观影必备

By+Amanda+Dobbins+译+/+Evan+Chao

2012年3月，一部《饥饿游戏》红遍全球，也让女主角凯特尼斯的扮演者詹妮弗·劳伦斯名满天下。2013年11月，劳伦斯携《饥饿游戏2：星火燎原》再度来袭。时隔将近两年，或许你早已淡忘了故事背景，或许你压根就没有看过第一部，那么在随劳伦斯参加“饥饿游戏”之前，不妨也来“武装”一下自己吧。

How about those Hunger Games， right？ Quite the games！ The first book was great！ Jennifer Lawrence was great！ You liked that moment with the girl， and that thing about the districts， and ... yeah， okay， your memory is a little rusty on this. So before you see Catching Fire， here is a quick primer1） on what you need to know about books one and two.

《饥饿游戏》系列好看吗？非常给力！第一部超赞！詹妮弗·劳伦斯威武！你喜欢那个女孩的那一刻，那些区的那点事儿，还有……行，得，显然你对第一部电影的印象已经有点模糊了。因此在你观看《饥饿游戏2：星火燎原》（编注：以下简称《星火燎原》）之前，不妨先快速过一下下列关于《饥饿游戏》前两部小说的必备入门知识。

Your heroine is Katniss Everdeen

Katniss—who is named after a plant， don't make fun—lives in District 12， the poorest of Panem's 12 regions. She is 17 years old at the start of Catching Fire； she lives with her mother and her younger sister， Prim， in a fancy house given to the winners of the Hunger Games. Katniss likes hunting with her friend Gale； she does not like faking a relationship with her co-winner， Peeta.

The name of her country is Panem， and it is a messed up2） place

Panem as in panem et circuses3）， or bread and circuses， which is a governing philosophy that applies here. In some not-so-distant future， the United States is divided into 12 districts plus a ruling Capitol. The Capitol has all the wealth， food， and fun； the impoverished4） districts work for the Capitol. After a rebellion 75 years ago， the annual Hunger Games were instituted as a way of punishing the districts and keeping the current power structure in place. The rules are as follows： each district must send a male and a female competitor between the ages of 12 and 18 （called "tributes5）"） to the Capitol to compete in a televised battle to the death. For the Capitol， the Games are the ultimate in entertainment， like the Olympics and the Oscars rolled into one. The competition takes place in a special arena designed by the Gamemakers； the environment and threats in the arena are different each year. The people in the Capitol place bets on the Games， and they can also choose to sponsor tributes—sending them supplies， mostly—based on likability.

The last Hunger Games were a little unusual

Each district's tributes are decided by lottery6）， but the rules allow for another child to volunteer in the tribute's place. This is how Katniss wound up7） in the 74th Hunger Games—her little sister， Prim， was chosen， and Katniss loves nothing more than she loves Prim. The Games got weirder from there： Katniss's male partner from District 12 was Peeta Mellark， a nice guy who turned out to have the world's largest crush on Katniss. As a strategy to win more sponsors and distract their competitors， Peeta and Katniss faked a full-blown8） romance. At the very end， when Peeta and Katniss were the only two tributes left， they refused to kill each other， and decided to eat poisonous berries instead. The Gamemakers stopped them just in time and named them co-winners—something that had never happened before in the history of the Games.endprint

女主角名叫凯特尼斯·伊夫狄恩

凯特尼斯这个名字取自某种植物，不是开玩笑，这是真的（编注：Katniss在印第安语中有“慈菇”之意，是一种伴水而生的植物，根部可食用）。她住在帕纳姆国12个辖区里最贫穷的第12区，《星火燎原》开篇交代她现年17岁，和母亲及妹妹普里姆住在一栋奖给饥饿游戏获胜者的豪宅里。凯特尼斯喜欢和好友盖尔一起打猎，不喜欢和饥饿游戏的另一赢家皮塔装情侣。

女主角所在的国家名叫帕纳姆，

那里统治混乱

帕纳姆，源自拉丁语panem et circuses，即“面包和马戏”，是该国实行的一套治国理念。在不远的将来，美国被划分为12个辖区，外加一个起统治作用的凯匹特。凯匹特掌管全国所有的财富、食物和娱乐资源，而那些贫困辖区则要为凯匹特效劳。自从75年前发生一场叛乱后，帕纳姆国每年都要举办一场饥饿游戏，以此来惩罚各区，维护既有权力格局。饥饿游戏的比赛规则如下：每个区必须选派12～18岁之间的男女参赛者（称为“贡品”）各一名，到凯匹特参加一场电视直播的生死对决比赛。对凯匹特来说，饥饿游戏是最为盛大的一场娱乐活动，像是奥运会和奥斯卡的混合体。比赛在一个由游戏制定者设计的特殊竞技场进行；竞技场的陈设布局和危险设置每年都不相同。凯匹特的居民可以通过这个游戏下注赌博，还可以根据个人喜好选择资助贡品——主要形式是为贡品提供物资装备。

上届的饥饿游戏有点不同寻常

各区的贡品通过抽签选出，不过游戏规则也允许别的孩子自告奋勇来充当贡品。正因为如此，凯特尼斯才会被卷入第74届饥饿游戏——原本是她的妹妹普里姆被抽中，但凯特尼斯爱妹妹胜过一切，于是决定代妹参赛。游戏由此又添离奇之处：凯特尼斯的男搭档是来自第12区的皮塔·麦拉克，这个心地善良的男孩原来藏着一份对凯特尼斯的旷世爱恋。为赢得更多的赞助者，同时迷惑竞争对手，皮塔和凯特尼斯假装成一对情深似海的恋人。游戏最后，皮塔和凯特尼斯成为仅存的两个贡品，但他们不愿杀死对方，决定吃毒果自杀。游戏制定者及时拦住他们，宣布他们同为获胜者——这可是饥饿游戏历史上前所未有的事情。

参加世纪极限赛的贡品

1. primer [?pra?m?（r）] n. 入门；入门书

2. messed up： 混乱的，乱糟糟的

3. panem et circuses： （拉丁语，对应的英文为bread and circuses或bread and games） （指政府或其他统治集团为安抚目的款待公众的）面包和马戏观赏，食物和娱乐

4. impoverished [?m?p?v?r??t] adj. 贫困的；赤贫的

5. tribute [?tr?bju?t] n. 贡品

6. lottery [?l?t?ri] n. 抽签法

7. wind up： 使卷入；牵涉到

8. full-blown： 充分发展的

This year's Hunger Games are going to be even weirder！

Every 25 years， the Capitol holds a Quarter Quell9）， a super-duper10） special version of the Hunger Games， with especially screwed-up rules. So the rules for Catching Fire are that old tributes have to go back into the arena！ Which means： Katniss， the only female victor in District 12's history， is definitely going back.

Good news， though， some people are getting pretty fed up11） with this whole situation

Citizens of Panem cannot leave their own district， and they have no idea what is going on in neighboring regions ... which is why Katniss is surprised to learn that demonstrations have started in District 8， and maybe elsewhere. The first Hunger Games movie hinted at these stirrings of revolution， but President Snow informs us pretty early on in Catching Fire that an uprising is forming—inspired largely by Katniss's decision to eat the berries， which was seen as an act of defiance. Bad news for Snow （and Katniss， whom he blames）； hopeful news for everyone else.

Everyone in the Capitol dresses like

a Fashion Clown12）

Everyone in the Capitol looks totally crazy—technicolor13） body paint， strange asymmetrical14） robes， bad wigs15）. This is why Katniss is called "The Girl on Fire". Because she wore a fancy flame dress to one of the pre-Games pageants16）. "Catching Fire" refers to Katniss's name and to the fact that everyone in the districts is beginning to embrace the revolution.

今年的饥饿游戏将更加离奇！

每隔25年，凯匹特都要举办一场盛大的、拥有极具毁灭性规则的饥饿游戏特别赛事——世纪极限赛。《星火燎原》呈现的这场世纪极限赛的比赛规则是，往届比赛的贡品必须重返竞技场参加决斗！这就意味着，第12区史上唯一的女赢家凯特尼斯确定无疑将会重返赛场。

这是个好消息，不过

有些人却对整个形势越来越不满

帕纳姆国的公民不能离开各自的辖区，也就不知道邻近辖区在上演着什么。因此，当得知第8区或许还有别的区出现示威抗议这个消息时，凯特尼斯惊讶不已。电影《饥饿游戏》第一部只是对反叛的苗头有所暗示，但在第二部《星火燎原》开始没多久，帕纳姆国的总统斯诺就告诉我们起义正在酝酿之中，而起义的导火索多半源自凯特尼斯决定吃浆果自杀，因为这被视为了一种反抗行为。对斯诺（也包括被其视为罪人的凯特尼斯）来说，这是个坏消息，但对其他人而言，却是个充满希望的消息。

凯匹特的居民个个打扮得

像个恶俗的小丑

凯匹特的居民个个看上去都是十足的怪物：画着五颜六色的彩妆，穿着不讲究对称的古怪长袍，戴着丑陋难看的假发。因为凯特尼斯穿着一件漂亮的“燃烧”着的礼服亮相于某次赛前游行，所以便获得“燃烧女孩”的称呼。“星火燎原”这个片名既是指代凯特尼斯的名字，也是喻指各区民众准备革命的势头。

9. quell [kwel] n. <废>杀戮，屠杀

10. super-duper： <美口>特大的，最大的

11. fed up： 极其厌倦（或不满）的

12. fashion clown： 指那些愚蠢、肤浅却又极力想证明自己特别时尚的恶俗之人。

13. technicolor [?tekn?k?l?（r）] adj. （= technicolored）色彩鲜艳的

14. asymmetrical [?e?s??metr?kl] adj. 不对称的

15. wig [w?ɡ] n. 假发

16. pageant [?p?d??nt] n. 盛装的游行，庆典endprint