节目资讯
刊物:娱乐时尚
日期:2009-01-20
难易度:Medium
关键字:frenzy, come into one’s own, opponent, quirk, Feli
(Music).
Hi, friends.
Thanks for taking your time to visit us here at Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Well, like many things that are now wildly popular,
Japanese anime started off small and it’s steadily grew.
But how exactly did it get its start?
We’ll be exploring that question more in today’s lesson.
Two things to preview before the reading.
One is the word:
frenzy.
And the other is the phrase:
to come into one’s own.
Let’s take a look at frenzy first.
There was a book-buying frenzy across the country when the president published
his story.
That’s a good example sentence for that word.
And the example sentence for the idiom come into one’s own is:
After her outstanding performance, it was clear that the young dancer had
finally come into her own.
All right, everyone.
Let’s get our magazines out now and turn to page thirty-three for the reading.
Please follow along as we read.
Amazing Anime.
Anime’s beginnings.
But how did this anime frenzy get started?
The first anime came out in nineteen seventeen.
Some mimicked American cartoons like Felix the Cat.
But others told Japanese folk stories and legends with animated characters drawn
in an Asian style.
The style really came into its own in the nineteen fifties when comic book
artist Osamu Tezuka started Japan’s first TV animation studio.
His productions became hugely popular in Japan.
Later in the twentieth century,
filmmakers Miyazaki and Takahata began making animated films,
and the art form’s popularity spread abroad.
Hi, Friends. I’m Esther.
I’m Rachel.
And I’m Chip.
And we’re so glad you joined us for day two of our lesson.
Yesterday we learned some very interesting things about anime and how it’s
universally appealing to many people.
Today we’re going to look at anme’s beginnings.
And I think we’re going to also learn some very neat things.
OK.
Well, the article asks:
How did this anime frenzy get started?
Esther, what is a frenzy?
Well, the word frenzy means a period of great activity.
So if something is in frenzy, it means that’s a lot of things going on at the
same time.
For example,
during Christmas, there is often frenzy at the mall because a lot of people are
there getting gifts for their family and friends.
Right.
If you’re in a state of frenzy, it means you’re actually acting a little bit
crazy.
It’s a very busy... sense of activity, I guess we could say.
So as our author asks an important question:
How did this anime frenzy get started?
Why are people so crazy about anime?
Well, we see here that the first anime came... came out in nineteen seventeen.
That’s right.
Nineteen seventeen.
That’s a long time ago.
And I think we have some more information about that.
Many people feel that after thirty years of production, Japanese animation is
getting stale,
that is,
every plot has been tried - every kind of character has been explored - all of
the good ideas have been used up.
Fortunately, to American audiences, the concepts and characters are new and
fresh.
Even so, others feel that, in many ways, Anime is still reinventing itself,
with increasingly complex story lines and flashy artwork.
Well, that was interesting.
Well, let’s go back to the text.
Remember we’re talking about the anime frenzy.
And also remember that anime first came out in nineteen seventeen.
OK.
So we see here that some anime mimicked American cartoons like Felix the Cat.
Let’s stop for a minute on that word:
mimic.
If some of you like to mimic others...
I know when I was a kid, I was always mimicking my teachers or my parents.
So if my parents told me no, I would always say no.
And I would try to mimic what they were saying.
That’s right.
When you mimic somebody, you’re simply trying to copy what they do.
Right.
So I guess what we’re seeing here is that the anime, the original anime,
mimicked certain cartoons.
And Esther, what was one of the cartoons that our author mentioned?
Well, one cartoon is Felix the Cat.
And this is an American cartoon about a Cat named Felix and all his adventures.
And I think that this cartoon was actually first made during the silent film
era.
You know, there was a period of time when there was no sound to films, right?
And they just had to watch them uh, with no sound.
And that’s when Felix the Cat first made its big debut.
That’s right.
And he was very popular, so popular that they made a movie about Felix the Cat.
Oh, cool.
I’d like to see that sometime.
Well, as we see here, anime mimicked cartoons like this.
And others told uh, we see here, Japanese folk stories and legends with animated
characters drawn in an Asian style.
Now Esther, let’s stop for a minute on these words:
folk stories and legends.
Are those always true?
No, folks stories and legends aren’t always true.
Many cultures have their own folks stories or stories that they have passed down
from generation to generation.
Or legends,
and these are stories sometimes about great heroes and what they do,
but they are often not true.
But many people know these stories.
Right. I think of a story like Robin Hood,
kind of a... a very popular legend.
And still we’re not sure:
Did a real Robin Hood live?
Did he exist?
But I’m sure that a lot of people still enjoy telling that story over and over
again for... to different generations.
That’s right.
And the article says that the style came into its own,
which simply means it became its own thing.
It be... it took on its own identity as a distinct uh, style.
That’s right.
It came into its own in the nineteen fifties.
So that’s really when anime took off, so to speak.
It became its own style especially in Asian countries,
because they were mimicking the American cartoons, but yet, they had their own
style and their own unique characteristics.
And this is because in the nineteen fifties,
a very famous Japanese comic book artist called Osumu Tezuka began... Japan’s
first TV animation studio.
So we see that these productions became hugely popular in Japan.
It probably started a big frenzy and everybody wanted to watch the new animated
cartoons.
And then what happened later in the twentieth century, Chip?
Well, anime went from television to movies.
Uh, thanks to Miyazaki and Takahara, uh, they made animated films.
And so from then, from there, the movie is really made the art form uh...
Universal.
Universal.
In fact, it became worldwide,
and the art form’s popularity spread abroad.
So it went definitely out of Japan and it went into many other countries.
We’re going to be talking quite a bit more about this.
But right now we need to take a break and watch a skit.
So, tell me.
How did this anime frenzy get started?
It started in the nineteen twenties.
Oh. You’re older than you look.
Very funny.
Japanese artists mimicked American cartoons.
Other artists used animation to tell folk stories and legends.
Oh.
So that’s how it all began.
Oh, yeah.
Then in the nineteen fifties,
I came into my own when comic book makers started a TV animation studio.
I bet you were very popular.
Oh, yes.
First in Japan, and then my popularity spread abroad.
Why... why do you think you’re so successful, anime?
Because I have a variety of stories.
Battles with giant robots and super computers, suspense-filled dramas, and
romances, too.
Are anime romances the same as Western ones?
Anime romances frequently involve a humorous twist.
Haha.
Or some quirk.
(Backgroud Noise).
Sounded like an animated cartoon falling in love with a real person.
Ha...
Oh, oh, that’s so romantic.
Oops!