In 1926， to help make ends meet， Ruan signed up for the then prominent Mingxing Film Studio. She made her first film A Married Couple in Name Only at the age of 16. In 1928， she signed for Da Zhonghua Baihe Company where she shot 6 films. Later， she signed for the newly-formed Lianhua Studio in 1930， and there she became a major film star. The Goddess in the year 1934 is often hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese silent cinema； Ruan sympathetically portrayed a prostitute bringing up a child. Later that year， Ruan made her penultimate film， New Women. In her short life， she acted in 29 films in total. She successfully portrayed the women of varied social classes， and was praised as the Greta Garbo or Ingrid Bergman in China.
1926年，为了贴补家用，阮玲玉签约了当时着名的明星影片公司，开始电影生涯。16岁时出演了第一部电影《挂名夫妻》。1928年转入大中华百合公司，并出演了6部影片。1930年转入联华影业公司，一举成名，奠定她在影坛的地位。1934年主演的《神女》更被认为是中国默片电影的巅峰，阮玲玉在片中饰演了一位要抚养孩子的妓女。之后又出演了《新女性》等影片，一生共主演29部电影，演技自然形象，演活了社会各阶层不同的女性形象，被赞誉为中国的葛丽泰·嘉宝、英格丽·褒曼。
Ruan was brought up by her mother working as a housemaid. At the age of 16 Ruan became acquainted with Zhang Damin ， whose family her mother was working for. Zhang was later driven out of his wealthy family due to his spendthrift life and became a chronic gambler， supported by Ruan’s salary. Unable to tolerate Zhang"s gambling addiction， Ruan split with him in 1933. Ruan began cohabiting with Tang Jishan， a tea tycoon. In 1935， Zhang filed a lawsuit to claim compensation from Ruan. The tabloids seized on this opportunity to probe into Ruan’s private life and put Ruan under intense pressure.
阮玲玉自幼丧父，由身为佣人的母亲一手带大。16岁时与母亲做工的东家少爷张达民同居。张达民无所事事，挥霍无度，后来被逐出家门变成一介赌徒，并靠阮玲玉的薪水接济。1933年阮玲玉再无法忍受嗜赌的张达民，与之分手， 后与做茶叶生意的富商唐季珊同居交往。1935年张达民污蔑阮玲玉并状告要求赔款。各种八卦小报趁机开始介入阮玲玉的私人生活，使她背负了巨大的压力。
Faced with these public issues as well as with intense private problems， Ruan poisoned herself with an overdose of barbiturates in Shanghai on March 8， 1935 at the age of 24. Her released death note apparently contained a line which says “Gossip is a fearful thing”(人言可畏). Even China's preeminent intellectual Lu Xun was appalled at the details surrounding Ruan’s death and wrote an essay entitled “Gossip is a Fearful Thing” to denounce the tabloids. Her funeral procession was reportedly 3 miles (4.8 km) long with three women committing suicide during the event.
在这些公共舆论和紧张的个人问题的重压下，阮玲玉终不堪其苦，于1935年3月8日在上海寓所内服药自杀，年仅24岁。后来公开的遗书中，她写道“人言可畏”。鲁迅也就此着文“人言可畏”谴责媒体小报的行为。据称，阮玲玉葬礼的送葬者绵延近5公里，甚至有人为此自杀，足以看到人们对这位影星的爱戴与惋惜。
核心词汇
1.pinnacle [?pin?kl]n.顶峰
例：She feels like being on the pinnacle of happiness.
她感到幸福至极。
2.sympathetically [?simp?'θetikli]adv. 同情地
例：“It has been a depressing day，” said he sympathetically.“
这天气是挺扫兴的。”他同情地说。
3.penultimate[pi?n?ltimit] adj.
倒数第二的
例：November is the penultimate month of the year.
十一月份是一年中倒数第二个月。
4.tycoon[tai?ku?n] n. 企业大亨
例：The oil tycoon has done a lot of charity.
这位石油大亨十分热衷慈善。
5.tabloid [?t?bl?id] n. 小报
例：The tabloids are full of gossips and rumors.
这些小报充斥着八卦谣传。
情景对话
A： Have you ever heard about silent film？
你听说过默片电影吗？
B： Yes， that's the kind of film without human voice， right？
听说过，就是指没有配音的电影对吧？
A： That's right. Do you know some silent film stars in China？
没错。那你知道中国的默片电影明星吗？
B：Of course， I know some beautiful and talented actresses， for example， Hu Die and Zhang Zhiyun.
当然，我知道几位美丽并且才华横溢的女演员，比如蝴蝶、张织云。
A： Do you know Ruan Lingyu？
那你知道阮玲玉吗？
B：Yes， she is also one of the most talented film star and it's really a pity that she died at a very young age.
知道，她也是最着名的影星之一，可惜英年早逝。
A： She was an icon of chinese film then.
她是当时中国电影的标志性人物。
B： Yes， so her death must be a great loss at that time.
对，想必她的死在当时是个巨大的损失。
相关知识
默片：即无声电影，发明于1860年左右，是没有任何配音、配乐或与画面协调的声音的电影。把电影影像与声音配合的想法，几乎是与电影本身同时产生的；但由于技术上的困难，在1920年代末以前，大部份电影都是默片。可是默片的影像等同共通的语言；默片年代，亦被称为“银幕年代”。
因为默片没有与影像同步的声音或说话，所以会加入所谓的“间幕”，以文字向戏院观众展示主要对话，甚至对电影内容的评价，或后来发展的暗示。默片非常依赖大量的身体动作（body gesture）和面部表情（facial expression），好让观众了解角色的内心思想。
默片时代着名的世界级大师有卓别林（Charlie Chaplin）等。而在中国默片时代与阮玲玉齐名的影星还有同样获得过“电影皇后”称号的胡蝶、张织
云等。
金嗓子周璇
“Golden Voice”Zhou Xuan
Zhou Xuan's hometown is Changzhou in Jiangsu province， but she was separated from her natural parents at a young age and raised by adoptive parents. She spent her entire life searching for her biological parents， but her parentage was never established in her lifetime.
周璇家乡是江苏常州，但她从小就和亲生父母分离，是由养父母一手带大的。她整个一生都在寻找自己的亲生父母，但是生前都没有找到。
According to later family research， a relative who was an opium addict took her at the age of 3 to another city and sold her to a family named Wang who named her Wang Xiaohong. She was later adopted by a family named Zhou， and her name was changed to Zhou Xiaohong.
据之后对她的家庭调查得知，是一个吸毒的亲戚把三岁的她带到了另一个城市，卖给了一户姓王的人家，那家人叫她王小红，之后她又被一户姓周的人家收养，改名为周小红。
At the age of 13， she took Zhou Xuan as her stage name. “Xuan”meant beautiful jade in Chinese.
13岁那年，她取艺名为周璇，璇在汉语里是美玉的意思。
The “Golden Voice” was Zhou's nickname to commend her singing talents after a singing competition in Shanghai， where she came in second. Zhou rapidly became the most famous and marketable popular singer in the gramophone era up to her death.she sang many famous tunes from her own movies. Her light but eminently musical voice captured the hearts of millions of Chinese of her time.
在上海的一场歌唱比赛中国璇获得了第二名，之后“金嗓子”被用来被用来称赞周璇演唱天赋。周璇很快成为留声机时代最着名、最受欢迎的流行歌手，直到去世。周璇唱了许多自己电影中的流行歌曲，她的柔声细语俘虏了她那个时代亿万中国人的心。