Washington — Mickey Mouse and Shrek are just a couple of the American animated characters that are beloved the world over. And they are examples of the evolution of animation, which has brought unique new life to the film industry.
华盛顿——米老鼠（Mickey Mouse）和史莱克（Shrek）是受全球人喜爱的许多美国卡通形象的代表。它们同时也代表着为电影产业注入独特新活力的动画制作的演变历程。
Among the first American animated films was Light of the Moon, a silent movie produced in 1911 using silhouette animation, where the characters are represented only as black silhouettes.
《月亮之光》（Light of the Moon）是美国最早期的动画影片之一。它是一部1911年制作的无声剪影动画片，所有动画人物均以黑色剪影表现。
The real breakthrough for American animation came with Steamboat Willie, created by Walt Disney and released in 1928. It was the first animated film to be accompanied by sound, and its main star — Mickey Mouse — became one of the most endearing and enduring animated characters ever created.
美国动画的真正突破是1928年沃尔特•迪斯尼（Walt Disney）制作的影片《蒸汽船威利号》（Steamboat Willie）。它是第一部有声动画，其主要人物——米老鼠——成为有史以来最受喜爱最经久不衰的动画人物之一。
Disney also created the first American full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Released in 1937, it enjoyed worldwide box-office success.
迪斯尼也创造了美国首部动画故事片《白雪公主和七个小矮人》（Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs）。这部动画片于1937年首映，在全球获得票房大丰收。
Disney’s painstaking attention to high-quality detail in the thousands of hand-painted drawings required at that time to make an animated film elevated this film technique to the level of a serious art form.
迪斯尼对当时制作一部动画片需要数千张手工绘图的细节质量有很高的要求，从而将这一制片技术提升为一种正规艺术形式。
Clay animation, or claymation, is a type of stop-motion animation using forms made of clay. The clay characters are posed and photographed to create a series of frames that are recorded on film. The still photos, when played back in rapid succession, achieve the appearance of continuous motion.
黏土动画，是使用粘土材料的一种定格动画类型。人们把粘土制作的动画人物摆好姿势拍摄，制作成一系列图像，然后记录到胶片上。静止的影像在快速连续回放时会产生连续动作的效果。
Clay animation films have been produced in the United States since 1908. But this form of animation only won wide popular appeal in 1955 with a short film called Gumbasia, created by Art Clokey. Clokey later created the popular green clay character known as Gumby. Gumby and his horse, Pokey, appeared in more than 200 television shows and a feature-length film.
美国黏土动画片的制作始于1908年。然而这种动画片类型直至1955年因阿特•克洛基（Art Clokey）创作出动画短片《冈比的月球之旅》（Gumbasia）时才流行起来。克洛基后来创造出家喻户晓的绿色黏土人物“小绿人冈比”（Gumby）。冈比和他的小马“波奇”（Pokey）曾在200多部电视节目和一部动画电影长片中出现。
Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, brought animation to a new level of artistry and realism. Used in film since the 1960s, CGI animation hit its stride in the mid-1990s. Toy Story, released in 1995 and created by Pixar and Disney Studios, was the first completely computer-generated animated feature film.
电脑生成图像，或简称为CGI，将动画片的艺术性与现实主义提升到一个新的高度。电脑生成图像自20世纪60年代开始在电影中使用，到20世纪90年代中期实现腾飞。1995年首映的《玩具总动员》（Toy Story）由皮克斯（Pixar）和迪斯尼制片厂（Disney Studios）共同制作，是第一部完全用电脑动画制成的故事片。
In 2001, DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images released Shrek, the first computer-animated feature film to win an Oscar. Shrek, the lovable swamp-living ogre, returned in 2004 with his talking donkey, his princess bride Fiona and an army of fairy-tale characters in Shrek 2. Hugely popular, that film became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.
2001年，梦幻工厂（DreamWorks）与太平洋数据图像（Pacific Data Images）推出了《怪物史莱克》（Shrek），这是第一部获得奥斯卡奖（Oscar）的全电脑动画故事片。史莱克是一只可爱的在沼泽中生活的怪物，它与他会说话的大嘴驴、公主新娘费奥娜（Fiona）和一群童话故事人物一起在2004年的《怪物史莱克2》（Shrek 2）中复出。这部续集倍受欢迎，成为历史上票房收入最高的动画影片。
In addition to strictly animated movies, animation has been incorporated into films showing live actors as well. Who can forget the terrifyingly real dinosaurs thundering through Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies and the actors they chased? Thanks to the powerful capabilities of today’s computers and the unlimited imagination of American filmmakers, animation will be entertaining audiences worldwide for a long time to come.
除了严格意义上的动画影片外，动画还被用于有真正演员的电影中。谁能忘记史蒂文•斯皮尔伯格（Steven Spielberg）的影片《侏罗纪公园》（Jurassic Park）里吼声震天、逼真得吓人的恐龙和被其追逐的演员？当今电脑的强大能力和美国电影制作者无穷的想象力将让动画在未来很长一段时间里为全世界观众带来娱乐视觉盛宴。
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