VOA常速英语:Hollywood Gets Ready for Oscars

HOLLYWOOD — They are rolling out the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard, getting ready for the Academy Awards, or Oscars, Sunday night. The annual film honors draw attention from around the world to one corner of Hollywood.

Workers are readying the Dolby Theatre, where Hollywood luminaries will gather for the Oscars. The world's media are paying attention. So is a visitor from Australia, who is waiting for some answers.

“Who wins and who doesn't and who lucked out. We love our movies in Australia as well,” said Theo Agiannis.

Others, like Tiffany Brue of Louisiana, hope to catch a glimpse of Hollywood glamour.

“How people dress, the celebrity styles,” she said.

The work of top designers will be on display Sunday night. So will the neighborhood with longtime ties to the movie business.

Across the street, the Hollywood Museum is in a building that was once the studio of make-up master Max Factor. The biggest stars, including Judy Garland, got touch-ups for their hair and makeup here. A dress once worn to the Oscars by actress Barbara Stanwyck is also on view.

Museum founder Donelle Dadigan said the first Oscar ceremony was held on this same street in 1929.

“We are in the center of all things entertainment and tourist all year long. But it is extremely heightened and magnified on Oscar Sunday and actually for the week leading up to Oscar Sunday,” she said.

As workers put on the finishing touches, fans are getting ready, including film students and professors at California State University, Los Angeles.

“It's something that everyone looks forward to every year. And it's also something that you use to consider what films you may want to go see,” she said.

And it's important for the stars. Some will go home Sunday with an Oscar.

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres will host the Oscar ceremony. Tens of millions of people in the United States will be watching on television, and hundreds of millions more around the world.