THIS IS AMERICA - Hong Kong Gets a Disneyland Park

THIS IS AMERICA - Hong Kong Gets a Disneyland Park
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, October 03, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. The Walt Disney Company opened its first amusement park in the United States fifty years ago. In September, it opened a similar park in Hong Kong. Today we tell about the company and its creator.

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VOICE ONE:

The weather was hot. But the heat did not prevent thousands of people from visiting the new Hong Kong Disneyland. They came to try the rides, the shows and all the other things to do at the newest theme park of the Walt Disney Company.

 
Hong Kong Chief Executive¹ Donald Tsang, left, Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner, third from left, China's Vice² President Zeng Qinghong, third from right, and Walt Disney Company CEO-elect Bob Iger, right, pose³ with Mickey and Minnie
Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Disney officials held the opening ceremonies. The park is the eleventh that the Disney company has built in the United States and overseas since nineteen fifty-five. The Hong Kong park cost about three and one-half thousand million dollars.

Disney characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Cinderella paraded at the event. And the park has traditional Disney park rides like the Mad Hatter Tea Cups, Dumbo and Space Mountain. But there was also a good measure of local culture. The Hong Kong Children's Choir⁴ sang. Dancers representing lions and dragons appeared. Fireworks lit the sky.

Soon after the opening, Disney official George Mitchell said the company plans to build a second park next to the new one.

 
Visitors watch a giant Mickey Mouse on parade after the grand opening of Hong Kong Disneyland on Monday, Sept. 12.
VOICE TWO:

Hong Kong Disneyland is the second Disney theme park in Asia. Tokyo got the first one in nineteen eighty-three.

There is also Disneyland Park in Paris.

Disneyland in Anaheim, California, came first, fifty years ago. Visitors to the new Hong Kong park see a Sleeping Beauty Castle building copied after the one in Disneyland in Anaheim.

The Walt Disney Company controls forty-three percent of the new park. Hong Kong holds fifty-seven percent of the project. The park and two Disney hotels are on Lantau Island, surrounded by mountains. Getting to the park by underground train from the center of the city takes about a half-hour.

VOICE ONE:

Experts in Chinese traditional feng shui helped design the Hong Kong park. Feng shui says that if objects are correctly placed, good energy and a good future follow.

Signs in the park are in both English and Chinese. Its eating places serve a number of kinds of food. For example, some offer hamburgers and American soft drinks. But hungry visitors can also find Asian food like sweet and sour pork and chicken curry⁵.

In addition to food and rides, the new park has live shows. One of these, "Festival of the Lion King," was created especially for Hong Kong Disneyland. Another show, "The Golden Mickeys," is presented like an awards program in Hollywood. It tells Disney stories with song, dance and special effects.

VOICE TWO:

Some visitors noted⁶ that Hong Kong Disneyland has fewer rides and other things to do than other Disneyland parks.

About five thousand local citizens work at the park. Labor⁷ union activists⁸ have urged them to organize. The activists say the employees are working long hours in sometimes difficult conditions. Disney says it would be better for employees and the company to "work and communicate directly with each other."

Other activists successfully demanded that a park eating place cancel plans to serve a food containing a threatened fish. People spoke⁹ against the treatment of wild dogs that live on Lantau Island. Still other activists demanded that fireworks that are shown not damage the environment.

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VOICE ONE:

Today, the Walt Disney Company is worth about fifty-seven thousand million dollars. It has come a long way since the nineteen twenties. At that time, Walt Disney and his brother Roy produced their first cartoon film, "Steamboat Willie."

Walt Disney's cartoons were a series of drawings on film. Each drawing is a little different from the one before it. Each shows a tiny change in movement. When we see a film of hand-drawn cartoons, the cartoon people and animals appear to move. They speak with voices recorded by actors.

 
Walt Disney with models of Disneyland
The public loved to watch the Disney creatures move and act. Walt Disney, however, was not satisfied with just making cartoons. He wanted to do more. Later in life he opened that first Disneyland in California.

VOICE TWO:

Walt Disney died in nineteen sixty-six. But his company continued. For twenty important years, Michael Eisner served as top leader of the Walt Disney Company.

Mister¹⁰ Eisner had joined it in nineteen eighty-four as chairman and chief executive officer. In the nineteen nineties, the company grew into a total media business. It bought movie production companies, newspapers and cable¹¹ television companies.

Michael Eisner and Pixar Animation¹² Studios agreed to make five animated¹³ movies. This produced the extremely popular films "Finding¹⁴ Nemo" and "The Incredibles." But in January of two thousand four, talks to extend¹⁵ the agreement failed.

Some shareholders¹⁶ in the company blamed Mister Eisner. Michael Eisner remained top leader of the company until two thousand four. At that time, the Disney board of directors removed him as chairman.

VOICE ONE:

In March of two thousand five, the Walt Disney Company announced that Robert Iger would replace Mister Eisner as the company's top official. Mister had been president and chief operating officer of the company for the past five years. He and the chief of Pixar Animation Studios have held meetings. But the future of the relationship between the two is unclear.

Pixar uses computers to produce cartoons.

Michael Eisner left Disney on Friday.

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VOICE TWO:

 
Mickey Mouse in Chinese dress in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle 
Now we will tell you more about the man who started the huge Disney creative and business world. As a young man, Walt Disney believed that cartoon movies could be just as popular as movies made with real people. So he created Mickey Mouse.

Disney's cartoon mouse had big eyes and ears. He stood on two legs like a human. He wore white gloves on his hands. Disney's first short cartoon films starring Mickey Mouse made both the mouse and his creator famous.

VOICE ONE:

Mickey Mouse appeared in hundreds of cartoons over the years. He became known throughout the world. Other cartoon creatures soon joined Mickey. One was the female¹⁷ mouse called Minnie. Another was the duck named Donald, with his sailor clothes and funny voice. And there was the dog called Pluto¹⁸.

Disney's first full-length cartoon movie was completed in nineteen thirty-seven. It was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs¹⁹." "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" became one of Hollywood's most successful movies.

VOICE TWO:

Many movie experts say Disney's art of animation reached a high point in nineteen forty with the movie "Pinocchio." The story is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a little boy. Disney's artists drew two-and-one-half-million pictures to make "Pinocchio."

Disney made other extremely popular cartoon films during the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. They include "Fantasia," "Cinderella," "Dumbo" and "Bambi." Disney's skills in this animation process made him one of the world's most successful movie artists.

VOICE ONE:

In the middle of the last century, Disney also started producing live-action films with actors. Live action or animated, Disney stories had similar ideas. In most of them, evil²⁰ forces threatened innocence²¹, loyalty²² and family love. Sad things sometimes happened. But there were always funny incidents and creatures. In the end, good always won over evil.

In nineteen sixty-four, Disney made a popular film called "Mary Poppins." It told about a woman who cares for other people's children. Human actors shared the action with cartoon characters. "Mary Poppins" was one of Walt Disney's last productions. He died two years later.

VOICE TWO:

Over time, Disney won thirty-two Academy²³ awards for his movies and for technical inventions in filmmaking. People still praise his work.

That work included Disneyland parks. Disney once said Disneyland would never be complete as long as there was imagination left in the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver²⁴ was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty²⁵.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

1 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 pose   

vt.造成，陈述；vi.摆姿势，装腔作势；n.姿势

参考例句：

• He sat in a relaxed pose.他轻松自如地坐着。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend.他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

4 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

5 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

11 cable   

n.缆绳，索；电缆；电报；vt.电汇，打电报

参考例句：

• Don't forget to cable us as soon as you arrive.别忘了一到就给我发个电报。
• The worker attached a cable.工人连接电缆。

12 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

13 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

14 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

15 extend   

v.伸开；展开，伸展；扩大；加大

参考例句：

• Can you extend your visit for a few days more?你能把你的访问再延长几天吗？
• The examinations extend over two weeks.考试持续两个星期。

16 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

17 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

18 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

19 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

20 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

21 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

22 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

23 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

24 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

25 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。