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Lesson 50 The Land of Dreams
第50課夢想的土地
In the 1840's, California was almost uninhabited. There were a few Spanish missions, some ranchers and farmers, and of course, bandits who stole anything they could find.
十九世紀四十年代，加利福尼亞幾乎是個不毛之地。那里只有幾個西班牙傳教士、一些牧場主和農民，當然還有強盜，他們偷竊一切他們所能找到的東西。
In 1848, everything changed. Gold was discovered, and people from all over the country rushed to California. They all dreamed of making their fortunes by finding gold. Mining towns were built anywhere gold was found. As a rule, these towns had no more than a saloon, a hotel, a stable, a jail — and a cemetery.
1848年，一切都變了。人們在這里發現了黃金，全國各地的人涌向加利福尼亞。他們都夢想可以找到黃金發財。只要哪兒找到黃金，哪兒就立刻出現一個小鎮，并且無一例外，這些小鎮不過是一個酒吧，一個客棧，一個馬廄，一座牢房和一塊墓地而已。
Almost a century later people again rushed to California. This time, they dreamed of making their fortunes not in gold, but in the movies. Los Angeles, a large city that was not even there in 1848, had become the movie capital of the world.
大約一個世紀以后，人們再次涌向加利福尼亞。這次，他們不是夢想通過黃金而是通過電影發財。在一八四八年還不存在的洛杉磯現在已經成為了世界電影中心。
These were the days of the great movie stars — actors and actresses like Cary Grant and Rita Hayworth — heroes and heroines like John Wayne and Susan Hayward. Thousands of would-be stars dreamed of being a Hollywood prince or princess.
這是電影明星輩出的時代——像卡里·格萊特和麗塔·海華斯那樣的男女演員——像約翰·韋恩和蘇珊·海沃德那樣的男女主人公。成千上萬的未來明星們夢想成為好萊塢的王子或公主。
Few people look for gold now, and Los Angeles is no longer a movie city. It's a factory town where time is money and TV companies control the time. The California scenery has changed, too. A century or so ago there were unclimbed, snow-topped mountains, uninhabited deserts, and unspoiled beaches with high surf. The scenery is still there, but so are thousands of miles of highways, millions of cars, dozens of suburbs — and smog. Most films are now made inside, and the best place to find gold is in a jewelry store.
現在沒人再來找黃金了，洛杉磯也不再是一個電影城市了，它成為了一個工業城市，在那里時間就是金錢，電視公司控制著一切。加利福尼亞的景象也已經完全改變了。大約一個世紀前，那里有未經攀登、山頂積雪覆蓋的山脈，無人居住的沙漠和未經破壞的海浪拍打著的海灘。如今，自然景物仍在，但也出現了數千公里的高速公路，數百萬的汽車，大片大片的郊區——和煙霧。如今的電影大多都在室內拍攝，能找到黃金的最好的地方是在珠寶店里。
