Pretty Clever: Hedy Lamarr
① When the siren of the silver screen died in 2000, her life and career were held up for scrutiny.
② Obituaries mentioned her early years in Vienna and her femme fatale appeal.
③ Ample space was given to her six marriages, as well as "Ecstasy" (1933), her most famous film, in which she frolicked naked in gardens, streams and bedrooms (attracting the condemnation of Pope Pius XI).
④ But few devoted more than a couple of paragraphs to her remarkable intellectual achievements, and her role in inventing the "spread spectrum" wireless technology now essential to military communications and mobile phones.
⑤ She had collaborated with George Antheil, a composer, in 1940 in an effort to prevent the Nazis from jamming Allied radio signals, securing a patent in 1942.
⑥ "Bombshell: the Hedy Lamarr Story", a new documentary, hopes to redress the balance, reminding viewers that the "world's most beautiful woman" was in possession of a most beautiful mind.
▍生词好句
siren /ˈsʌɪr(ə)n/: n. 蛇蝎美人；迷人的女人 (原意为“海妖”)
scrutiny /ˈskru:tɪni/: n. 审视；详细查看
obituary /ə(ʊ)ˈbɪtʃʊəri/: n. 讣告
femme fatale /ˌfam fəˈtɑ:l/: n. 危险的美女
Ecstasy /ˈɛkstəsi/: 《入谜》(海蒂第二部电影的名字)
frolic /ˈfrɒlɪk/: vi. 嬉戏
condemnation /ˌkɒndəmˈneɪʃn/: n. 谴责
spread spectrum /ˈspɛktrəm/: 展布频谱；扩频；跳频
jam /dʒam/: vt. 干扰
Allied /ˈalʌɪd/: adj. (二战期间) 同盟国的
secure a patent /ˈpat(ə)nt/: 获得专利
bombshell /ˈbɒmʃɛl/: n. 性感尤物
redress the balance: 重新调整以获得平衡
be in possession of: 拥有
