Why make a film about Ned Kelly? More ingenious crime than those committed by the reckless Australian bandit are reported every day. What is there in Ned Kelly to justify dragging the mesmeric Mick Jagger so far into the Australian bush and away from his natural haunts? The answer is that the film makers know we always fall for a bandit, and Jagger is set to do for bold Ned Kelly what Brando once did for the arrogant Emiliano Zapata.
The bandit inhabits a special realm of legend where his deeds are embroidered by others; where his death rather than his life is considered beyond belief; where the men who bring him to“justice” are afflicted with doubts about their role.
The bandits had a role to play as definite as that of the authorities who condemned them. These were men in conflict with authority, and, in the absence of strong law or the idea of loyal opposition, they took to the hills. Even there, however, many of them obeyed certain unwritten rules.
There robbers, who claimed to be something more than mere thieves, had in common, firstly, a sense of loyalty and identity with the peasants they came from. They didn’t steal the peasant’s harvest; they did steal the lord’s.
And certain characteristics seem to apply to “social bandits” whether they were in Sicily or Peru. They were generally young men under the age of marriage, predictably the best age for dissidence. Some were simply the surplus male population who had to look for another source of income; others were runway serfs or ex-soldiers; a minority, though the most interesting, were outstanding men who were unwilling to accept the meek and passive role of peasant.
They usually operated in bands between ten and twenty strong and relied for survival on difficult terrain and bad transport. And bandits proposed best where authority was merely local —over the next hill and they were free. Unlike the general run of peasantry they had a taste for flamboyant dress and gesture; but they usually shared the peasants’ religious beliefs and superstitions.
The first sign of a man caught up in the Robin Hood syndrome was when he started out, forced into outlawry as a victim of injustice; and when he then set out to “right wrongs”, first his own and then other people’s. The classic bandit then “take from the rich and gives to the poor” in conformity with his own sense of social justice; he never kills except in self-defense or justifiable place; his people admire and help to protect him; he dies through the treason of one of them; he behaves as of invisible and invulnerable; he is a “loyalist”, never the enemy of the king but only of the local oppressors.
None of the bandits lived up fully to this image of the “noble robber” and for many the claim of larger motives was often a delusion.
Yet amazingly, many of these violent men did behave at least half the time in accordance with this idealist pattern. Pancho Villa in Mexico and Salvatore Giuliano in Italy began their careers harshly victimized. Many of their charitable acts later became legends.
The bandit in the real world is rooted in peasant society and when its simple agricultural system is left behind so is he. But the tales and legends, the books and films continue to appear for an audience that is neither peasant nor bandit. In some ways the characters and deeds of the great bandits could so readily be the stuff of grand opera — Don Jose on “Carmen” is based on the Andalusian bandit El Empranillo. But they are perhaps more at home in folk songs, in popular tales and the ritual dramas of films. When we sit in the darkness of the cinema to watch the bold deeds of Ned Kelly we are caught up in admiration for their strong individuality, their simple gesture of protest, their passion for justice and their confidence that they cannot be beaten. This sustains us nearly as much as it did the almost hopeless people from whom they sprang.
1. Which of the following words is NOT intended to suggest approval of bandits?| A．Bold (Para. 1). |
| B．Claimed (Para. 4). |
| C．Legend (Para. 2). |
| D．Loyalty (Para. 4). |
| A．They liked theatrical clothes and behavior. |
| B．They wanted to help the poor country folk. |
| C．They were unwilling to accept injustice. |
| D．They had very few careers open to them. |
| A．had received excessive ill-treatment |
| B．were severely punished for their crimes |
| C．took to violence through a sense of injustice |
| D．were misunderstood by their parents and friends |
| A．are sure they are invincible |
| B．possess a theatrical quality |
| C．retain the virtues of a peasant society |
| D．protest against injustice and inequality |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】The Boy Who Harnessed (利用) the Wind is an inspirational true-story film based on a memoir—an account of the author’s personal experiences—by the Malawian engineer William Kamkwamba. As a teenager, Kamkwamba built a wind turbine for his famine-stricken town in Malawi, helping to power small appliances and eventually irrigate crops. But though the film points toward that technological breakthrough, it spends much of its running time depicting (描绘) its hero’s community and avoids many of the damaging language that tend to accompany pop-cultural description of poverty or conflicts in African countries.
This approach is what makes the movie, much more attractive than other such docu-dramas. Chiwetel Ejiofor, an English actor, is making his feature appearance as a writer and director to draw attention to Kamkwamba’s story—but he’s just as focused on depicting the boy’s family life and the dangers of farming in early-2000s Malawi. Famine isn’t just a thing that happens to the Kamkwambas. It’s the result of a series of unpredictable catastrophes that trickle down to this small village and leave its people struggling to grow and sell food. By examining the many structural reasons for the town’s crisis, Ejiofor makes Kamkwamba’s achievement feel better-earned from a narrative (叙述的) perspective.
The Kamkwambas are not lacking in food, at first, though they do live harvest to harvest. Soon, a series of dramatic floods, combined with government unrest (动荡), begins to take a toll on (have a bad effect on) their life. Through it all, William shows his gift for invention, taking apart whatever machines he can get his hands on and figuring out how they work. In one crucial (and cleverly written) scene, some local teenagers beg William to fix their radio so that they can listen to a soccer game, and he does, making use of a battery from several drained power cells. As the radio jolts to life, it delivers a news report of planes hitting buildings in the U.S., which serves as the first real acknowledgment of the film’s exact time period. The uninterested teens immediately switch over to the game, but Ejiofor included that detail for a reason. Though Malawi is on the other side of the world from the U.S., and the Kamkwambas’ village is far from the country’s biggest city, the negative effects of 9/11 are felt even there—unsettling the government and setting off a chain reaction that quickly turns things terrible. Moments like these affirm Ejiofor’s particular skill for storytelling. To William and his young friends, the event barely registers, but it still has huge consequences for their lives.
The latter half of the film is tougher going than the light, community-oriented opening, but it’s anchored by strong performances. Trywell, William’s father, isn’t a bad dad, but as his family gets hungrier, his anger toward his government, which was supposed to help him thrive, rises to the surface. As William’s mother, Maïga is a calmer, steadier figure, but her pride is damaged, too. She speaks of never wanting to be the stereotypical (老套的) family “praying for rain,” as her ancestors did, and despairs as Trywell’s strategy to save the farm becomes almost exactly that.
At a certain point, I started mentally checking my watch—Isn’t it time for the boy to start harnessing the wind? But Ejiofor doesn’t want William’s massive achievement to look easy. Not only does William need to gather the practical materials needed for a windmill in a nearly abandoned town, but he also has to challenge his father’s skepticism and persuade him to give up the few possessions he still has, including a bicycle, to create something that appears impossible. It’s striking, and deeply sad, to consider that superficially (表面上) the only thing keeping William’s town from starvation was basically wind power. In Ejiofor’s hands, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind builds realism and context into both sides of that story and manages to be a winning adaptation as a result.
1. In the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a considerable part is about _______.| A．the miserable life in Malawi | B．the irrigation of the crops |
| C．the building of the turbine | D．the technology breakthrough |
| A．By shooting the film in the form of story-telling. |
| B．By analyzing the reasons for the village’s poverty. |
| C．By listing unpredictable catastrophes attacking the village. |
| D．By strengthening the difficulty in growing and selling the food. |
| A．To report the terror event in the US | B．To reveal the setting of the film. |
| C．To stress the teens’ interest in games. | D．To show the hero’s willingness of help. |
| A．Maïga’s pride | B．Trywell’s anger |
| C．the family praying for rain | D．the despair of saving the farm |
| A．build realism and context into both sides of the story |
| B．underline the local people’s suffering from starvation |
| C．show his father’s skepticism and reluctance to help him |
| D．impress on viewers the difficulty of making the machine |
| A．A Wind Turbine Invented by a Malawian Engineer |
| B．An Inspirational True-story Adapted into a Film |
| C．The Kamkwamba Family and Their Life in Malawi |
| D．A True Winner—The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind |
【推荐2】We’ve dug deep to find 4 of the most exciting documentary films coming to a screen near you in 2022.
Last Exit: Space
Last Exit: Space, narrated by Werner Herzog, explores the human potential for settling in space and sending people where they’ve never been before. Since planet Earth is possibly going to hell (地狱) in a handbasket, the film promises to ask the question: where else might we call home? Directed by his son Rudolph Herzog, Last Exit: Space will be available from March 10 on Discovery.
Gorbachev. Heaven
As leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev was once one of the most powerful people on the planet who governed a landmass so big that it covered 11 time zones. Gorbachev’s legacy is a complex one — he oversaw the end of the Cold War but many Russians blame him for the Soviet Union’s collapse. The BBC says this potentially fascinating look at one of the most significant figures from inside his own home will be airing in the very near future.
We Met In Virtual Reality
This film from director Joe Hunting beats fresh ground in that it is filmed entirely in virtual reality. Less about the technology itself, it is more an exploration of human connections and how these can develop in the 3D virtual world. Early reviews have been positive following its showing at Sundance. Expect a streaming release in late May this year.
2nd Chance
Hold your popcorn tightly when watching this. If the trailer (预告片) is anything to go by, there are going to be lots of near-death moments. 2nd Chance from Oscar-nominated director Ramin Bahrani tells the story of Richard Davis, the wild and odd inventor of the modern bullet-proof vest. “All will be revealed as soon as a release date is confirmed.” Ramin Bahrani promised on April 5th.
1. What is probably the major concern in Last Exit: Space?| A．Space travel is difficult for people. |
| B．Human beings may go to hell after death. |
| C．Human beings can’t find their way back from space. |
| D．The earth will become unfit for human habitation. |
| A．Last Exit: Space. | B．Gorbachev. Heaven. |
| C．We Met In Virtual Reality. | D．2nd Chance. |
| A．Science & Technology. | B．Fashion & Beauty. |
| C．Culture & Entertainment. | D．Travel & Adventure. |
【推荐3】Today, in most of the theatres in Britain, the stages are situated behind a sort of arch （拱门）, called the proscenium （幕布前的舞台部分）arch. The arch runs across the building with the stage on one side of it and the auditorium, housing the audience, on the other. The audience is kept to the area from which it can get a clear view of the stage. This type of theatre has been is use for three hundred years.
The modern idea of having the stage in front of the proscenium arch is not really modern, of course. It makes our stages much like Shakespeare’s.
Moreover, nowadays, people are finding that modern theatres are built to sit in comfortably for two or three hours at a stretch.
| A．Over the last few decades, since the Second World War, theatrical customs have altered. |
| B．It makes people feel, as they watch a play or a show, that they are seeing a living and moving picture. |
| C．All these innovations have quickened up the pace of the drama. |
| D．This is an advantage both for actors and audience. |
| E．Today the theatres are much more comfortable because of the many improvements. |
| F．Often they can meet and eat in the restaurants attached to the theatres. |
What may well be the oldest metal coins in the world have been identified at an ancient abandoned city known as Guanzhuang in China. Like many Bronze Age (青铜时代) coins from the region, they were cast in the shape of spades with finely carved handles. These ancient coins existed during an in-between period between barter (以物易物) and money, when coins were a novel concept, but everybody knew that agricultural tools were valuable.
Reading about this incredible discovery, I kept thinking about the way modern people represent computer networks by describing machines as having “addresses”, like a house. We also talk about one computer using a “port” to send information to another computer, as if the data were a floating boat with destination. It’s as if we are in the Bronze Age of information technology, grasping desperately for real-world reference to transform our civilization.
Now consider what happened to spade coins. Over centuries, metalworkers made these coins into more abstract shapes. Some became almost human figures. Others’ handles were reduced to small half-circles. As spade coins grew more abstract, people carved them with number values and the locations where they were made. They became more like modern coins, flat and covered in writing. Looking at one of these later pieces, you would have no idea that they were once intended to look like a spade.
This makes me wonder if we will develop an entirely new set of symbols that allow us to interact with our digital information more smoothly.
Taking spade coins as our guide, we can guess that far-future computer networks will no longer contain any recognizable references to houses. But they still might bring some of the ideas we associate with home to our mind. In fact, computer networks — if they still exist at all — are likely to be almost the indispensable part of our houses and cities, their sensors inset with walls and roads. Our network addresses might actually be the same as our street addresses. If climate change leads to floods, our mobile devices might look more like boats than phones, assisting us to land.
My point is that the metaphors of the information age aren’t random. Mobile devices do offer us comfort after a long day at work. In some sense, our desire to settle on the shores of data lakes could change the way we understand home, as well as how we build computers. So as we cast our minds forward, we have to think about what new abstractions will go along with our information technology. Perhaps the one thing we count on is that humans will still appreciate the comforts of home.
1. Many Bronze Age coins were made into the shape of a spade because ___________.| A．a lot of emphasis was put on agriculture |
| B．this stylish design made the coins valuable |
| C．these coins also served as agricultural tools |
| D．the handles made the coins easily exchanged |
| A．To show they both used to be new concepts when first invented. |
| B．To explain abstract digital worlds are different from concrete coins. |
| C．To suggest computers will experience dramatic changes as coins did. |
| D．To highlight their same importance in our civilizational transformation. |
| A．Flexible. | B．Essential. | C．Wasteful. | D．Alternative. |
| A．What Coins and Computers Bring Us |
| B．How Agriculture Loses to Digital Industry |
| C．How Bronze Age Develops to Information Age |
| D．What Ancient Money Tells Us About the Future |
【推荐2】Thanks to in-depth reporting by the Wall Street Journal, we now know that Facebook has long been aware its product Instagram has harmful effects on the mental health of many adolescent users. Young girls, in particular, struggle with their body image thanks to a constant stream of photos and videos showing beautiful bodies that users don’t think they can attain.
While the information the Journal covered is essential and instructive, it does not tell the whole story. Deep down, this is not an Instagram problem; it’s a people problem. Understanding that distinction can make the difference between a failed attempt to contain a teen’s interest in an addictive app and successfully addressing the underlying problem leading to mental distress induced (诱发) by Instagram.
Critics were quick to shame Facebook for sitting on the data and not releasing it to researchers or academics who asked for it. Others criticize the social media giant for not using the research to create a safer experience for its teen users. The anger, while understandable, is misplaced.
While I’m reluctant to defend Facebook, I’m not sure it’s reasonable to blame the company for withholding data that would hurt its business. Have you ever binge-watched (狂看) a Netflix series? I assure you it wasn’t a healthy endeavor. You were in active, likely did nothing productive, mindlessly snacked and didn’t go outside for fresh air. It is an objectively harmful use of time to stare at a TV or laptop for a full weekend. Should we respond by shaming Netflix for not alerting us to how damaging an addictive product can be?
While it’s reasonable to say Instagram makes esteem issues worse, it strains credulity (夸张到难以置信) to believe it causes them in the first place. You create your own experiences on social media. For the most part, you choose which accounts to follow and engage. If you’re already vulnerable to insecurities and self-sabotage (自损) — as many teens are — you will find accounts to obsess over. And this isn’t a new phenomenon.
Before social media, there were similar issues fueling self-esteem issues. Whether the target be magazines, movies or television shows depicting difficult-to-attain bodies, there has been a relatively steady chorus (异口同声) of experts nothing the damage new media could cause young viewers.
Self-esteem issues have an underlying cause — one that’s independent of social media use. Instagram merely enhances those feelings because it provides infinitely more access to triggers than older forms of media. It’s more worthwhile to address those underlying factors rather than to attack Facebook.
1. The author thinks the criticisms against Instagram __________.| A．are successful attempts to change teens’ interest in addictive apps |
| B．address the Instagram - induced mental pain |
| C．are only based on the data released by Facebook |
| D．are not directed at the fundamental problem |
| A．compare the criticisms against it and Facebook |
| B．defend why Facebook is to blame |
| C．suggest the critics’ remarks are not to point |
| D．show Netflix does more harm to teens |
| A．it is human nature to get addicted to social media |
| B．users decide on their experiences on social media |
| C．people have a tendency to feel insecure online |
| D．people are keen on fabricating their self - profile |
| A．the unprecedented criticism facing Facebook |
| B．the alarming online habits of teenagers worldwide |
| C．the root cause of Instagram - induced mental strains |
| D．the harmful impact of Instagram on teenagers |
【推荐3】Are you aware that every single person on this planet who has ever lived, lives now or will live, has a different perception of reality? The way each of us perceives the world is to some degree different than any other person's perception of reality. __①__ What is absolutely real and right for you may be an illusion, or nonexistent, or completely false for another!
It's important to know this. __②__ For example, the news media loves to create drama, and one of their favorite methods is to elicit(引起) fear: fear of other people, fear of the weather, fear of the economy, etc. The news media tells us how to perceive the world—and if a person takes the newscasters at their word, they perceive the world to be very dangerous and hostile. To that person，the mental images and emotions suggested by other people create a version of reality that is completely different from the reality perceived by someone who does not watch the news.
Things are not always what they seem. For most people, seeing is believing, which is why magicians, artists and marketers are so successful. Just like the TV news, they show you only what they want you to see and it is perceived as reality. But how would that reality change if you saw what went on behind the scenes or what was left out?
What's your story?
We all have a story. Over time, your story takes on a life of its own and you become your story. But who's the author and why did him put so much crap in there? All that unnecessary suffering, struggle, heartache, worry and pain... wouldn't it be better to live a story without all that? Who wants to live in a story with that much boredom and unfulfilled longings?
The story got its start when you were born, and was coauthored by you along with the influences in your life. __③__ Anytime you were influenced by someone or something, you unconsciously handed your pen over and said “Here, you write this about me.” So you are not even writing your OWN story! No one does—until they recognize that fact, and make a conscious decision to take control of the pen. You CAN write your story the way you want it to play out.
________________
It is helpful to understand how the brain takes reality and filters it to create your unique perception of reality. It's an automatic unconscious action that is based on：
● Physical experiences (which is why some optical illusions are extremely unsettling)
● Past conditioning (how you are programmed to see the world)
__④__ When you become aware of the fact that you are constructing your own reality, you can take charge and build one that is more pleasing. If you change your mind, your vibration and your intentions, you can change your circumstances! Instead of, “I am a victim of circumstance，” imprint in your mind, “I am the cocreator of my life”； Instead of, “I am sick and tired of...” imprint in your mind，“I am in control and enthusiastic about what I do”．
Raise your vibration by thinking, talking and acting more positively. As positiveness becomes a mental habit，that change will become your new inner reality, which will soon manifest in your outer reality.
The power of perception is immense. Choose to see more good than bad, more abundance than lack, more love than indifference and more success than struggle.
1. How does the author present his viewpoints in the first three paragraphs?| A．By answering questions. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By drawing conclusions. |
| A．① | B．② | C．③ | D．④ |
| A．Seeing is not believing |
| B．Live up to your expectations |
| C．Change your perception and create a new reality |
| D．Physical experiences and past conditioning really count |
| A．Instructive. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Critical. | D．Ironic. |
