Mini-Biography for Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was born on May 4, 1929 in Brussels, Belgium, with the given name of Edda Kathleen van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston. She really was blue-blood from the beginning with her father, a wealthy English banker, and her mother, a Dutch baroness. After her parents divorced, Audrey went to London with her mother where she went to a private girls school. Later, when her mother moved back to the Netherlands, she attended private schools as well. While vacationing with her mother in Arnhem, Holland, Hitler's army suddenly took over the town. It was here that she fell on hard times during the Nazi occupation. Audrey suffered from depression and malnutrition. After the liberation, Audrey went to a ballet school in London on a scholarship and later began a modeling career. As a model, she was graceful and, it seemed, she had found her niche in life――until the film producers came calling. After being spotted modeling by a producer, she was signed to a bit part in the European film Nederlands in 7 lessen (1948) in 1948. Later, she had a speaking role in the 1951 film, Young Wives' Tale (1951) as Eve Lester. The part still wasn't much, so she headed to America to try her luck there. blue-blood:貴族(或王族,名門)出身;貴族,王族,名門望族。由于某些自命血統純正的西班牙古老貴族中人的靜脈較之其他深膚色的人更呈藍色的原因。奧黛麗。赫本是貴族血統,她的父親是英國富有的銀行家,她的母親是丹麥女男爵或者可說為男爵夫人(baroness,男爵就是baron了)。
vacation:(一年中定期的)休息,休假,假期;假日,休息天,節日。be on vacation 在度假/summer vacation 暑假。take a day's vacation 休假一天。
Nazi:(德國)國社黨黨員,納粹分子;常作名詞為法西斯分子之意。
malnutrition:營養不良。例如:suffer from malnutrition 患營養不良。在二戰納粹統治奧黛麗。赫本的居住地之時,赫本一直在忍受著抑郁愁苦和營養不良的痛苦。
niche:合適的職務(或地位等)。如:He found his niche in politics他在政界謀到了一個合適的位置。最初奧黛麗。赫本作了模特,她很優美而且她感到似乎她已經找到適合她一生的合適位置。
Audrey gained immediate prominence in the US with her role in Roman Holiday (1953) in 1953. This film turned out to be a smashing success as she won an Oscar as Best Actress. This gained her enormous popularity and more plum roles. One of the reasons for her popularity was the fact that she was so elf like and had class, unlike the sex-goddesses of the time. Roman Holiday was followed by another similarly wonderful performance in the 1957 classic Funny Face (1957)。 Sabrina (1954), in 1954, for which she received another Academy nomination, and Love in the Afternoon (1957), in 1957, also garnered rave reviews. In 1959, she received yet another nomination for her role in _Nun's Story (1959)。 Audrey reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the delightful film, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) in 1961. For this she received another nomination. One of Audrey's most radiant roles was in the fine production of My Fair Lady (1964), in 1964. Her co-star Rex Harrison once was asked to identify his favorite leading lady. Without hesitation, he replied, "Audrey Hepburn in MY FAIR LADY". After a couple of other movies, she hit pay dirt and another nomination in 1967's Wait Until Dark (1967)。
prominence:突起,凸出;顯著,杰出,卓越,聲望。奧黛麗在《羅馬假日》中的精彩演出,這部影片取得了了不起的(smashing)成功,造就了奧黛麗的一個奧斯卡最佳女主角金像獎的誕生,使她立即在美國成為卓越、引人注目。例如:give prominence to the key points突出重點之意。
plum:本指李子,洋李;紫紅色,青紫色;最好的東西,佳品,令人垂涎的東西(尤指待遇好的職位、獎金等);意外收獲(指遺產、收入、財產等)。A plum of a case came his way 一件大有油水的案子讓他攬了。奧黛麗。赫本因為《羅馬假日》獲得奧斯卡最佳女主角金像獎使她獲得巨大的知名度,給她帶來最好的影響。
elf:可愛的小精靈(民間故事中的具人形的精靈,常出沒于山林中,喜與人搗亂);小妖精,不過一定要記住這些都是善意的、善良的、給人以愉悅的、令人產生輕松喜愛的精靈、小妖喲!而非那些可怕邪惡的妖魔鬼怪。赫本能夠如此風行、令世人著迷,一個原因是她那天真清純、善良典雅、賢良親切的小精靈形象以及她那古典美(俏皮活潑的短發,給人健康的感覺),不象當時風行的性感金發女郎,她使世風轉為自然清新之美。
nomination:提名,任命。1954年奧黛麗。赫本因為《薩布瑞娜》而獲得奧斯卡提名。
garner:獲得,得到。rave:(口語)(對電影、戲劇等的)狂熱褒評;贊揚;吹捧。
奧黛麗。赫本在1957年的《黃昏之戀》也獲得評論界的盛譽。
pinnacle: 高峰,山峰;(喻)頂峰,極點,頂點。reach the pinnacle of power達到權力的頂峰。奧黛麗。赫本在1961年的《第凡尼早餐》達到她事業的頂點。
By the end of the sixties, after her divorce from actor Mel Ferrer, Audrey decided to retire while she was on top. Later she married Dr. Andrea Dotti. From time to time, she would appear on the silver screen. One film of note was Robin and Marian (1976) with Sean Connery in 1976. In 1988, Audrey became a special ambassador to the United Nations UNICEF fund helping children in Latin America and Africa, a position she retained until 1993. She was named to People's magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Her last film was Always (1989) in 1989. Audrey Hepburn died on January 20, 1993 in Tolochnaz, Switzerland, from colon cancer. She had made a total of 31 high quality movies. Her elegance and style will always be remembered in film history as evidenced by her being named to Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time". divorce:離婚。sue for a divorce 請求離婚。
ambassador:大使 an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary特命全權大使;(派駐國際組織的)代表an ambassador to the United States駐聯合國代表;特使,使節the special ambassador of the Spanish Government西班牙政府特使UNICEF :是聯合國兒童基金會United Nations Children's Fund的縮寫,注意: UNICEF或Unicef是其前身United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund 的縮略,現仍沿用。晚年(88-93)奧黛麗。赫本作為聯合國兒童基金會特使,赴拉丁美洲和非洲救助那些貧困的孩子,她的愛心與人格猶如她的影片一樣燦爛人間。
colon:此詞有頗多含義,有冒號、科郎(哥斯達黎加貨幣單位)等之意,在此是結腸之意。奧黛麗。赫本于1993年1月20日,在瑞士洛桑死于結腸癌。
文化.散文本文地址:http://www.hengchuai.cn/writing/essay/54923.html