UNLIKE many recent political documentaries, “An Inconvenient Truth” does not a_________① its fiercest fire at George Bush. （1）Surprising this, especially as the film stars Al Gore, the man whom President Bush ★narrowly [1] beat to the White House in 2000. Instead, Davis Guggenheim, the film’s director, tries to rise above American politics, addressing his film, which is to be shown at the Cannes film festival 2 later this month, to the whole of the human race. 

《难以忽视的真相》并不像许多政治题材的纪录片那样，将最猛烈的炮火对准乔治•布什。尤为令人感到意外的是，这部电影的领衔主演竟然是曾在2000年惜败于布什总统的阿尔•戈尔。导演戴维斯•古根汉姆力图超越美国政治，将这部即将于本月下旬在戛纳电影节上映的影片视角定位到整个人类。（译者按："as the film stars Al Gore"中的"star"不是名词“明星”之意，而是作动词用，表示“以……为主演”） 

（2）Mr Guggenheim’s film is a fascinating and alarming ★polemic[2] that does, indeed, set out to speak to everyone. It was inspired by the lectures and slide-show on global warming that Mr Gore has d__________② more than 1,000 times since he failed to become president. The former vice-president is shown talking about what he calls “our planetary emergency” to groups of concerned Americans, displaying the relaxed charm and sense of humour that he notably lacked as a political campaigner.

古根汉姆的影片就像一场精彩、惊人的辩论，而且其开场白的确也是说给每个人听的。戈尔竞选总统失败后，不止1000次发表过关于全球气候变暖的演说，该片正是从中受到启发。片中，这位前任美国副总统对许许多多忧虑的美国人谈到了他所谓的“我们星球的突发事件”，展现出过去身为一名参加竞选的政治家所不具有的得体仪态和幽默感。 

The powers of cinema are used to extend his teaching techniques: ★before-and-after[3] photography from around the world, footage of ice-shelves collapsing, animated maps and graphs, even an ★interlude[4] starring “The Simpsons” 3. These parts of the film, which r_________③ the entertaining science documentaries that Frank Capra4 made in the 1950s, （3）probably communicate as much information as an audience in a cinema can be expected to digest in one sitting.

应用电影制作为戈尔的说教赋予了更加多彩的形式，比如前后对照鲜明的世界各地摄影、冰架坍塌的组拍镜头、动画地图和图表，甚至还插入了《辛普森一家》的一个片段。影片这些组成部分所传递的讯息量也许快赶上一名观众在电影院看一次电影所能理解接受的讯息量了，（译者按：译文的确很蹩脚，但句子的结构应该是清楚的，主语是these parts of the film，谓语是communicate（传达，传递），宾语是information，as much as后接的是一个比较状语从句，从句主语是an audience，谓语是情态助动词can加被动语态be expected， to digest则是expect的间接宾语，in a cinema和in one sitting都是状语）这不禁让人想起了20世纪50年代弗兰克•卡普拉的娱乐性科学纪录片。 

In addition, the film tells a human story: how Mr Gore became an environmentalist, and the motives that have impelled him to devote the past five years to playing the part of Paul Revere5, bearing his warning of approaching danger across the land. （4）Orators have always understood that their listeners must believe in the good character of the person addressing them if he is to have any chance of winning them to his cause. To that end, Mr Guggenheim works away to humanise Mr Gore, who talks (as he has on other occasions) of almost losing his six-year-old son in a traffic accident and seeing his sister die of lung cancer—a personal c_________④ that spurred his family to get out of the tobacco business. 

此外，该片还讲述了一个人的故事：戈尔如何成为一位环境保护主义者？过去五年来，戈尔一心一意向保罗•里维尔学习，在全国各地警告人们危险即将来临，其动机何在？演说者从来都明白，要想说服听众支持自己的观点，就必须设法使他们相信自己是个好人。为此，古根汉姆想方设法让戈尔更具有人情味。戈尔在片中谈到了（跟他在其它场合一样）一次车祸差点让他失去6岁的儿子，还有眼睁睁地看着姐姐被肺癌夺去生命——这次个人巨大的不幸让他全家彻底告别了烟草业。 

The film’s end-credits, which intersperse appeals to the s__________⑤ with the names of the film-makers, do not actually include a “Draft Gore” sticker. Even without such an overt bow, this portrait of Gore the ★Crusader[5] adds a political layer to the film’s message which, despite the director’s supposedly non-partisan hopes, the press (and a lot of other people too) will make much of. With a bit of luck, however, more attention will be paid to the message than to the messenger. （5）If Mr Gore should happen to be right, and he may be, time is running out faster than most of the world thinks. 

影片结尾致谢字幕中，对观众的呼吁和电影制作人员的名字交替出现，但并没标出“特邀嘉宾戈尔”。（译者按：这里的“Draft Gore”，本人半天没有悟出来，就信手编了一个凑数，欢迎纠正。）即便缺少这类公开的致敬，“十字军战士戈尔”这一形象还是给该片的寓意抹上了一层政治色彩。导演可能不希望牵扯上任何党派干系，但新闻媒体照样会对此大做文章，其他许多人也一样。然而，只要运气不至于太糟，人们还是会更加关注影片所蕴含的寓意，而不是片中说话的人（译者按：指戈尔）。要是真让戈尔给说中了，并且也许他就是正确的话，时间流逝之快就确实超出了全世界大多数人的想象了。（译者按：要是片中戈尔关于温室效应的说法不假的话，那么时光飞逝，地球末日也就即将来临了。而“启示录”就是用来预言万物结局的，这句正好呼应了文章的题目“现代启示录”，您看呢？） 

[QUIZ]
1. 根据首个字母以及括号内的词性提示和英文释义填入单词（注意形式变化，如分词等）：
①a________（vt. to point a weapon or another object towards an intended goal）
②d________（vt. to make a speech etc to a lot of people）
③r________（vt. to remember a particular fact, event, or situation from the past）
④c________（n. a disaster）
⑤s________（n. someone who is watching an event or game; audience）
2. 将划线部分英文翻译成中文：