William S. Hart and the early 'Western' film

原文

William S. hart was, perhaps, the greatest of all Western stars, fro unlike Gary Cooper and John Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made, the good-had man, the accidental-noble outlaw, or the honest-but-framed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.

Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actually knew something of the old West. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing, and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences, and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.

Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians were bewildered by politicians, bankers and businessmen, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart's good-bad man was always an outsider, always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way, his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive, especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.

Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in a world in which undeclared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by.

--CARL FOREMAN Virtue and a Fast Gun from The Observer--

译文

威廉·S·哈特也许是所有西部片明星中最伟大的，因为不像加里·库珀和约翰·韦恩，他只出演西部片。从1914年到1924年，他是至高无上的，没有人能与他匹敌。他正是西部片的基本模式之创作者，并塑造了他在每部影片中饰演的主人公——那个亦正亦邪的男人（good-bad man）、偶然成为高尚的亡命之徒、被冤枉的诚实牛仔、或因恶毒谣言而受怀疑的警长；简而言之，是一个与自身及边疆环境冲突的个体。

不像他在好莱坞的大多数同时代人，哈特确实了解旧西部。他童年时曾生活在那个正在消逝的年代，他的英雄形象深深根植于他的记忆和经历，以及那个消失的边疆的历史和神话。尽管美国历史上没有任何时代或地方被如此荒谬地浪漫化，但神话与现实至少在一个领域携手了，那就是个人与 encroaching civilization（ encroaching civilization 指逐步侵蚀的文明社会）之间的冲突。

accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians（ accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indians 指习惯于与自然元素和印第安人搏斗的人们）的人们，对政客、银行家和商人的世界感到困惑不解，并被围栏、法律和外来的禁忌所击倒。哈特的亦正亦邪的男人总是局外人，总是被剥夺者；如果他在途中发现有必要射杀警长或抢劫银行，他的早期观众很容易理解并原谅，尤其当哈特最终战胜了进攻的印第安人时。

二十世纪第二个十年的观众们，乐于逃遁到一个生活虽艰辛却相对简单的时代。我们至今仍如此；生活在这样一个世界里——undeclared aggression（undeclared aggression，指未宣战的侵略）、战争、虚伪、欺诈、混乱和迫在眉睫的毁灭是我们日常生活的一部分——我们都渴望一种可遵循的准则。

--CARL FOREMAN Virtue and a Fast Gun from The Observer--

词汇表

Westerns

名词

英:/ˈwɛstənz/

美:/ˈwɛstərnz/

定义

1. 西部片 - Films or stories set in the American Old West, often involving cowboys, outlaws, and frontier life.

例子: He starred in many Westerns during the 1920s.

例子: Westerns often portray themes of heroism and conflict in the Wild West.

近义词

cowboy films: 更具体地强调牛仔元素，常用于描述子类型，而 'Westerns' 更广泛。

frontier movies: 突出边境探险主题，与 'Westerns' 类似，但更侧重历史和探索。

horse operas: 更非正式的俚语表达，常用于幽默或贬义，与 'Westerns' 的正式性不同。

反义词:

sci-fi films, modern dramas, horror movies

用法

常用于电影和文学语境中，指代以美国西部为背景的叙事，常与历史浪漫主义相关。在非正式讨论中可用于泛指冒险故事。

形式:

复数: Westerns (已经是复数形式), 单数: Western

关键句型 "It was [subject] who [verb]."

定义

此句型是一种强调句型，用于突出句子的主语或关键信息，结构为：It was + [subject]（主语）+ who + [verb]（动词短语）。根据《剑桥英语语法》教材，这种句型是英语中常见的强调结构，旨在将焦点放在主语上，而不是一般陈述。举例来说，在文章中，“It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film” 强调了Hart是创建者。

它常用于正式写作或叙述中，帮助突出重要人物或事件，使句子更有力。

用法

此句型主要用于强调主语在事件中的核心作用，常出现在历史描述、传记或故事中。规则：句型以 It was 开头，who 引导从句，描述主语的动作。who 这里用于引导定语从句，连接主句和从句。

在语法体系中，它属于强调句型，与一般疑问句或被动语态相关。横向比较：与简单句如 "Hart created the formula" 相比，此句型更强调主语，类似于 "What Hart did was create the formula"，但更简洁；与 "The one who created it was Hart" 相比，它更直接突出主语。跨语法联系：它涉及定语从句（who 引导），学生可与条件句或其他从句比较，例如，在历史文章中，这种结构常与过去时结合使用，帮助构建叙述流。

此句型在口语中较少见，但写作中很常见，尤其在描述成就时。

注意事项

学生易犯的错误包括：误用 who 为 that 或 which，导致句子不精确（如 "It was Hart that created..."，虽可接受但不如 who 正式）；或忽略强调效果，直接用简单句代替，弱化了重点。纠正建议：练习时，识别句子中的关键信息，并用此句型重构，例如，从 "Hart created the formula" 改为 "It was Hart who created the formula"。

另一个常见偏误是时态不一致，如在从句中使用现在时而非过去时。提供具体例句：

错误示例：It was Hart who creates the formula.  // 时态错误，应使用过去时
正确示例：It was Hart who created the formula.  // 强调过去事件

练习

原创例子：假设在讨论历史人物时，你可以说：“It was Einstein who discovered relativity.” 学生可以替换 [subject] 和 [verb]，如 “It was Marie Curie who won the Nobel Prize.” 在实际场景中，试着用此句型描述名人成就，例如在课堂演讲中说：“It was Shakespeare who wrote Hamlet.”

通过替换关键词，学生能练习在不同语境中应用此句型，比如历史报告或个人故事分享，这有助于加深对强调的理解和自然使用。

额外内容

背景知识：此句型源于英语的强调结构，历史可追溯到18世纪的英语演变，常见于文学和新闻中。对比分析：与中文的强调句（如 "是Hart创造了..."）类似，但英语通过语法结构实现，而非词汇；与法语的强调句型（如 "C'est Hart qui a créé..."）相比，英语版本更灵活，不需性别变化。学习此句型能丰富学生的表达，帮助他们在写作中创建更具冲击力的叙述，同时扩展到其他强调形式，如 "It is important that..."。