The Cold War Is Hot Again: Films in 2018

① Geopolitical tension in the 20th century inspired many dramas, thrillers and spy films.

② "The Third Man", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Dr Strangelove" became instant classics.

③ And who could forget Ivan Drago, the hulking antagonist of "Rocky IV", or General Orlov, the fanatical Soviet soldier in "Octopussy"?

④ Although cold-war films petered out after the fall of the Soviet Union, they will make a comeback in 2018 as Russian-American relations deteriorate once more.

⑤ Jennifer Lawrence will play a secret-service seductress in "Red Sparrow"; Ralph Fiennes will direct "The White Crow", the story of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev's defection to the West; Pawel Pawlikowski, the Oscar-winning director of "Ida", will direct a love story set in the tense 1950s; and a new adaptation of John le Carré's "The Spy Who Came in From The Cold" will hit television screens.

⑥ As questions of collusion and Russian influence linger, these fictions may feel all too real.

▍普通單詞和搭配

inspire: vt. 激發 (創作靈感)；促使產生

instant classics: 風靡一時 (指一炮而紅的經典之作)

hulking antagonist /?h?lk??/ /an?taɡ(?)n?st/: 身形巨大的反派

protagonist /pr??taɡ(?)n?st/: n. 主角

fanatical Soviet soldier /f??nat?k(?)l/: 狂熱的蘇聯士兵

peter out /?pi?t?/: 逐漸消失

make a comeback: 復出；卷土重來

deteriorate /d??t??r??re?t/: vi. 惡化

seductress /s??d?ktr?s/: n. 勾引男人的女子

defection to /d??f?k?n/: 叛逃到 (別的地方)

tense 1950s /t?ns/: 緊張的1950年代

adaptation /ad?p?te??(?)n/: n. 改編作品

hit television screen: 登陸電視屏幕

linger /?l??ɡ?/: vi. 存留；逗留

all too: (表示程度) 太過于

▍背景知識表達

geopolitical tension: 地緣政治緊張局勢

the fall of the Soviet Union: 蘇聯解體

collusion and Russian /k??l(j)u:?(?)n/：通俄門

▍電影名字

"The Third Man" : 《黑獄亡魂》(1949 英國／美國)

"The Manchurian Candidate": 《滿洲候選人》(1962 美國)

"Dr Strangelove": 《奇愛博士》(1964 美國)

"Rocky IV": 《洛奇4》(1985 美國)

"Octopussy": 《007之八爪女》(1983 英國)

"Red Sparrow": 《紅雀》(2018 美國)

"The White Crow": 《白色烏鴉》(2018 英國)

"Ida": 《伊達的抉擇》(2013 波蘭)

"The Spy Who Came in From The Cold":《柏林諜影》(小說改編劇集)