| 释义 |
iron curtain
[f. iron n.1 + curtain n.1]
1. In a theatre, a curtain of iron which can be lowered between the stage and the auditorium in order to prevent passage or communication, or for protection.
1794Times 13 Mar. 3/2 Besides other precautions, an iron curtain has been contrived, which, on such occasion [of fire], would compleatly prevent all communication between the audience and stage. 1829H. Foote Compan. to Theatres 30 As a precaution against fire, an iron curtain was constructed, so as to let down in a moment of danger and separate the audience from the stage. 1891Scott & Howard Life E. L. Blanchard II. 557 And provision against fire is made [in the Prince of Wales' Theatre] by an iron curtain. 1908Wodehouse & Westbrook Globe by the Way Bk. 51/2 ‘The iron curtain,’ she gasped, and exerting her full strength, held the actor under the descending sheet of metal.
2. fig. Any impenetrable barrier.
After 1946 regarded as a transf. use of sense 2 b.
1819Earl of Munster Jrnl. Route across India 1817–18 iv. 58 On the 19th November we crossed the river Betwah, and as if an iron curtain had dropt between us and the avenging angel, the deaths diminished. 1904H. G. Wells Food of Gods iii. iv. 274 It became evident that Redwood had still imperfectly apprehended the fact that an iron curtain had dropped between him and the outer world. 1915G. W. Crile Mechanistic View War & Peace iv. 69 Suppose that Mexico were a rich, cultured, and brave nation of forty million with a deep-rooted grievance, and an iron curtain at its frontier. [1916E. Howard Potsdam Princes 250 The war, of course, has made them bitter enemies, and when reminded of her German relations, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium is reported to have said that between her and her people in Bavaria a curtain of iron had fallen.] 1939J. Gloag Word Warfare xi. 113 In an international crisis Germany can be cut off from the world by an iron curtain of censorship. 1946J. C. Davies Episcopal Acts Welsh Dioceses 1066–1272 i. 43 Within this iron curtain in the south the princes of Deheubarth maintained a precarious independence until the middle of the thirteenth century. 1959Listener 29 Jan. 198/1 By tact and determination she gradually broke down the iron curtain and mobilized the women into a united Conservative front. 1962Daily Tel. 15 Aug. 13/2 There was no ‘Iron Curtain’ between them and the consumer. 1967Freedomways VII. 119 Since I don't want the United States to appear like an ‘Iron Curtain’ to the Vietnamese, I think it would be good for several Vietnamese women to visit this country.
b. spec. (usually with initial capitals). A barrier to the passage of information, etc., at the limit of the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Cf. bamboo curtain (bamboo n. 2), curtain n.1 3 c. Also in extended use (as quot. 1924).
The locus classicus is quot. 1946.
1920Mrs. P. Snowden Through Bolshevik Russia ii. 32 We were behind the ‘iron curtain’ at last! 1924Lord D'Abernon Diary 14 Sept. in Ambassador of Peace (1930) III. iv. 101 Stresemann considered that it was essential for the Rhineland to be frankly part of Germany, also for Danzig to be reincorporated. Without this there could be no permanent peace. I put forward my view of the reciprocal iron curtain or strip of inviolable territory as a protection. [1945Times 23 Feb. 3/4 (tr. Paul Josef Goebbels, German Minister for Propaganda, from Das Reich) If the German people lay down their arms, the whole of eastern and south-eastern Europe, together with the Reich, would come under Russian occupation. Behind an iron screen [ein eiserner Vorhang] mass butcheries of peoples would begin. ]1945Times 3 May 4/5 (speech by the German Foreign Minister, Schwerin von Krosigk) In the East the iron curtain behind which, unseen by the eyes of the world, the work of destruction goes on is moving steadily forward. 1945Sir St. V. Troubridge in Sunday Empire News 21 Oct. 2/2 A Curtain Across Europe... Yet at present an iron curtain of silence has descended, cutting off the Russian zone from the Western Allies. 1946W. S. Churchill in Times 6 Mar. 6/1 (Address at Westminster College, Fulton, U.S.A., 5 March) From Stettin, in the Baltic, to Trieste, in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. 1953Encounter Oct. 58/1 If they live behind the Iron Curtain they can do none of these things—for, while the Communists agree that knowledge is power, they are persuaded that they are already in essential possession of both. 1953W. S. Churchill Second World War (1954) VI. xxxiv. 498 In these same days I also sent what may be called the ‘Iron Curtain’ telegram to President Truman..Prime Minister to President Truman 12 May 45..An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind. 1971Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Dec. 1621/5 The theory of convergence informs us that societies on both sides of the Iron Curtain are conditioned by similar forces in all essential respects, whatever the differences in kind or degree of individual liberty enjoyed by their members. 1972Guardian 23 Aug. 7/5 The iron curtain that fell on Anglo-Soviet cultural deals when 105 Soviet diplomats were expelled from Britain last year has been lifted. 1973J. M. White Gooden Game 184 One of Harrison's local contacts, an experienced Iron Curtain operator. |