第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

[9] Any themed environment, from Disneyland to the Olive Garden, uses an overarching message to unite consumers around a single purpose, whether it is a reverie of youthful innocence or the prospect of an abundant, family-style Italian dinner.

• overarching adj. 包罗万象的；支配一切的
• reverie n. 幻想，白日梦

[10] These signals – conveyed and repeated through architecture, design, advertisements, logos and slogans – have the power to attract large audiences in a way so that each individual can find something meaningful in the consumer experience.

[13] You do not need to be rich to go to Las Vegas. But its excess is palatable, with threads that work through a range of connotative associations. Buffets compete for the privilege of serving the most food; casinos promote games with the allure of “whale” level jackpots; luxury goods, gold or otherwise, saturate hotel rooms and shopping malls; and spectacular shows take place on a nightly basis. Excess in Las Vegas cues the lizard brain to indulge and spend.

• palatable adj. 美味的，可口的；〔主意、建议等〕合意的，可接受的
• connotative adj. 含蓄的，隐含的
• allure n. 诱惑，魅力，吸引力
• jackpot n. 头奖
• saturate v.使充满，使充斥

[14] Although people may imagine that they journey there to be winners, they are merely on a conveyor belt of excessive consumerism the moment they step off the plane. When casinos began a copycat period of renovations in the late 1970s, they started incorporating shopping malls and Godzilla-scale buffets, inventing a closed circuit of excessive spending.

• consumerism n. 消费主义
• copycat adj. 模仿的，仿效的
• renovation n. 革新；更新
• closed circuit 闭合循环

[21] There is something fitting about Las Vegas being a place where a fictional fantasy ended up mirroring tragic reality. In the wake of the shooting, conspiracy rumors abound. Law enforcement officials and the news media report little about Paddock’s motives. I do not possess any more knowledge than they do.

• in the wake of 随后，随着…而来
• conspiracy n. 阴谋

[22] However, I do wonder if Paddock, as he slapped those automatic rifles onto tripods, had Las Vegas-style excess – high stakes, big numbers, bright lights, and the book of Guinness – dancing through his mind.

• slap v. 啪的一声放下
• high stakes n. 高额赌注，孤注一掷
• Guinness n. 吉尼斯

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

In Las Vegas, excess and fantasy bleed into tragedy

[1] In Sin City, people often do bad things to themselves.

• Sin City 罪恶之城
• sin n. 罪恶，罪；罪行；过错

[2] Rather than deal with their lapses – moral, financial, marital – there is a ready-made marketing slogan to fall back on: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

• lapse n. 疏忽，过失，过错
• marital adj. 婚姻的，夫妻关系的
• ready-made adj. 现成的

[3] It is a way of permitting yourself to indulge, and Vegas casinos – built on a manic dynamic of gambling, sex and food consumption – make their owners billions of bucks off this mantra.

• Indulge v. 放纵
• manic adj. 狂热的
• dynamic n. 动态，（人或事物）相互作用的方式; adj. 动态的
• gambling n. 赌博
• mantra n. 不断重复的词语短语或声音，咒语

[4] Although living a long 60-mile desert drive from the city, Stephen Paddock spent most of his time there gambling. How did a seemingly happy habitual casino player conjure up serial murder by killing and injuring hundreds using enough firepower to equip a small army?

• habitual adj. 已成习惯的，积习难改的
• casino n. 赌场
• conjure up 使在脑海中浮现

[5] As an urban sociologist, I have written about how Las Vegas operates as a “themed environment,” one that channels the power of fantasy to promote a form of boundless, excessive indulgence.

• channel v. 输送
• boundless adj. 无穷的，无限的
• excessive adj. 过度的，过多的

[6] We may never know Stephen Paddock’s true motives. But what if his horrific act were to be interpreted through this lens of fantasy and indulgence?

• interpret v. 解释，理解，阐明
• lens n. 透镜，镜片，〔照相机的〕镜头

The power of theme

[7] The famous French literary critic Roland Barthes was the first to discuss the multilayered power of “the sign” as a myth that can project multiple meanings, while uniting them under the umbrella of a “mega theme.” For example, he saw the Eiffel Tower as a structure that fused early industrialization with modernity, as well as the international symbol of Paris.

• literary critic n. 文学批评家
• multilayered adj. 多层的
• mega theme n. 巨型主题
• fuse v. 使结合，融为一体
• industrialization n. 工业化
• modernity n. 现代化，现代性

[8] The American semiotician Charles S. Peirce had a similar name for this phenomenon; he called it an “icon.” Think of the American flag. It means different things to different people and, simultaneously, the same thing to millions.

• semiotician n. 符号学家
• simultaneously adv. 同时地

[9] Any themed environment, from Disneyland to the Olive Garden, uses an overarching message to unite consumers around a single purpose, whether it is a reverie of youthful innocence or the prospect of an abundant, family-style Italian dinner.

• overarching adj. 包罗万象的；支配一切的
• reverie n. 幻想，白日梦

[10] These signals – conveyed and repeated through architecture, design, advertisements, logos and slogans – have the power to attract large audiences in a way so that each individual can find something meaningful in the consumer experience.

• convey v. 传达
• architecture n. 建筑风格

Eat the most, spend the most, and win the most…

[11] I argue that in Las Vegas, the sign of “excess” is the unifying element of its themed environment. And I’ve compared its culture to that of Dubai, a Middle Eastern city that has experienced rapid development over the past 20 years.

[12] Yet the two are distinct. In Dubai, excess is purely symbolic and simplistic, with every material object directly alluding to it. Hotel rooms cost thousands of dollars a night. They come with gold faucets, gold beds, gold bedding – gold everywhere.

• symbolic adj. 象征性的，符号的
• simplistic adj. 过分简单化的
• allude v. 暗指，影射

[13] You do not need to be rich to go to Las Vegas. But its excess is palatable, with threads that work through a range of connotative associations. Buffets compete for the privilege of serving the most food; casinos promote games with the allure of “whale” level jackpots; luxury goods, gold or otherwise, saturate hotel rooms and shopping malls; and spectacular shows take place on a nightly basis. Excess in Las Vegas cues the lizard brain to indulge and spend.

• palatable adj. 美味的，可口的；〔主意、建议等〕合意的，可接受的
• connotative adj. 含蓄的，隐含的
• allure n. 诱惑，魅力，吸引力
• jackpot n. 头奖
• saturate v.使充满，使充斥

[14] Although people may imagine that they journey there to be winners, they are merely on a conveyor belt of excessive consumerism the moment they step off the plane. When casinos began a copycat period of renovations in the late 1970s, they started incorporating shopping malls and Godzilla-scale buffets, inventing a closed circuit of excessive spending.

• consumerism n. 消费主义
• copycat adj. 模仿的，仿效的
• renovation n. 革新；更新
• closed circuit 闭合循环

[15] Today, fantasies of the Old West, Ancient Egypt, the circus and tropical paradise are built into casino environments that, at their core, simply offer different flavors of the same thing: manic gambling, eating, drinking and sex.

[16] Perhaps this is why Caesars Palace has no apostrophe after the “r.” In Las Vegas, everyone can be a Roman emperor, even if he cannot be an Arab prince.

• apostrophe n. 撇号，所有格符号

[17] We do not know much about Stephen Paddock, the mass murderer. But we do know that he wagered excessive amounts of money every day. It was his way of life, and he could afford it.

• wager: v押(赌注)

[18] Excess is also one way to end your life. Just look at “La Grande Bouffe,” James Gandolfini, Orson Welles or any celebrity who took what’s called an “overdose” to die.

Kill the most?

[19] “Smokin’ Aces” was a 2006 Hollywood film directed and written by Joe Carnahan.
It tells the story of an assortment of assassins who have been ordered to kill a Las Vegas entertainer set to testify against a casino mob boss. The heavily armed assassins converge on a hotel where the entertainer is holed up awaiting trial; one sets up a M82 50 caliber sniper rifle on a tripod, similar to Paddock. The ensuing mayhem results in at least 20 law enforcement officials and civilians dead or wounded.

• assortment n. 各式各样
• assassin n. 暗杀者
• testify v. 作证
• converge v. 〔人群〕聚集，聚会，汇集
• is holed up 躲藏
• awaiting trial 候审
• M82 50 caliber sniper rifle M82 50口径狙击步枪
• ensuing adj. 接着发生的
• mayhem: n. 骚乱，大混乱

[20] Of course, this was only a fantasy. Nobody died. New York Times film critic A.O. Scott called it a “dumb film,” adding that it might cause “dumbness in others.” Carnahan, the auteur, went on to do two more “Smokin” films, so popular was the (dumb) original.

• auteur n. 电影导演

[21] There is something fitting about Las Vegas being a place where a fictional fantasy ended up mirroring tragic reality. In the wake of the shooting, conspiracy rumors abound. Law enforcement officials and the news media report little about Paddock’s motives. I do not possess any more knowledge than they do.

• in the wake of 随后，随着…而来
• conspiracy n. 阴谋

[22] However, I do wonder if Paddock, as he slapped those automatic rifles onto tripods, had Las Vegas-style excess – high stakes, big numbers, bright lights, and the book of Guinness – dancing through his mind.

• slap v. 啪的一声放下
• high stakes n. 高额赌注，孤注一掷
• Guinness n. 吉尼斯