影片對白 Well, this is Miranda Priestly we're talking about. There is no Plan "B". There's only Plan "A".
我觀之我見 本段故事是影片中Miranda 和 Andy 之間的又一場交鋒。在聽從了Nigel的建議后，開始認真對待工作、變得時尚的Andy 在工作上已開始得到Miranda的贊許，被允許將雜志送到她家去。
考考你 一展身手
5. beat to the punch
這個片語也寫作beat to the draw，意思是“比另一方/其他人反應(yīng)更快、更快采取行動”，例如：The new salesman tried to serve one of my customers, but I beat him to the draw.
文化面面觀
Harry Potter: its cultural impact and commercial success
The Harry Potter books are an extremely popular series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling and have made her the richest writer in literary history.
The books depict a world of witches and wizards; the protagonist is the eponymous young wizard Harry Potter. Since the release of the first novel,Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone(retitledHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stonein the United States) in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success worldwide, spawning films, video games, and a wealth of other items.
The six books have collectively sold more than 300 million copies and have been translated into 47 languages. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even ancient Greek, making it the longest work in that language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the third century AD.
A large portion of the narrative takes place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, focusing on Harry Potter's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. At the same time, the books explore the themes of friendship, ambition, choice, prejudice, courage, growing up, love, and the perplexities of death, set against the expansive backdrop of a magical world with its own complex history, diverse inhabitants, unique culture, and parallel societies.
Six of the seven planned books have been published, and the unnamed seventh book is yet to be released. The latest,Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was issued in its English language version on 16 July 2005. The first four books have been made into very successful films, and the fifth began filming in February 2006. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury, Scholastic Press, and Raincoast Books.
Awards and honors
J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been the recipients of a host of awards since the initial publication ofPhilosopher's Stoneincluding four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in 2001), three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes (1997-1999), two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards (1999 and 2001), and the WHSmith book of the year (2006), among others. In 2000Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanwas nominated for Best Novel in the Hugo Awards while in 2001Harry Potter and the Goblet of Firewon said award. Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie Medal (1997), a shortlisting for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists of theAmerican Library Association,New York Times,Chicago Public Library, andPublishers Weekly.
Perhaps the most prestigious "award" was granted in 2001, when the New York Times Best Seller list created a separate list for children's books. Most observers feel that this split occurred because the Harry Potter books were occupying too many positions in the lucrative "adult" list.
Commercial success
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Costumes from the 2005 film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, used as a promotion at Hong Kong's Times Square.
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The popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related licence holders. The books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros., all of which have been successful in their own right with the first,Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, ranking number four on the list of all time highest-grossing films and the other three each ranking in the top 25. The films have in turn spawned five video games and have in conjunction with them led to the licensing of over 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an iPod) that have, as of July 2005, made the Harry Potter brand worth an estimated 4 billion dollars and J.K. Rowling a US dollar billionaire, making her, by some reports, richer than Queen Elizabeth II.
Cultural impact
Since the publishing ofPhilosopher's Stonea number of societal trends have been attributed to the series. In 2005, doctors at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford reported that their research of the weekends of Saturday, 21 June, 2003 and Saturday, 16 July, 2005 (the dates of the two most recent book releases of the series) found that only 36 children needed emergency medical assistance for injuries sustained in accidents, as opposed to other weekends' average of 67. Anecdotal evidence such as this suggesting an increase in literacy among children due to Harry Potter was seemingly confirmed in 2006 when the Kids and Family Reading Report (in conjunction with Scholastic) released a survey finding that 51% of Harry Potter readers ages 5-17 said that while they did not read books for fun before they started reading Harry Potter, they now did. The study further reported that according to 65% of children and 76% of parents, they or their children's performance in school improved since they started reading the series.
