UNIT 4? Media

Computer Generation of Animated Characters

詞匯講解:

animated 動畫片 /動畫人物;

paparazzo（意大利語）狗仔。

閱讀技巧:

對文章標(biāo)題進(jìn)行合理預(yù)測。

A

Ask any young person to tell you the names of some famous movies and the chances are that many of those mentioned will be popular because of computer-generated special effects. Movies such as ‘Star Wars', ‘the Matrix' and ‘Harry Potter' rely heavily on computers to create special fantasy and space effects. Others, such as the famous ‘Lord of the Rings' movies, created surprisingly lifelike humanoid characters using sophisticated computer-generated techniques. The creative effort that lies behind these creatures is amazing. However, genuinely ‘human’ characters, indistinguishable from real actors, are still not quite possible, although we are getting very close to this elusive goal.

詞匯講解:

mention??vt. 提到, 說到；e.g. : He mentioned them by name. 他提及到他們的名字。

vt. 提及，說起；e.g. : As he has not done much, he is beneath mention.

同義替換：

when it mentions to 當(dāng)涉及到..的時(shí)候；

when it refers to / when it comes to / when it concerned to

e.g. : When it refers to privacy, the line could not be crossed.

privacy n. 隱私；private adj. 私人的/私有的。

詞匯講解:

fantasy?? n. 想像, 幻想

e.g. : Everyone should indulge in fantasy on occasion.

fantasize??vt. & vi. 想像; 幻想; 做白日夢。

e.g. : Many men fantasize about sleeping with someone who is not their partner.

fan? n. 粉絲；

lord? n. 主人/君主；

landlord? n. 房東；landlady? n. 包租婆。

surprisingly：出乎意料的，出人意料的，指的是出乎大家想象的。

humanoid?? adj. 有人的特點(diǎn)的（形容動物/動畫片）；

humanly?? adv. 和人相關(guān)的,用人力；

humanity?? n. (總稱)人, 人類 人道, 人文學(xué)科；人性化。

vegetarian?? n. 吃素的人；

humanitarian?? n. & adj. 人道主義者；

cannibalism?? n. 吃人肉; 同類相食

sophisticated：

adj. 老練的; 老于世故的；e.g.: Mr. Smith is a sophisticated world traveler.

adj. 精密的, 尖端的；e.g.: This is a very sophisticated machine.

adj.高雅的, 有教養(yǎng)的；

近義詞：Complex / Complicated：復(fù)雜的。

genuine:

adj. 真的, 非人造的；e.g.: This medal is made of genuine gold.

adj.真誠的, 真心的；e.g.: As time went on, a genuine friendship grew up between us.

artificial:

adj.人造的, 人工的, 假的；e.g.: The new dam will form a large artificial lake behind it.

adj.虛假的, 不真摯的, 矯揉造作的；e.g.: Her smile looks artificial.

adj.人為的? Artificial intelligence? 人工智能

indistinguishable? n. 不可區(qū)分的，無法識別的。

goal:

n. 球門,進(jìn)球得的分；e.g.: We scored a goal in the first minute of the game.

n. 努力的對象, 目標(biāo)；e.g.: When he at last arrived in Rome he felt he had reached his goal.

近義詞：achievement? /? destination

elusive??adj. 難以捉摸的; 難以找到的; 不易記住的

eg: I've been trying all day to reach him on the telephone, but he's very elusive.

illusion?? n. 錯(cuò)覺, 幻想, 錯(cuò)誤觀念

B

The process of imagining and developing a computer-generated character is complex, involving many stages. The first stage is to design the look of the character, and to create a three-dimensional model on the computer. The model must be able to move in a realistic manner and, most importantly, its face must mirror human faces when it laughs, frowns or talks. One way to achieve this is by building a real skeleton of the model. After using lasers to scan the real model into the computer, controls are added that allow the bones and muscles to be moved around.

詞匯講解:

three-dimensional (3D) / Index：3D動畫；

realistic? adj. 真實(shí)的，實(shí)際的，真是存在；

mirror? v. 反射出，反映出；

achieve：

vt. 取得, 獲得；e.g.: They achieved some victories despite these setbacks.

v. 實(shí)現(xiàn), 達(dá)到, 完成；e.g.: You will achieve your ambition if you work hard.

固定搭配：achieve the goal；名詞形式：achievement

skeleton：

n. 骨骼，骷髏；e.g.: The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.

n. 骨干, 框架；e.g.: The block is still just a skeleton of girders.

skull?? n. 顱骨 / bone? / A plus

Skull and Bones is a secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The society's alumni organization, which owns the society's real property and oversees the organization's activity.

Many Skull & Bones alumni have assumed positions of prominence, including President George W. Bush, and his 2004 Presidential opponent Senator John Kerry.

muscle?? n. 肌肉，e.g.: Exercise conditions your muscles.

C

This is where computer animation comes in. Because people are so conscious of how ‘real' faces look, many detailed controls are needed on the computer to move the different features of the face. Up to a hundred may be needed to move the muscles of the face, so that the character's eyes, skin, mouth and other features all look natural to our eyes.

詞匯講解:

conscious：

adj. 神志清醒的e.g.: She spoke to us in her conscious moments.

be conscious of：意識到…e.g.: I was not conscious of having made a mistake.

self-conscious：不自在，不舒服。

detailed?? adj. 詳細(xì)的,逐條的；

detail??n. 細(xì)目, 細(xì)節(jié); 小事

control? n. 控制器；control subjects：標(biāo)準(zhǔn)組；

features? n. 五官

D

After designing all of the components of the face and body, and the computer controls, the character is ready to move, or be animated. One way of achieving this is called motion capture, where a person acts out the character, and his movements are captured by video camera and uploaded into the computer. Another way is key-frame animation, where, instead of modeling actions from a real person, the animators use the controls to move all of the parts of the body and face to create movement on the screen. These methods are often used together in creating an animated character; both of them are slow and painstaking, requiring hours of effort and planning.

詞匯講解:

component?? n. 成分, 組成部分, 部件, 元件；

e.g.: A chemist can separate a medicine into its components.

同義詞：elements

motion:

vt. (向…)打手勢, 示意；e.g.: The teacher motioned the boy to study.

n. (物體的)運(yùn)動；e.g.: object is no longer in cyclical motion.

move? v. 移動/ 感動；e.g.: news moved him very much.

capture?? vt. 俘獲, e.g.: captured the criminal.

catch/ capture

uploaded? v. 上傳

frame? n. 框架；

key-frame? n. 關(guān)鍵步驟；

control subject：實(shí)驗(yàn)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)組；

require /get / gain /obtain /need / acquire

be required to：被要求… e.g.: You are required take the study seriously.

Ten chairs are required to take the class.

E

Enormous computer power is needed to make animation look real. For the ‘Lord of the Rings', thousands of processors and numerous workstations were used to create all of the characters and special effects. There were up to 160people working on computer graphics for these three movies, which took approximately 4million processing hours. It is estimated that the same process would have taken up to 200 years on a 4-gigahertz PC!

詞匯講解:

enormous? adj. 極其多的；

processor? n. (計(jì)算機(jī)的)中央處理器；

central process unit/ CPU：中央處理單元。

graphics?? n. (作單數(shù)用)制圖法,制圖學(xué),圖表算法,圖形；

approximately?? adv. 近似地, 大約 about；

estimate? vt. & vi. 估計(jì); 評價(jià), 評估

e.g.: gardener estimated that it would take him four hours to weed the garden.

overestimate：高估；e.g.：You can never ever overestimate him.

F

However, despite all of this extremely sophisticated and expensive technology, creating a real human face is still a challenge for our animators. People are very sensitive to facial expressions. We can immediately pick if a face is not human, and we often have a strong reaction to this. The closer the face is to looking truly human, the more negative this reaction can be; this effect has been christened the ‘uncanny valley’ by Japanese roboticist* Masahiro Mori. However, he also suggests that once the animation gets close enough to the real thing, we begin to feel positive about it once more. So, maybe future Tom Cruises or Lindsay Lohans will be computer generated, and we will never know the difference.

詞匯講解:

extremely?? adv. 極端; 極其; 非常，e.g.: That is extremely interesting.

significantly / absolutely / aweful（非常的）

sensitive? adj. 敏感的；

uncanny valley：詭異谷；

uncanny??? adj. 超人的; 不尋常的；

valley? n. 山谷；

canyon /the great canyon：（沒有水）的山谷；

gorge?? n. 山峽, 峽谷，The Three Gorges 長江三峽

robotics??? n. 機(jī)器人技術(shù)；

robot?? n. 機(jī)器人；

AI / Artificial Intelligence人工智能技術(shù)。

練習(xí)1: Read the first sentence ONLY of each paragraph in the reading passage and answer the question below. Take NO MORE THAN FIVE minutes to do this.

　　Does this reading passage:

　　a. Give a history of something?

　　b. Describe how something is done?

　　c. Compare and contrast two things?

d. Discuss a problem and give a solution?

§?? Topic sentences ---最能反映文章大意的句子；

§?? Supporting sentences：

??? Reasons；

??? Facts：

Examples；

Statistics.

Scanning for Specific Facts

Sometimes in IELTS readings you need to look quickly over the reading passage to find facts, dates, numbers or names. It is important to practice focusing your eyes ONLY on the information you need.

（1）Skimming跳讀：

Main idea：Title，topic sentence；

（2）Scanning逐字逐句閱讀：????????? scanner：掃描儀。

定位詞——特殊時(shí)間、人名、地名、年代、數(shù)字……

選擇原則：1）識別性強(qiáng)；

2）重復(fù)率低。

（3）Reading：仔細(xì)閱讀，比較原文與內(nèi)容的差別。

練習(xí)2：Look quickly at the passage and write down the letter of the paragraph which contains the following information. Take no more than THREE minutes to do this!

　　a. ______ Masahiro Mori

　　b. ______ Key frame animation

　　c. ______ 160

　　d. ______ Star Wars

　　e. ______ Three-dimensional

　　f. ______ A hundred

練習(xí)3：Now, match the information above to the following. Write the letter of the paragraph where you will find this information beside each one.

　　a. ______ Movie name

　　b. ______ Name of a person who works with robots

　　c. ______ Number of people working on a project

　　d. ______ Computer technique

　　e. ______ Number of computer controls

　　f. ______ Computer model

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IELTS Type Questions: Reading for Details and for Main Ideas

　　Now, you should be able to read this passage quickly to find details and answer the following questions.

Locating Information

　　The passage has 6paragraphs, A-E

練習(xí)4：Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, beside the statements below.

　　Note: You may use any letter more than once. You may not need to use all the letters.

　　1) ______ A description of motion capture

　　2) ______ Lindsay Lohan of the future

　　3) ______ Negative response to human-like expressions

　　4) ______ Processing hours needed

　　5) ______ Special effects make films popular

　　6) ______ Creating a bone structure using lasers and adding controls

　　7) ______ 100 muscle controls

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Sentence Completion-Type A

練習(xí)5：Complete the sentences. choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS or a NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

　　8) The ‘Lord of the Rings' movies had a computer-generated character that was created using ______ techniques.

　　9) A three-dimensional model created on the computer needs to move in a ______.

　　10) Once a real model has been scanned into the computer by using lasers, the animators add controls to move the ______ around.

　　11) Both motion capture and key-frame animation are described as being ______ methods.

　　12) Not only thousands of processors, but also ______ were required to make the characters and special effects in ‘The Lord of the Rings' movies.

　　13) The animation for these movies required about ______ processing hours.

　　14) Achieving a completely realistic human face is still a challenge for animators, as people are very conscious of ______.

　　15) In general, people seem to have a more negative reaction to an animated face that is quite close to looking human; this has been called the ______ effect.

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Sentence Completion-Type B

練習(xí)6：Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-L, from the box below.

　　There are more endings given than beginnings.

　　16)? Among recent movies, many of the most successful ...

　　17)? There are many stages involved in imagining and developing ...

　　18)? In order to create a 3-D model on the computer, some people ...

　　19)? Once a laser has scanned this model into the computer, controls to ...

　　20)? Motion capture is a technique where an actor's movements are filmed and used to ...

　　21)? Key-frame animation is a technique where the animators use the controls to ...

　　22)? Whichever of these methods is used, it is necessary to ...

　　

　

After You Read

Vocabulary-Adjectives

練習(xí)7：Answer these questions.

?????????? i.????????????? Which ending is common to the adjectives below? ______

????????? ii.????????????? Consider ‘indistinguishable'. What does the ‘-able' ending mean? ______ be done

??????? iii.????????????? What does the ‘in-' prefix mean? ______

　　humanoid…?????????? sophisticated?????????? creative

　　genuine?????????????? indistinguishable ???????elusive

　　complex?????????? ????three-dimensional?????? realistic

　　painstaking??????????? extreme?????????????? sensitive

練習(xí)8：Complete the sentences below using the adjectives in the list above.

　　a.? ______ technology is very complex.

詞匯拓展：

complex：復(fù)雜的，表示復(fù)雜困難的單詞：sophisticated/ complicated/ complex.

b.? If something is ______, it is difficult to find or achieve.

詞匯拓展：

elusive：難以琢磨，難以達(dá)到；

exclusive: available or belonging only to a particular people and not shared/排他的；

exclusive access/ access exclusive rights：排他的權(quán)利；

exclusive club：專屬俱樂部。

ex- 開頭表示向外；in- 開頭表示向內(nèi)。如：exclusive/ inclusive; export/ inport；

deport：驅(qū)逐出境；

migration：移民，immigration移到國內(nèi)/ emigration移到國外。

c.? Something that is ______ is similar to the real thing.

詞匯拓展：

realistic：真是的，實(shí)際的。反義詞：idealist理想主義的，幻想的/ naive傻，單純/ silly傻。

d.? If someone is ______, they notice or are affected by slight changes.

詞匯拓展：

sense：場景；道理, It does/ doesn’t make sense.

e.? ______ means making new things.

詞匯拓展：

creative: involve using of imaginations to produce new ideas for things.

create：創(chuàng)造；建立，近義詞：establish/ generate，辨析：

create：側(cè)重創(chuàng)造一些抽象的新事物或新事情；

establish：建立（體系、組織）；

generate：創(chuàng)造；發(fā)電。

f.? If something is ______, it is real rather than artificial.

詞匯拓展：

artificial：人造的，假的，矯揉造作的；

genuine：真誠的，真摯的，=sincere；真的，非人造的，genuine leather真皮。

g.? A cube is ______; it has height, width and depth.

詞匯拓展：

cube：立方體；

　　h.? Something that is ______ is the opposite of simple.

　　i.? A ______ character is like a human.

　　j.? To do something in a ______ way means that you take a lot of time and trouble.

k.? Someone who is ______ from someone else looks the same as that other person.

詞匯拓展：

indistinguishable：無法區(qū)別的，無法分別的；

distinguish：區(qū)別，區(qū)分，distinguish between/ from；

distinguished：尊貴的，successful, respected and admired.

indifference：漠不關(guān)心，中立；

More Vocabulary

　　to mention...??????? fantasy???????????? techniques

　　skeleton???????????? lasers????????????? animation

　　features???????????? to require...???????? processor

workstations???????? reaction???????????? facial expressions

練習(xí)9：Match the words above to the meanings below.

a.? Ways of doing something????? ______

詞匯拓展：

que發(fā)音為/k/，常見以-que結(jié)尾的單詞：

unique：獨(dú)一無二的；

antique：古董；

　　b.? Desks set up with computers, screens and other necessary equipment????? ______

　　c.? A central computing unit????? ______

　　d.? The set of bones, joined together, that makes up a human or animal????? ______

　　e.? The parts of a face, such as eyes, mouth and nose????? ______

　　f.? A magic or dream world????? ______

　　g.? To need (something)????? ______

　　h.? To talk about (something)????? ______

i.? Special light beams????? ______

詞匯拓展：

lasers：激光；

ray：光線。X-ray：X光線；Blue ray：藍(lán)光；

beam：光束；

　　j.? Ways of looking happy, sad etc????? ______

　　k.? A response to a statement or action????? ______

l.? A film with characters that seem to be alive????? ______

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