Bill Melendez,91,an Emmy Award-winning animator(动画片制作者)who transformed the two-dimensional drawings of the Peanuts comic strip into some of the most beloved cartoon characters on television and film,died Sept 2 at St.John's Health Center in Santa Monica,Calif.
The cause of death was not reporteD.
Mr.Melendez,who began his career at the Hollywood animation stud ios of Walt Disney and Warner Bros,found his greatest fame as the animator of A Charlie Brown Christmas,The Great Pumpkin and dozens of other Peanuts Presentations.
With producer Lee Mendelson,Mr.Melendez formed a 43-year partnership that has generated more than 70 Peanuts productions,including four feature films He also animated more than 370 commercials using Peanuts characters and remains the only animator Charles M.Schulz trusted to bring his famous comic strip figures to life.
Success was hardly assured when the first Peanuts special,A Charlie Brown Christmas,was broadcast by CBS in 1965 Network executives feared it would bea colossal flop.with no laugh track,a jazz musical score by pianist Vice Guaraldi and religious message.
Much to everyone's surprise,the show was a huge hit and got Emmy and Peabody awards Cartoonist Robert Smigel called it“the greatest half-hour American TV has ever produced” In addition to animating every Peanuts film and TV special,Mr.Melendez provided the wordless voice of Snoopy Before his work oil Peanuts,Mr.Melendez drew many of the famous Disney and Warner Bros.animated figures of the 1930s and 40s,including Mickey Mouse,Donald Duck,Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig.The peanuts characters,with their complicated personalities contained in round,childlike figure,proved unexpectedly challenging.
Mr.Melendez won five Emmy Awards for his work oil Peanuts.He also won Emmys for creating the first animated cartoons of Jim Davis'Garfield and for animating CS Lewis'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Melendez was born in 1916 in Hermosillo,Mexico and moved to Douglas,Arizona in 1928, and later to Los Angeles.He began drawing as a child.He studied at what is now the California Institute of the Arts and joined the Disney studio in 1938.
(1)
Who drew the famous“peanuts”comic strip figures?
[ ]
A.
Bill Melendez.
B.
Lee Mendelson.
C.
Robert Smigel.
D.
Charles M.Schulz.
(2)
What does the underlined phrase“a colossal flop”mean?
[ ]
A.
An immediate success.
B.
A great failure.
C.
A huge hit.
D.
Of great popularity.
(3)
Why did the“peanuts”characters prove extremely difficult to Mr Melendez?
[ ]
A.
Because the characters had complicated personalities.
B.
Because the Warner Bros.did not like childlike figures in their animations.
C.
Because the famous animated figures drew by Mr Melendez in the 30s and 40s were already too Successful.
D.
Because the complicated personalities of the characters were contained in childlike figures.
(4)
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
[ ]
A.
Bill Melendez won five Emmy Awards all together.
B.
Bill Melendez moved to Douglas when he was 12.
C.
Bill Melendez provided the voice of Snoopy in Peanuts.
D.
Bill Melendez died in 2007.
阅读理解
Ants have a reputation for strength, organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.
A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting the rough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp young teeth do this job effectively, but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.
But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group, the ageing ants are given a new role more suited to their physical abilities.They become carriers and transport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.
The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research show in the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率)of is workers.
“Cutting leaves is hard work, ”said Dr.Robert Schofield, who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片)between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that, because of this age-related wear, a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as larger animals.
Like humans, leaf-cutter ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worthwhile contribution to society.“This stud shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with, ”said Dr.Schofield.
(1)
The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because _________.
[ ]
A.
they can transport the leaves effectively
B.
they have a sharp blade to cut leaves
C.
other members are busy with other work
D.
they can finish the job in a better organized way
(2)
The underlined word “blunt” in the second paragraph can be replaced by _________.
[ ]
A.
quite loose
B.
less sharp
C.
quite fragile
D.
more dirty
(3)
What happens to the ants when they become old?
[ ]
A.
They no longer have work to do.
B.
They keep doing the same work.
C.
They have to leave and live on themselves.
D.
They are given a new worthwhile job.
(4)
It can be learned from the passage that _________.
[ ]
A.
Dr.Schofield is the first to research leaf-cuttre ants
B.
older ants are more powerful in carrying leaves
C.
large animals can also suffer from some kind of wear
D.
leaf-cutter ants are the most lever ants in the world