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More than a monster
哥斯拉：怪獸界的超級英雄
"Kaiju" is a Japanese word. In English, it's sometimes translated as "monster". The two do bear a certain resemblance if you think about it: The latter often reminds us of the bloodthirsty killing machine in Alien and the highly intelligent great white shark in Jaws, while the former is a similar destructive type – they are mighty beasts that destroy cities.
“Kaiju”（怪獸）是個日語詞。英文中有時會譯成“monster”（怪物）。如果你仔細想想，這兩個詞的確存在一定的相似性：后者往往令我們想起《異形》中嗜血的殺人機器，以及《大白鯊》中擁有高智商的大白鯊，而前者也是具備類似破壞性的生物 ——能夠毀滅城市的巨獸。
But kaijus and monsters also have one huge difference: Kaijus aren't always evil. In the latest Godzilla film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which opens in Chinese mainland cinemas on May 31, Earth is under threat from an extraterrestrial kaiju – Ghidorah – in the form of a flying, three-headed dragon.
但“怪獸”和“怪物”還有一大區別：怪獸并非都是邪惡的。“哥斯拉”系列電影的新作《哥斯拉2：怪獸之王》將于5月31日在中國大陸上映，電影中，地球正遭到一只來自外星的三頭飛龍怪獸“基多拉”的威脅。
The only hope of the human race is that Godzilla, the mightiest kaiju of them all, teams up with the other two kaijus – Gamera and Mothra – to fight against Ghidorah together. In other words, we're counting on Godzilla to save Earth from destruction.
人類的唯一希望只有最強大的怪獸哥斯拉，它和另外兩只怪獸——加美拉和摩斯拉，共同對抗基多拉。換言之，我們寄希望于哥斯拉拯救地球，使其免遭毀滅。
This, some say, means that Godzilla has a soft spot for human beings and that some emotional connections have been built up between us. But we're probably just flattering ourselves. According to the original Godzilla story, the kaiju was not created, but woken by a human nuclear test, meaning that we're not at all his creator – humans and Godzilla are very different beings.
一些人認為，這意味著哥斯拉被人類打動，彼此之間產生了一些情感紐帶。但這或許只是我們的自命不凡。在哥斯拉的原作故事中，怪獸并非是被創造出來的，而是被一場人類的核試驗所喚醒，這意味著我們并非是它的創造者 —— 人類和哥斯拉是兩種完全不同的生物。
"I've always believed that Godzilla is sort of Mother Nature's enforcer," Michael Dougherty, the film's director, said at the debut of King of the Monsters in Beijing on May 13. "He steps in to correct any species that might threaten our planet, whether that threat is 400 feet (about 122 meters) tall or human beings."
“我一直認為，哥斯拉是大自然的執行者，”該片導演邁克爾·道赫蒂在5月13日的《哥斯拉2：怪獸之王》北京首映禮上說道。“它會介入并糾正任何可能對地球帶來威脅的物種，不論這一威脅有400英尺（約122米）高還是區區人類。
So kaijus might be "monstrous", but they're not always "monsters". They can be superheroes. In fact, to Dougherty, Godzilla is even more than that. "Godzilla is something much more ancient and profound than superheroes," he said. "More powerful."
因此，怪獸或許十分“駭人”，它們并非都是“怪物”。它們能夠成為超級英雄。事實上，對于道赫蒂而言，哥斯拉甚至不止于此。“哥斯拉相比超級英雄更加遠古，更加深奧，”他表示。“更有力量。”
