最近，因为《权力的游戏》结局饱受争议的HBO电视台，推出了五集迷你剧《切尔诺贝利》，并大获成功。这部剧在IMDB评分榜上达到了9.7分，成为史上评分最高的剧。这部剧为什能得到如此好评？它聚焦的切尔诺贝利事件，又是怎么一回事？一起来听今天的课程。
本篇课程首发于2019年6月7日，选自The Economist https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/06/04/chernobyl-is-the-highest-rated-tv-series-ever
文本难度：★★★☆☆ 话题难度：★★★☆☆
“Chernobyl” is the highest-rated TV series ever
《切尔诺贝利》成为史上评分最高剧集
① At twenty-three minutes past one in the morning of April 26th 1986, a safety test at a nuclear reactor in Soviet Ukraine went catastrophically wrong. The resulting steam explosion at the plant near the city of Pripyat, 70 miles north of Kiev, spewed out so much radiation that much of the surrounding area will be uninhabitable for 20,000 years. Harmful isotopes were carried by the winds as far as Ireland within a week. According to some accounts, first responders who were exposed to large doses of radiation suffered agonising deaths.
1986年4月26日凌晨1点23分，在苏联乌克兰一座核反应堆进行的安全测试出现灾难性故障。该核电站临近基辅以北70英里的普里皮亚季市，事故引发的蒸汽爆炸使大量辐射喷涌而出，导致周边大部分区域在两万年内都不宜居住。短短一周内，有害的同位素被风吹向各地，最远的到达了爱尔兰。根据一些相关记录，暴露在大量辐射中的现场急救人员后来均在痛苦中死去。
② These events, as well as the political intrigue of the Soviet government’s actions, are the subject of HBO’s historical drama series, “Chernobyl”. Following the final episode, which aired in America on June 3rd, it is the highest-rated television series of all time, according to crowd-sourced reviews on IMDb, a film and television rating site.
这些事件以及苏联政府行动背后的政治阴谋，均是HBO历史连续剧《切尔诺贝利》的主题。美国时间6月3日最后一集播出后，电影电视评分网站IMDb上的观众评论显示，该剧成为有史以来评分最高的剧集。
③ All of this is even more impressive given its subject matter. Documentaries typically struggle to gain as much attention as action and fantasy shows such as “Game of Thrones”, and the same is true of historical dramas.
考虑到该剧的主题，上述成绩就更令人赞叹了。通常，纪录片很难像《权力的游戏》等动作片和奇幻片一样广受关注，而历史类剧集也同样如此。
④ The show has also caused a massive spike in interest about the actual disaster. Web traffic to the entry for the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, has increased 56-fold since the start of the year.
该剧也激起了许多人对这场真实灾难的兴趣。自今年年初至今，网络百科全书维基百科上“切尔诺贝利核事故”词条的流量飙升了56倍。
▍生词好句
Chernobyl/tʃiə'nɔ:bil/n. 切尔诺贝利 rate/reɪt/vt. 评估；评分；评级
The movie has been highly rated since its release. 这部电影出来以后好评如潮，口碑很好。 audience rating 收视率 review vt. （具体）评价 rate and review 评分+评价
ever/'evə/adv. 有史以来 reactor/rɪ'æktə/n. 反应堆 catastrophically/kætə'strɒfɪkli/adv. 灾难性地
catastrophic adj. 灾难性的 catastrophe n. 灾难（a momentous tragic event）
resulting/rɪ'zʌltɪŋ/adj. 由此引起的；作为结果的
June is Beijing’s wind season and the resulting flight delays could go up to thousands a day. 六月是北京传统的风季，由此引起的航班延误会达到数千班次一天。
plant/plɑːnt/n. 工厂 Pripyatn. 普里皮亚季 Kiev/'ki:jef/n. 基辅 spew out喷出；涌出 radiation/ˌreɪdi'eɪʃən/n. 辐射 uninhabitable/ˌʌnɪn'hæbɪtəbəl/adj. 不适宜居住的
inhabit vt. 居住；栖居 More than one hundred species of birds inhabit the island. 超过一百种鸟类栖居在这座岛上。 The valley used to be inhabited by aboriginal tribes. 这座山谷曾经居住着原始部落。 inhabitable adj. 适宜居住的 the world’s most inhabitable cities 全球最适宜居住的城市
isotope/'aɪsətəʊp/ n. 同位素 first responder第一反应人 dose/dəʊs/n. 剂量 agonising/'æɡəˌnaiziŋ/adj. 烦恼的；苦闷的
agony n. 痛苦
intrigue/ɪn'triːg/n. 阴谋；诡计 air/eə/vi. （电视剧和广播）播放
screen/show vt. 放映（电影）
crowd-sourced adj. 来源很广的 given prep.考虑到
同义表达：considering/in view of given the circumstances 考虑到当前的情况 Given that you have limited time, what you have achieved is already very great. 鉴于你时间有限，你完成得已经非常好了。
subject matter（文学或者艺术作品）主题；题材 the same is true of something……也是一样
Architects are the combination of artist and engineer, and the same is true of web designers. 建筑师是艺术家和工程师的合体，网页设计师也同样如此。
spike/spaɪk/ n. 激增 同义表达：sharp increase
web traffic 网络流量 entry/ˈentrɪ/ n. 词条 encyclopedia/ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpiːdiə/ n. 百科全书
