climb would make it more risky⁷ for him or lead him to take chances he would not normally take.

“We trusted him. We also trusted our own judgment,” Vasarhelyi said. “But we had to address the ethical⁸ question. And that’s why we include the filmmaking, so that audiences can understand what we were struggling with.”

The filmmakers put cameras at the most difficult points of the climb so they would not affect Honnold’s attention. And they had special long-distance cameras on the ground.

But camera operators still had to film much of Honnold's climb while connected to the side of the rock face with ropes.

Vasarhelyi said the comment she hears most is how inspiring the film is.

“We’ve been just humbled⁹ by this outpouring from audiences saying that Alex’s courage gives them courage and that they’re inspired to pursue their dreams,” she said.

The Oscars will be presented on February 24 at a ceremony in Los Angeles, California.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

Words in This Story

ascend - v. to go up : to rise or move toward the sky

actually - adv. used to refer to what is true or real

humbled - adj. given or said in a way that shows you do not think you are better than other people

courage - n. the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous

pursue - v. to try to get or do (something) over a period of time

address - v. direct (spoken or written words) to someone

ethical - adj. involving questions of right and wrong behavior : relating to ethics¹⁰

inspiring - adj. causing people to want to do or create something or to lead better lives

audiences - n. the people who gather together to listen to something (such as a concert)

1 riskiest   

冒险的，危险的( risky的最高级 )

参考例句：

• With markets lately rising, the riskiest investments are finding takers. 他说，在周期高峰时，投资者会追逐风险最高的资产。
• The riskiest subprime securitieshave almost no takers. 风险最高的次级证券几乎没有人持有。

2 ascend   

vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上

参考例句：

• We watched the airplane ascend higher and higher.我们看着飞机逐渐升高。
• We ascend in the order of time and of development.我们按时间和发展顺序向上溯。

3 ascending   

adj.上升的，向上的

参考例句：

• Now draw or trace ten dinosaurs in ascending order of size.现在按照体型由小到大的顺序画出或是临摹出10只恐龙。

4 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

8 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

9 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

10 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。