2007年VOA标准英语-Pan's Labyrinth: Child's Fairy Tale Provide Ref

By Alan Silverman
Holywood
13 January 2007

A child's fairy tale fantasy provides her refuge from the ravages¹ of war in a vividly² imaginative film by Mexican-born writer-director Guillermo del Toro. Alan Silverman has a look at "Pan's Labyrinth³."

Ivana Baquero and Doug Jones in Picturehouse's Pan's Labyrinth

"It is an ancient labyrinth" the housekeeper⁴ explains to young Ofelia who has wandered off and discovered the overgrown stone gate. She gently warns the girl to be careful "...you might get lost." Ofelia already feels lost. It is Spain in 1944. Her widowed mother is pregnant with the child of a Captain in Franco's Army. He has brought them to the remote countryside to live in a commandeered estate while his troops put down the remnants of rebel forces. Ofelia escapes from the brutal⁵ realities of the Civil War by reading fables⁶ ...so she is more than curious when she is awakened⁷ on one their first night there by the fluttering of wings:

"Mother, wake up ... there is something in the room." But her mother is too sound asleep to see the tiny fairy that alights on Ofelia's shoulder. It beckons⁸ and she follows ...into the labyrinth where a stone staircase has appeared. She tiptoes down as it spirals into a deep chamber⁹ where, to her amazement¹⁰, she finds herself face to face with a creature - half man, half goat:

"Who are you?" she asks. "I have been known by many names," he answers in an ancient, forgotten accent ... "names that are remembered only by the trees." He is a faun, he explains, and declares that she is not the mortal Ofelia, but actually Princess Moanna, the long-lost daughter of the King of the Underworld. And so begins her perilous¹¹ adventure, stealing away every moment she can to learn if her destiny is truly at the end of the dark staircase.

It all comes from the imagination of writer-director Guillermo del Toro, who hedges his answer to the question of whether the world within the labyrinth is simply Ofelia's fantasy. "I think it exists myself. I think it's real ...but that's me. It doesn't need to be the 'official playbook' for the film. I believe the girl does not escape to it because it is almost as uncomfortable a place as reality. If I made it a happy 'singing chipmunk¹², bluebird singing' kind of place then, yes, you could say she escapes to that; but she's actually finding a place where she can deal with the realities outside and within herself," he says.

"Of course there are two worlds. You can see the toughness of the civil war and the fantasy, which are two separate worlds," says young Spanish actress Ivana Baquero, who plays 11-year-old Ofelia. "One of the pretty aspects of this story is that you can choose whether you want to believe she really sees that or she imagines it. As Ivana, I think she really sees it. She's creating this world, not only to escape herself, but to make other people happy and for war to finish."

Ofelia reads from the magical book that the faun gave her: "use the chalk to draw a doorway¹³ on the wall of your room." Beyond that doorway is one of the three dangerous tasks he has set for her to prove that she is worthy¹⁴ to re-join her father at the throne of the underworld.

"You must complete three tasks before the moon is full," the faun Pan intones. He is portrayed¹⁵ by American Doug Jones, beneath elaborate makeup¹⁶ that took five hours each day to apply. Jones, a gifted physical actor, has brought a variety of other-worldly creatures to life on film: The thing about 'El Fauno' or 'Pan' was that we have the goat image to go with on that, so (director) Guillermo del Toro said it would be a good thing if I had a look at farm animals to see how their hind¹⁷ quarters move, how they shake off flies and things like that. There are a couple of times in the movie where you can see I do a kind of shudder¹⁸ that works its way up my back ... and there's the way the hooves stomp¹⁹ around and kick up dust," he says.

Jones also plays the 'pale man' who menaces Ofelia on one of her fantastic adventures. As writer-director del Toro points out, there is danger for the child within "Pan's Labyrinth;" so even with its fairy tale elements he says the film is really about the impact of war on people of every age. "It is beyond children in a chronological²⁰ sense. I think we are killing²¹ a lot of the innocents. It is the 'wild west' all of a sudden and I think there is a lot of innocence²² being lost. I think this is a very intimate moment of humanity where we need to concern ourselves with this sort of spiritual questions. I think they go beyond the political," he says.

The cast of "Pan's Labyrinth" includes Spanish screen stars Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdu and Sergi Lopez. The cinematographer is Mexican-born Guillermo Navarro, a frequent collaborator²³ with director del Toro; the musical score is by Spanish composer Javier Navarette.

1 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

2 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

3 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

4 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

5 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

6 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

7 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 beckons   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He sent his ships wherever profit beckons. 他将船队派往赢利的那些地方。 来自辞典例句
• I believe history beckons again. 我认为现在历史又在召唤了。 来自辞典例句

9 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

10 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

11 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

12 chipmunk   

n.花栗鼠

参考例句：

• This little chipmunk is hungry.这只小花栗鼠肚子饿了。
• Once I brought her a chipmunk with a wound on its stomach.一次，我带了只腹部受伤的花栗鼠去找她。

13 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

14 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

15 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

17 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

18 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

19 stomp   

v.跺（脚），重踩，重踏

参考例句：

• 3.And you go to france, and you go to stomp! 你去法国，你去看跺脚舞！
• 4.How hard did she stomp? 她跺得有多狠？

20 chronological   

adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的

参考例句：

• The paintings are exhibited in chronological sequence.这些画是按创作的时间顺序展出的。
• Give me the dates in chronological order.把日期按年月顺序给我。

21 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

22 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。

23 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。