编者的话:
最近是否欣赏到精彩的电影,书籍,或是CD?如果至今还令你回肠荡气不能平静的话,不妨把感受写下来与我们的读者共享.现在就开始行动,往vivi@xmrb.com里发英文短评吧(字数在400字内).一经采用,必有稿酬.
Editor's words:
Bumped into a fantastic movie, read an absorbing book, or listened to a great CD recently? If you are still seething with excitement, then why not drop us a few lines and enable our readers to share your feelings? Do it right now! Send your English review to vivi@xmrb.com (400 words or less) and receive some cash once it has been printed.

The Shawshank Redemption



Based on Stephen King's short novel "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption", the movie tells about a prisoner who is wrongly put in jail and strives for his freedom.

In 1946, a banker, Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins), is accused of murdering his wife and her lover. Being a victim to the stiff judiciary system, he is wrongly sent to the Shawshank Prison to serve a life sentence. There he experiences the cruelty of jail life, but he also gets himself friends, one of whom is Ellis Boyd Red (played by Morgan Freeman). Though in prison, Andy never gives up hope. With the limited privilege granted by the warden, he manages to build a jail library and encourages his jail fellows to get education. He becomes a hero in Shawshank. After severing his sentence in jail for more than19 years, Andy escapes from prison, crawling 500 yards through dirty sewage pipe towards freedom in a stormy night.

The whole story is narrated from the perspective of Red except for a brief explanation of the reason why Andy is put into prison at the beginning. Red's calm, humorous, ironic voiceover accompanies us to appreciate Andy's ingenious scheme and see how it develops. The director is also very careful with the color. For the most part of the movie, the dominant atmosphere is dull and gloomy. As the plot develops, the color turns brighter. So do the feelings of the audience when Andy finally regains his freedom.

When it was shown in 1994, the movie received favorable criticisms and was nominated for seven Oscars, including the best movie of the year. What makes it so popular? There is no brilliant superstar, no romantic love, and no exciting explosions in it. One possible reason is that the purpose of this movie is not to reveal the darkness of the American judiciary system or to show the misery of jail life, but to encourage people to fight to preserve the dignity of human beings and to appreciate the beauty of life, e.g. music and friendship, no matter how difficult the situation might be. Besides, what is more important it tells us, is not to give up hope, for, just as Andy writes, " Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

 

 

Singing for listeners



In my last reviews, I always sang high for those bands that sounded or looked special. But this time, I'd like to introduce a former punk band, which just came back to the POP world.
After 2 years' silence, Flower Band issued its new album "I am your Romeo". Flower Band was quite a young punk band in the past. The average age of the members was just 17 when the band established itself. The song "Flower" in their first album years ago was so good that nobody could look down upon them even though they were so young. They are professional and have their ideas of life and rock && roll already established.

Now they are a POP band, like the Hansons. Critics said they fell down to play POP. Neither Flower Band nor I agreed with this. Like the hit song of the new album "Just OK", Flower Band is satisfied with its current music style. They declared that they would sing for listeners from this album on. What young people like are pop songs in rock style, but not real rock songs. Flower Band would like to listen to listeners, thus express their sincerity to some extent compared to some over self-loving singers. I, as a listener, am unwilling to see such a young and innocent band caring too much about sorrow, pain and the hardness of life. A real rock band could only absorb the power of music from a long-time complex life; this emotion does not belong to teenagers. I'd like to see young people happy, healthy and a little blue mooded, who are in the state of Just OK.

So when they are singing, "woo baby, boy say, we are weird but just OK!" A new well-received pop trend is coming!

 

 

Child pianists meet on "Isle of Piano"
By Jean Chen
Photo by Yao Fan



Last Friday afternoon, the special piano concert solely performed by child pianists was held at the Xiamen Music School on the Gulangyu Island. It was part of the series of activities of piano cultural exchanging visits between Shekou and Xiamen and such piano intercommunication for children from different cities is undoubtedly the first of its kind in China.

Shekou, with the remarkable development of art and culture in recent years, has been gradually becoming another "Isle of Piano" in China. There are over 1,000 pianos in Shekou and the piano per capita is obviously higher than most other cities in China. With the purpose of learning the advanced practice that Gulangyu holds in the piano field, Shekou organizes such intercommunication with Xiamen and hopes to offer a face-to-face chance for child pianists and their parents to communicate with each other.

The five top young participants with rich experience from Shekou, together with their Xiamen counterparts, successfully played a lot of well-known works of top-ranking piano composers. And the piano with the brand Steinway they played on has been newly bought by Xiamen Music School with over one million RMB.

The activities inaugurated at Shekou on September 17 and concluded with the Yin Chengzong Special Piano Concert on Monday, September 27.

 

How did you spend your National Holiday?

Please send your questionnaire sheet to Common Talk of Xiamen Daily or common-talk@fj172.com (Address: 122# Luling Road, Xiamen) before October 9th. Thus you will have a chance to get a UNICEF postcard with personal signatures of the whole staff of the Common Talk. Copy sheet is also valid.
Thanks a lot for your support.
请将您的调查问卷于10月8日前寄到厦门日报双语周刊(厦门市吕岭路122号 361009)或common-talk@fj172.com.您将有机会获得由双语周刊编辑集体签名的联合国儿童基金会特制明信片一.该问卷复印有效.

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