VOA标准英语2013--Rebels with a Cause Slam Corporate Greed

 

Rebels with a Cause Slam Corporate¹ Greed

The underground organization called "The East" warns before it attacks:  “Change your ways or pay the consequences.” Its members don't kill, not directly anyway.

Instead, they turn the corporations’ practices against them. They feed CEOs their tainted² medicines. They force them into rivers their companies’ pollute.

Ellen Paige plays Izzy, one of the radicals³. Brit Marling plays Sarah, a corporate spy who goes undercover to infiltrate⁴ “The East” in order to expose its members. She ends up joining the group instead.

“When we started shooting the film a week before Occupy Wall Street blew up, we were so excited," said Marling, who also co-wrote the script. "We felt like, ‘Oh gosh!’ We were telling a story that is really prescient and what people are feeling.”

Now You See Me also has a star-studded cast which includes Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, and Woody Harrelson. The film addresses corruption⁶ in the banking⁷ system and its collapse⁸ in 2008.

"The story [is] about these magicians who are recruited by this kind of secret organization to pull off these incredible heists where they are actually stealing money from corrupt⁵ business people and distributing it back to people who have been stolen from," said Jesse Eisenberg who plays Atlas⁹, the leader of famous illusionists. “There is some kind of social justice that they are stealing from people who have stolen from others and giving money back to people who have rightfully deserved it.”

Whether one agrees with vigilante justice or not, these two films entertain by giving audiences the illusion that it's payback time.

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

4 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

5 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

8 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

9 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。