跟着电影《全球风暴》学英语：a shining city on a hill是什么意思？
【往期回顾】
跟着电影《女孩我最高》学英语：stand tall是什么意思？
【本期内容】
当你听到a shining city on a hill，你会想到什么呢？
接下来，我们就先来看看由迪安·德夫林执导、由杰拉德·巴特勒、吉姆·斯特吉斯、艾比·考尼什、亚历山德拉·玛丽亚·拉那、吴彦祖、艾赫尼奥·德伯兹、艾德·哈里斯、安迪·加西亚联合主演、于2017年10月在美国上映的科幻灾难片《全球风暴》（Geostorm）中的片段：
在该片段中，反派男主这总统这么说道：
-Tomorrow, the sun will rise, all our enemies will be gone. Wiped away as if by the hands of God!
(- Why would you do this?)
- Because no one else would. I'm turning the clock back to 1945 when America was a shining city on a hill, not just a back disguised as a country.
当反派男主说道“America was a shining city on a hill”时，估计很多人不知道他这话是什么意思。
其实，a shining city on a hill源自《圣经》，其原文如下：
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
—Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:14-16.
1630年，美国马萨诸塞湾殖民地最初的统治者约翰·温斯罗普发表过一篇著名的布道词，题为“基督徒慈善的典范”。他引用了马太福音第5章14-16节登山宝训中关于盐和光的隐喻（“你们是世上的光。城立在山上，是不能隐藏的。”）来提醒在新英格兰建立马萨诸塞湾殖民地的清教徒殖民者，他们的新社区将成为一座“山上的城”，被整个世界所注视。
"For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses . . ."
—John Winthrop, aboard the Arbella, 1630.
a shining city on a hill的字面含义是“山巅上的光辉之城”，用来喻指“令人向往、万人瞩目的希望之地”。
比如，《中国日报》（China Daily）2020年7月4日有这么一篇题为“62 pct of Americans no longer regard US as 'shining city on the hill' -- poll”的报道，其大意是62%的美国民众不再把自己的国家当作“理想之国”了。