同学们好，我是朱伟。最近《黑神话：悟空》全网刷屏，十几年没有碰过游戏的我，都跟着家里小朋友一起过了把瘾。不得不说，这款游戏真就是国货之光，文化输出已经超出游戏本身了。不少人好奇国外玩家的评价，今天我们就来看看外媒的报道。
这篇文章选自The Guardian，标题为Black Myth: Wukong — the summer's most exciting, and most controversial, video game（黑神话：悟空——今年夏天最令人兴奋、也最有争议的电子游戏）。
接下来，我会截取部分内容进行精读分析。
When Chinese developer Game Science revealed its debut console game Black Myth: Wukong last year, it immediately caused a stir. Inspired by the great 16th-century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, the action-packed footage featured the titular mythological monkey Sun Wukong battling Buddhist-folklore demons and sword-wielding anthropomorphic foxes in lusciously rendered forests. Smartphone games are inordinately popular in China, but console game developers are still few and far between, and the excitement for Wukong in Game Science's homeland reached fever pitch. Within 24 hours, the trailer racked up 2m views on YouTube and more than 10m on Chinese video sharing site Bilibili, much to its creators' shock and delight. One excited fan even broke into the developer's office, desperate for more info on the game.
After playing Wukong for an hour and half in a London hotel suite, watched nervously by several Game Science employees, I can /confirm/i that – somewhat miraculously – this stunning Chinese mythological twist on Dark Souls delivers on that showy trailer, marrying fluid-feeling combat with reflex-testing difficulty and the expensive filmic sheen of something like God of War. As I sprint through Wukong’s dense jungle, ducking and dodging through its deadly array of flora and fauna, I come face to face with everything from gi-wearing toads to nightmarish, gigantic-headed infants. Unlike many of its brutally challenging, FromSoftware-inspired peers, the difficulty in Wukong feels expertly judged. My simian avatar met a grizzly end more times than I’d care to admit, but I persevered. Eventually I defeated enough foes to unlock new abilities. Soon I can perch atop my staff mid-attack, giving me an edge against its murderous mythological monsters. I can buzz around the forest as a stealthy cicada, summon flames with my glaive, and eventually topple a snarling, lorry-sized werewolf atop a crumbling temple.
外刊精读
When Chinese developer Game Science revealed its debut consolegame Black Myth: Wukong last year, it immediately caused a stir.
去年，当中国游戏开发商Game Science发布其首款主机游戏《黑神话：悟空》时，立即引起了轰动。
debut：首次亮相；初次登台debut是一个六级/考研词汇，此处为名词用法，英文释义为the first public appearance of a new product，指新产品的首次公开亮相，在文中意为游戏的首发。
常见的搭配还有：make one's debut（用于描述某人首次在公众面前亮相或表演），film debut/screen debut（银幕首秀）。
在《经济学人》20230719期一篇标题为“What Tesla and other carmakers can learn from Ford（特斯拉和其他车企能从福特学到什么）”的文章中，也用到了这个词：
In January Ford’s boss, an enthusiastic amateurracer of historic cars, made his professional debuton the track in a powerful modern Mustang GT-4.
今年1月，福特公司的老板，一位热衷于古董车赛车的业余爱好者，驾驶着一辆动力强劲的现代款野马GT-4赛车首次亮相职业赛道。
console：（机器、电子设备等的）控制台，操纵台console同样是一个六级/考研词汇，此处为名词用法，英文释义为a flat surface which contains all the controls and switches for a machine, a piece of electronic equipment, etc. 一个平面表面，包含机器、电子设备等的所有控件和开关。文中的consolegame一般指的是主机游戏，如《超级马里奥兄弟》、《塞尔达传说》等等，都是经典的主机游戏。
除了名词用法，console还可以作动词表示“安慰；抚慰”，前缀con+词根sole，英文释义为to give comfort or sympathy to sb who is unhappy or disappointed（给不快乐或失望的人以安慰或同情），常见的搭配有consolesbwith sth（用某事物来安慰或慰藉某人），consoleoneself（自我安慰）。
来看一个美剧The Big Bang Theory《生活大爆炸》中的例子：
I think he's taking this Professor Proton thing pretty hard. Should we try to consolehim? Or... should we respect his privacy in this moment of grief?
另外，console的近义词有很多，伟哥从使用层面来给大家辨析一下。
辨析：console/comfort/ease/soothe
console：强调通过言语或行动来减轻别人的痛苦、悲伤或不安；比如She tried to console her friend who had just lost her job. （她试图安慰刚刚失业的朋友。）
comfort：强调通过言语、行动或陪伴来给予别人精神上的支持和安慰；比如The words of her mother comforted her greatly. （她母亲的话给了她很大的安慰。）
ease：强调通过某种手段或方法使某事物变得更容易、更轻松或更舒适；比如The painkiller eased the pain in her back. （止痛药缓解了她的背痛。）
soothe：强调通过温柔或安抚的方式减轻悲痛、愤怒或激动，使人平静下来；比如The soft music soothed her nerves. （柔和的音乐平息了她的紧张情绪。）
stir：激动，震动stir是一个四六级/考研词汇，此处为名词用法，英文释义为excitement, anger or shock that is felt by a number of people，由许多人感受到的兴奋、愤怒或震惊。
文中cause a stir是常见的搭配，此外stir还可以作动词表示“打动；激发”，词组stirup也是一个高频的搭配，后面可以接名词trouble，stirup trouble（挑起事端）；还可以接名词controversy，构成短语stir up controversy（引起争议）等等。
来看一个电影The Butterfly Effect《蝴蝶效应》中的例子：
- Just shut up Evan! You're wasting your breath.
- You can't hate yourself 'cause your dad's a twisted freak.
- Who are you trying to convince Evan? You come all the way back here to stir upmy shit just because you have a bad memory?
在这个例句中，还有值得关注的语言点：
waste one's breath：白费口舌；再拓展2个类似的表达：
beat a dead horse：用来形容继续做某件已经无望成功或没有结果的事情，类可以理解为“白费力气”或“徒劳无益”；
speak to a brick wall：这个短语形象地描述了试图说服一个完全不听或无法理解你的人，就像对着砖墙说话一样，没有任何回应或效果。
Smartphone games are inordinately popular in China, but console game developers are still few andfar between, and the excitement for Wukong in Game Science's homeland reached fever pitch.
尽管手游在中国极受欢迎，但主机游戏的开发团队却并不多见，因此《悟空》在中国，也就是“游戏科学”公司的家乡，引发了极度狂热。
few and far between：罕见的，稀少的这个短语经常用来形容某物或某人非常稀少，强调了一种稀缺性，即数量不多且分布不密集；大家可以用在写作句子里。
比如涉及到有关Cybersecurity（网络安全）、Privacy Protection in the Digital Age（数字时代的隐私保护）的话题，就可以套用这个表达：
In the vast expanse of the digital age, individuals who possess both deep technical expertise and a genuine passion for preserving privacy are few and far between, making their contributions to society all the more valuable.
在数字时代的广阔领域中，既拥有深厚技术专长又真正热衷于保护隐私的个人是少之又少的，这使得他们对社会的贡献更加宝贵。
好了，今天的精读分析就到这里。剩下的内容，同学们可以尝试着自己翻译，并留言到评论区。
最后，我的课程推荐。
我的泛英语学习的外刊课，在下面。立志于睁眼看世界、提高英文硬实力、打破知识茧房的朋友都可加入。像今天的这种外刊时效性文章，我都会带大家去学习。
我强烈建议你，抽空读点儿外刊！
我的考研课，适合25/26考研的同学，点下方链接：
考研这样复习，英语想低于70分都难！
带你脱口而出流利英语的实用口语课。
我们的口语课，来了一个7岁的小宝贝！
