史上今日：December 27
The film was released in the US seven months ago1977: Star Wars fever invades Britain
England have
Thousands of people are flocking to cinemas in the UK to watch the
long-awaited blockbuster, Star Wars - a movie which is already setting US box
offices alight.
Bracing the cold weather, young and old queued from 0700 GMT in London at
the Dominion, and Leicester Square cinemas, to snatch up non-reserved tickets
which are otherwise booked until March.
Star Wars, which was first released in America seven months ago, has taken
audiences by storm andoutstrippedlast year's blockbuster Jaws to gross $156m at
the box office.
Carrie Fisher, Sir Alec Guiness and little known Harrison Ford star in this
fairytale set in space.
Produced by Gary Kurtz, written and directed by George Lucas who directed
American Graffitti, the U-classified sci-fi film is a classic epic of good
versus evil.
It hasenthralledaudiences under a dazzle of special effects with wizards,
heroes, monsters in "a galaxy far, far away".
The 900 people involved in the film included giants, dwarfs, artists and
the man who built machines for James Bond.
All the special effects, costing $4m (?.14m), have been put together in
Britain and filming took the cast to Tunisia, Death Valley California, Guatemala
and the EMI soundstage at Elstree.
The build-up and hype has led to store wars over Star Wars with products
including T-shirts, sweets, jig-saw puzzle, watches and food to name but a
few.
Mr Lucas has published a paperback version and Marvel comics have produced
a special edition to meet the thirst for Star Wars' merchandise.
The explosion in the Sahara has provoked outrage in Africa and the USSR
1960: France explodes third atomic bomb
Artificially 1969:
The France has completed a third nuclear test in the Sahara desert in
Africa.
It brings the nation a step closer to its aim of developing a compact
nuclear device to arm missiles.
The explosion took place this morning at Reggan in south-western Algeria,
according to a communique from the French Armed Forces Ministry.
France's first two atomic bombs were also exploded there earlier this year
- in February and April .
The communique stated the "nuclear explosion of limited power" had been
successful and that care had been taken to prevent radioactive fall-out from
affecting people living in the remote part of the desert, and those in
neighbouring African countries.
The test provoked swift condemnation from Japan, which has also protested
in the past against tests carried out by the United States, Britain and the
USSR. All three nations agreed two years ago to cease test explosions but France
would not be bound by such an agreement.
Today, Moscow joined Japan in condemning the test saying it was a serious
blow to any hope of disarmament and against the wishes of the United Nations.
Moscow Radio described the act as "a monstrous challenge to world public
opinion".
Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Ghana have also expressed outrage at France's
action and its timing - on the eve of the African summit in Casablanca.
In Cairo, the deputy secretary general of the Arab League, El Dardiri
Ismail, called for all Arab nations to break off political and economic links
with France.
Today's bomb contained plutonium and had an explosive force equal to 10,000
to 14,000 tons of TNT - half as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb.
It was exploded at the top of a steel tower. Military equipment, dummies
and caged rats and mice were positioned in the area of the blast were monitored
during and after the explosion.
The rodents have been flown to Paris for examination.
Vocabulary:
outstrip: go far ahead of(超过)
enthral: hold spellbound(迷惑)
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