章節 52: Chapter 52 The American Dream
"Ronnie," Meg took the ice cream she had in her hand and stuffed it into Ronald's mouth.
Ronald licked and took his own cone.
The two were waiting to take the boat at Battery Park dock, at the southern tip of Manhattan.
This is the southernmost tip of Manhattan Island, and the Statue of Liberty is not far away on Liberty Island.
It is different from the orange mixed passenger and cargo ferry to Staten Island. The Circle Line ferry picks up tourists. It is exclusively for individual passengers and is painted sky blue.
Soon, Ronald and Meg arrived and boarded the boat to enjoy the view on the deck.
The Statue of Liberty is a national park managed by the federal government, and visiting it is free. However, the ferry to the island costs money, and American capitalists always take advantage of that.
The first place the boat docked was another small island, Ellis Island. This was the isolation point where new immigrants landed in the early years. Since the beginning of the last century, millions of immigrants have been isolated on the island in groups, looking at the new world in their dreams.
The only tall building that new immigrants can see on the island is the Goddess Statue on Liberty Island next door. They looked at the Statue of Liberty through the window panes and dreamed of their future American dream.
This is reflected in many Hollywood movies.
Ronald and Meg were also looking at the Statue of Liberty and thinking about their American dreams.
The ferry continued moving. As the goddess statue drew closer on the boat, Ronald felt a little disappointed. The goddess statue was in poor condition and already looked a bit old and dirty.
After disembarking on the island from the dock, there is a long pathway. It was Meg's first time seeing the Statue of Liberty, and she seemed very excited.
Ronald continued to gaze at the goddess, and the two moved forward slowly.
A gust of wind passed, and Ronald seemed to see the goddess's right arm, holding the torch, swaying slightly. "Meg, look at the goddess's hand holding the torch, am I dazzled?"
"Ah, it seems to be trembling." Meg also noticed it.
In 1886, it was a gift from the Chinese people to the Americans. It is nearly 100 years old and truly ancient and terrifying. Just like the land beneath our feet, many businesses operate tremblingly, and if they are not careful...
Ronald and Meg were a bit scared and did not dare to go up to visit them. The two walked around the island and took many photographs.
Taking the ferry back to Lower Manhattan, the two entered a movie theater and chose to watch a film called "The China Syndrome."
Besides the fact that the name is somewhat related to the two of them, and the female lead is Jane Fonda, there is something magical about this movie.
The meaning of "The China Syndrome" actually has nothing to do with China.
It was about an accident at a nuclear power plant in the United States, where the core melted and leaked. The dangerous substances have no obstructions and can open a hole in the ground, leading directly to China on the opposite side of the earth, and leaking nuclear waste to China on the opposite side of the earth.
That's why this serious nuclear accident is called the China Syndrome.
Ten days after the movie premiered, an accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, causing a huge uproar across the country. The movies became prophets. Suddenly, it became famous, and the box office was very good.
Ronald went to buy Coca-Cola and popcorn, but when he returned, Meg was gone.
After looking around, he found Meg Tilly staring at a poster on the door.
Walking silently behind her, he discovered that Meg was looking at a poster of a performance by the New York City Ballet. At the end of April, the spring performance season for the ballet company begins.
This year, the New York City Ballet hired its principal dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, from the American Ballet Company. His figure is on the poster.
To become an instant success, they spent a lot of money placing posters and advertisements in major theaters, shopping malls, and throughout the New York City Ballet.
"Baryshnikov, is he a good dancer?" Ronald asked.
"Ronnie," when Meg saw it was him, she simply leaned against Ronald, letting him wrap his arms around her and bringing her popcorn and Coca-Cola.
"Mikhail is a talented dancer who was at the Leningrad Ballet of the Soviet Union. A few years ago, he took the opportunity to visit Canada and defected to the United States."
"If you've ever seen him dance, you'll know he has something special. In ballet school, he was the idol of all the girls, and they all wanted to partner with him."
It turned out to be him. No wonder Ronald felt familiar.
The Christmas before last, Ronald and Aunt Karen, Donna, watched Baryshnikov dance "The Nutcracker" on CBS.
Host Charlie Rose also briefly presented the story of his journey to the "free world" to achieve his "American dream."
"Since he has so much talent and should also be the principal dancer of the Leningrad Ballet, why would he defect?" Ronald looked at the poster, the dancer who once was Meg's idol, a bit strange.
"I heard he wants to dance innovative modern ballet, but Leningrad only allows him to dance classical ballet."
"However, some people say he is too short; he is only 1.65 meters (5 feet 4) tall and is not worthy of the ballerinas of the Sovereign Union, so he can only play supporting roles."
Meg gossiped and chuckled.
Ronald knew she still regretted missing a professional career as a ballet dancer, so he joked:
"Ha, yes, you're taller than him. He can't dance the Prince and Princess in The Nutcracker with you."
"And my height, hey... I'm more suited to play a prince."
"Haha..." Meg had so much fun with him that she reached out and hit Ronald.
"But even if I hadn't been injured, I wouldn't go to the New York City Ballet." Meg felt better and took the initiative to talk about her ballet dream.
"Why? Aren't they the best ballet company in New York?" Ronald was surprised.
"Balanchine, the dance director of the city of New York, was also Russian and fled to the United States after World War I. More than ten years ago, he received an 8 million dollar grant from the Ford Foundation, which was mainly used to create new ballets. He combined waltz, jazz; even the Star-Spangled Banner was arranged into a ballet."
"Many of the dancers who go to the New York City Dance Company are the second generation of rich people who bought their tickets with money. They do not have the ability to rehearse true classical ballet dramas, so they can only dance these..." Meg made a "garbage" mouth shape.
"And my dream is to dance all the classical ballet roles before I'm 24, including Giselle, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, and The Swan Lake…"
"I hope to hear the audience shout Bravo for me on the stages of New York, Leningrad, London, and Paris!"
"I want to be famous! I want to be famous all over the world!"
Meg stepped away from Ronald, faced the Baryshnikov poster, stood on tiptoes, raised her arms, struck a ballet pose, and loudly recounted her dream.
Ronald saw the burning fire of ambition in this girl's eyes.
...
The movie is beautifully filmed, and the various coincidences and arrangements make the audience nervous about the nuclear leak. Jane Fonda is great as always, and her co-star Michael Douglas is also good.
Now is an era when people talk about nuclear energy. The fog of the Cold War hangs over everyone's heads. Some people have begun to be wildly anti-nuclear. They oppose everything related to nuclear energy, including nuclear missiles and submarines, nuclear testing, and nuclear power plants.
I think this movie will do well at the box office.
After watching the movie, the two went shopping in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan. Ronald had just moved in for a day, and many daily necessities were still not prepared, so he relied on Meg Tilly to help him buy them.
Meg has very good taste, and the items she chooses are always affordable and designed to enhance aesthetic quality.
For example, a snow-white tablecloth combined with a scarlet napkin. Another example is the translucent screen of the bedroom floor lamp.
With many things in their hands, Ronald and Meg returned to the hardware store.
Meg went to buy red wine glasses and porcelain dinnerware, while Ronald chatted boredly with the owner.
The owner's English is as poor as Ronald's Cantonese. He can only communicate through sporadic words and gestures.
When asked if the owner had good black tea, he quietly took out a paper packet of tea from beneath the counter: "National tea, good," Ronald only understood a few words.
Put it under your nose and smell, and it smells really fresh.
"Qimen or Wuyishan?"
"Qimen," the owner turned over the tea bag and pointed to the label.
Indeed, the words Qimen State Tea Factory were written in imitation of the Song style. Ronald spent a "huge sum" of 10 dollars and bought two packets to try.
"I'll buy you another candlestick, and you give me two candles so we can have a candlelit dinner tonight." Ronald pointed to the candle on the counter.
The store owner took out the candlestick and gave a thumbs up, indicating that Ronald knew how to be romantic.
(End of Chapter
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