VOA标准英语2012--Supernatural Romance, Action Attract All Ages

Supernatural Romance, Action Attract All Ages

In the Houston suburb of Tomball, these women get together frequently to socialize and chat about the books they are reading.

Cathy Clark says many of those books - targeted at teens - also attract adult readers like her.

"You have those really strong authors in Young Adult and no matter what your age [is] they appeal and paranormal is something different," she said.

Meet the authors

Some 70 kilometers away, in west Houston, fans of Young Adult Supernatural Romance novels recently packed the Blue Willow¹ bookstore to meet four authors on a tour sponsored by their publisher, Harper Collins.

Cynthia Hand, author of two books about Clara, a teenage girl with special powers, says she has found a bond with her fans.

"I love the idea that we are sharing the same story, that we know the same people," she said.

Courtney Allison Moulton's books are full of sword fights and other action that she says resonates with a lot of male readers.

"I had a buddy² who spent a couple of years in Afghanistan and he brought my book over there with him and he shared with the other - you know, these really tough Army guys reading my book and they are excited about the action," she said.

Supernatural attraction

The supernatural quality of that action attracts 25-year-old Exal Iraheta. 

"It takes you out of the normality that is your life, your routine life, and who doesn't want to feel special ?" she asks.

Some stories, like the ones from the popular "Twilight³" series of books and movies, feature vampires⁴ as principal characters. But fans like 13-year-old Jennifer Vu say they look for other elements as well.

"I like mystery and I like suspense⁵ and I like a little bit of murder in it," she said.

The growth of this genre⁶ is good news for book sellers, like Blue Willow Bookstore owner Valerie Koehler, who expects this month’s release of the “Hunger Games” film to drive book sales the same way the “Twilight” films did a few years ago.

"When Twilight came out we thought everybody had read Twilight and we thought 'who in heck are we going to sell it to?' Well, it turned out there were a lot of people who had not read Twilight yet," she said.

But for many hard-core fans, young and old, watching the movies just can’t match what they get from reading the books. 

1 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

2 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

3 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

4 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

5 suspense   

n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑

参考例句：

• The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
• The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。

6 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。