Hollywood Sign Turns 80
The hilltop Hollywood sign,which overlooks most of Los Angeles and has become an internationally recognized representation of the hometown of the American movie industry,has turned 80 years old.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce,which owns the sign,isn’t sure when construction was completed but said the sign’s saga began in 1923,when real-estate developers decided to advertise a new upscale community with the enormous sign,which then read“Hollywoodland.”
The Great Depression bankrupted the realestate firm and maintenance ended in 1939,when vandals,age and termites attacked the letters.The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took responsibility for the sign in 1944 and eventually removed the“l(fā)and,”replacing the original letters with all-steel construction.
The sign now earns hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the chamber,with its image emblazoned on souvenir hats,shirts,mugs and other bric-a-brac.
Over the years,the Hollywood sign has endured numerous alterations—most of them unauthorized.Two of the more notable:“Hollyweed”in 1976,promoting the legalization of marijuana;and“Holywood”in 1987,commemorating a local visit by Pope John Paul II.
好萊塢標志80年
[參考譯文]
坐落于山頂之上的好萊塢標志可以俯瞰洛杉磯絕大部分景色,并且已經(jīng)成為國際公認的美國電影產(chǎn)業(yè)故鄉(xiāng)的代表,F(xiàn)在它已80歲了。
這個標志歸屬好萊塢商業(yè)委員會所有,他們不能準確地說出該標志完工的時間,但說這個標志的故事始于1923年。當時房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商決定用巨大的標志為一個新的高檔社區(qū)做宣傳廣告,那時的標志是“Holly-woodland”。
房地產(chǎn)公司在大蕭條時期破產(chǎn)了,公司對標志的維護到1939年結束。此時的好萊塢標志飽受毀壞、老化和白蟻的摧殘。1944年,好萊塢商業(yè)委員會接管了標志,并最終移去了“l(fā)and”四個字母,把原來的字母用全鋼結構代替。
現(xiàn)在,這個標志每年為委員會賺取成百上千萬美元,它的圖案出現(xiàn)在紀念帽、襯衫、杯子以及其他一些小裝飾品上。
好萊塢標志多年來承受了無數(shù)變更——大多數(shù)是未經(jīng)許可的。其中比較有名的兩個是:1976年的“Holly-weed”,是為了促使大麻合法化;還有1987年的“Holy-wood”,為了紀念教皇約翰·保羅二世的一次地方性訪問。