Book-3-Unit-3-Appendix-2-Understanding-the-Text-答案.doc

Understanding the TextUnit 3 James Camerons AmbitionStep 1: Focus on Meaning1.1. Skimming and Scanning: Read the text quickly and focus on all clues regarding time and sequence of events. Then, put the exact date (years) in the brackets before each of the following statements.1. (2009) James Cameron finally outdid rival George Lucas with Avatar. 2. (2000) James Cameron asked one of his team members about the possibility of inventing equipment that could produce high-definition 3-D films.3. (1977) James Cameron watched the movie Star Wars with a friend. 4. (1984-1994) James Cameron directed other films and many of them became very successful. 5. (1984) The film Terminator was released.6. (2000) James Cameron negotiated with Sony company. 7. (1995) James Cameron began to draft and create the world of Avatar.8. (2003) The success of Spider Kids 3-D proved the efficiency of the new equipment. 9. (2005-2009) Many U.S. theatres updated their theater equipment. 10. (2009) The blockbuster Avatar was released.11. (1981) James Cameron became a film director and made his first movie. 1.2. Scanning: Read paragraphs 1 through 6 in detail and answer the following questions orally. Use key words only. 1. What job did James Cameron have in 1977?Truck driver. 2. What do you learn about his hobbies?Writing fictional stories. 3. How did he feel after watching Star Wars? Why?angry. 4. What did he do after he went home?Bought movie equipment and tried shooting fictional films. 5. Why did he shoot a 12-minute clip? What was it about?To use the clip to get a studio to back up feature film; fight scene between an a robot and a woman. 6. How did he advertise his clip? Was he successful?Peddling it around Hollywood; yes. 7. What can you infer about Roger Corman?Very nice person who provided newcomers opportunities. 8. What was the main idea behind the first film James Cameron directed?A horror film. 9. How did Cameron get the inspiration for Terminator? From a dream. 10. According to paragraph 6, which of Camerons movies was the most successful? Why?Titanic. Won 11 Oscars. 11. According to paragraph 6, what can you learn about Avatar, the world Cameron created?A virtual world. Pandora, Navis.1.3. Scanning: Read paragraphs 7 through 23 in detail and supply the missing words. James Cameron spent as long as 12 years to shoot Avatar. The job was extremely complicated and Cameron faced many difficulties, among which were the invention of moviemaking technologies, persuading the theaters to retool, and the creation of every detail on the planet. Even his team doubted the possibility because Cameron wanted all characters in the movie to look utterly real and be computer-generated/be generated by computer. In order to deal with the problem of technology, Cameron consulted a(n) underwater camera specialist. Though he was uncertain, Cameron firmly believed that they could invent cameras which would be easy to handle, digital, of high resolution, and 3D . Then, upon his commission, Sony company successfully established a new line of cameras as Cameron wished in three months. To persuade theaters into adopting/updating/retooling their film-shooting equipment, Cameron tested his system with Spy Kids 3-D, proving that the new system would pay off. He also talked to theater owners, explaining the promising future of 3-D films. As a result, U.S. theaters began to update their equipment over the following several years. Cameron was not satisfied. He wanted to make Avatar even more elaborate, so he hired a linguistic expert to invent an entirely new language system for the Navi, from consonants, basic grammar structure, to even a specific grammatical rule. He also named everything on the planet, wrote detailed specific description for every plant, and complied all information into a Pandorapedia. His team consisted of people from various circles: a linguistic expert, a botanical expert, an expert in astrophysics, a music professor, and an archaeologist. Camerons efforts made Avatar one of the highest grossing films of the day. Step 2: Focus on Language2.1. Sentence Translation:* He set up blindingly bright lights in the living room and rolled a camera along a track to practice shots. He spent days reading everything he could about special effects. He became completely obsessed. (para.2) 他在客厅中打出亮得刺眼的光线、在轨道上推着摄像机练习拍摄。接连数天，他读完了所有能找到的、和电影特效有关的书籍。他完全入了魔。* After peddling it around Hollywood for months, his effort did yield something worthwhile: a job with director Roger Corman. Hired to build miniature spaceships for a Corman film, Cameron worked his way up to become a visual effects specialist. (para.4) 接下来的几个月里，他一直在好莱坞四处兜售。他的努力没有白费：他赢得了在罗杰科曼导演手下工作的机会。他受雇为科曼的一部电影打造微型太空飞船，此后经过努力一步步成为了视觉特效专家。* One night, after anediting session, Cameron went to sleep and dreamed that he saw a robot clawing toward a frightened woman. Cameron soon used it as the basis for a script about a robot assassin sent back to kill the mother of a future rebel leader. (para.5) 一天晚上的剪辑会后，卡梅隆去睡觉，梦见自己看见一个机器人张牙舞爪地逼近一个惊慌失措的女人。很快，他便以此为素材创作了一个剧本，讲述一名机器人杀手被派遣穿越时光去杀死未来抵抗军领袖的母亲。* Pandoras atmosphere is so toxic to humans that scientists grow genetically engineered versions of the Navi- the so-called avatars that can be linked to a humans consciousness, allowing remote control of the creatures body. (para.6) 潘朵拉星球的空气能使人类致命，因此科学家们将纳美人的基因进行改造，培养出了所谓的“阿凡达”这种生物体中可植入人类的意识、能受远程控制。* But Cameron was relieved. He said. “It was time to go play.” (para.10) 但卡梅隆反倒释然了，他说：“大展身手的时候到了。” * Pace wasnt sure he knew about the cheap red-and-blue paper glasses of conventional 3-D filmmaking. They were notoriously uncomfortable, and the images could cause headaches. (para. 11) 佩斯不大清楚他了解传统3D电影制作中那种红蓝相间的廉价纸眼镜。这种眼镜令人极其不适，看到的影像会引起头痛。* As if that werent enough, Cameron even hired an expert in botany to write detailed scientific descriptions of the plants he had created. (para. 20) 这一切似乎还不够，卡梅隆甚至聘请植物学专家为他创造的几十种植物撰写了详尽、科学的说明。* Thirty two years after realizing that he desperately wanted to make a space epic to rivalStar Wars, Cameron has put the finishing touches on his picture, creating one of the all-time highest grossing films to date. (para.23) 自从卡梅隆意识到自己想要拍一部能匹敌星球大战的太空巨片起，已经32年了。卡梅隆终于在他的宏伟蓝图上画上了最后一笔，创造了史无前例的票房神话。2.2. Structural Analysis1. After peddling it around Hollywood for months, his effort did yield something worthwhile: a job with director Roger Corman. (para.4)*Rewrite the following sentences using the same structure. While he was at college, he was a prominent athlete. While at college, he was a prominent athlete. You must study hard while you are young, or you will regret when you are old.You must study hard while young, or you will regret when old. Although he knew French, he wrote his applications in English. Knowing French, he wrote his applications in English. 2. Hired to build miniature spaceships for a Corman film, Cameron worked his way up to become a visual effects specialist. (para. 4)* Hired to build miniature spaceships for a Corman film is a past participle phrase functioning as a(n) adverbial phrase. * Find more sentences with the same structure from the text.* Rewrite the following sentences using the structure. When a fresh snow flake is seen under a microscope, it has a delicate six-pointed shape. When seen under a microscope, a fresh snow flake has a . If we are compared with you, we still have a long way to go.Compared with you, we still have Although we were exhausted by the climb, we continued our journey. Exhausted by the climb, we Because his homework was done in a hurry, it was full of mistakes. Done in a hurry, his homework was full of mistakes. He was walking up and down the hallway, as if he was lost in thought.