Tom and Jerry:80 years of cat vs mouse

2020-06-18 08:43陳義杰

瘋狂英語(yǔ)·新讀寫 2020年5期

《貓和老鼠》是歐美經(jīng)典動(dòng)畫，于1940年2月10日在美國(guó)首播。這個(gè)機(jī)靈老鼠與笨貓的故事,堪與米老鼠和唐老鴨的故事相媲美。沒(méi)有動(dòng)物世界中恃強(qiáng)凌弱的殘酷，只有兩個(gè)鄰居之間的日?，嵤潞图姞?zhēng)……

題材體裁篇幅建議用時(shí)文化說(shuō)明文430詞 8分鐘

難詞探意

1.saunter/?s??nt?/v.漫步；閑逛

2.animator/??n?me?t?/n.動(dòng)畫片制作者

3.debut/de??bju?/n.首次亮相；初次登臺(tái)

A cartoon cat,sick of the annoying mouse living in his home,sets a plot to take him out with a trap loaded with cheese.The mouse,wise to his plan,safely removes the snack andsauntersaway with a full belly.You can probably guess what happens next.The story ends with the cat yelling out in pain,as he almost always does.

MGM's animation department,where creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera worked,had struggled to imitate the success of other studios which had hit characters like Porky Pig and Mickey Mouse.Out of boredom,theanimators,both aged under 30,began thinking up their own ideas.Barbera said he loved the simple concept of a cat and mouse cartoon,with conflict and chase,even though it had been done countless times before.

Puss Gets the Boot became the first released in 1940.Thedebutwas a hit and won the studio an Oscar for best animated short.Despite their work,the animators were not credited on the win.A change of heart came only when a letter arrived from an influential industry figure in Texas asking when she would see another one of those“wonderful cat and mouse cartoons”.

According to Barbera there was no real discussion about the characters not speaking,but having grown up with silent films starring Charlie Chaplin,the creators knew they could be funny without dialogue.Music composed by Scott Bradley underscored the action and Tom's trademark human-like scream was voiced by Hanna himself.

For the best part of the next two decades,Hanna and Barbera oversaw the production of more than 100 of these shorts.Each took weeks to make and cost up to$50,000 to produce,so only a handful could be made every year.These Tom and Jerrys are almost universally considered the best,which win six more Academy Awards and cameos in Hollywood feature films. “I'll bet when you watched them as a child,or even if you look at them right now,you would be hard-pressed to know when they were made.It's‘evergreen’.It doesn't fade,”said Jerry Beck,a cartoon historian who has worked in roles across the industry.

In the 80 years since their creation,the cat and mouse have appeared in everything from a“kids”version to a 1992 musical movie where they sang and spoke.Warner Brothers,who now own the rights to Tom and Jerry,will release a new live-action film just before Christmas this year.Not much is known about the project,except that actors including Chlo? Grace Moretz and Ken Jeong have signed on.