2008 August: Olympics Opening Ceremony, Beijing

2008年8月：北京奥运会举行

Perhaps the spectacular audio-visual cavalcade dreamed up and choreographed by film director Zhang Yimou was little more than propaganda for a repressive regime. But it was hard not to marvel at how brilliantly he marshalled a 15,000-strong cast to tumble and move through Herzog and de Meuron’s extraordinary Bird’s Nest Stadium, and how dexterously he juggled drum platoons, LED paper scrolls, lip-synching singers and CGI fireworks in a militantly euphoric and made-for-television spectacle that felt like a national “coming out” to the world and an attempt to fashion a new sense of Chinese selfhood.

不管西方评论家们如何叽叽喳喳，他们无法否认开幕式的辉煌壮丽。

2009 February: 'Slumdog Millionaire’ wins eight Oscars

2009年2月：《贫民窟的百万富翁》获八项奥斯卡奖

Danny Boyle’s Mumbai-based fairy tale, from a script that nearly didn’t get made, becomes the most feted British film since The English Patient.

孟买童话成就了英国自《英国病人》以来最成功的电影。

June：Michael Jackson dies

六月：迈克杰克逊去世

Just weeks ahead of his 50 date residency at London’s O2 Arena, the one time King of Pop collapses and dies. In a process of Elvis-like deification, Michael Jackson’s reputation is transformed by tragedy.

就在他的巡回演唱会开始前几周，一代歌王倒下了……


December: James Cameron’s 'Avatar’ released

12月：詹姆斯喀麦隆的《阿凡达》上映

The megahyped sci-fi epic will pave (or block) the way forward for digital 3D.

这部电影将会被载入史册，就像某评论人说的那样：电影史自此会被划分为两个时代，前阿凡达时代，和后阿凡达时代。