What are special effects? Do you enjoy movies that use a lot of special effects?
Dinosaurs from the distant past! Space battles from the distant future! There has been a revolution in special effects, and it has transformed the movies we see.
The revolution began in the mid-1970s with George Lucas"s
Star Wars
, a film that stunned (使震惊) audiences. That revolution continues to the present, with dramatic changes in special-effects technology. The company behind these changes is Lucas"s Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). And the man behind the company is Dennis Muren, who has worked with Lucas since Star Wars.
Muren"s interest in special effects began very early. At age 6, he was photographing toy dinosaurs and spaceships. By 10, he had an 8-millimeter movie camera and was making these things move through stop-motion. (Stop-motion is a process in which objects are shot with a camera, moved slightly, shot again, and so on. When the shots are put together, the objects appear to move. )
Talk to Muren and you"ll understand what ILM is all about: taking on new challenges. By 1989, Muren decided he had pushed the old technology as far as it would go.
He saw computer graphics (CG) technology as the wave of the future and took a year off to master it.
With CG technology, images can be scanned into a computer for processing, for example, and many separate shots can be combined into a single image. CG technology has now reached the point, Muren says, where special effects can be used to do just about anything so that movies can tell stories better than ever be-tore. The huge success of
Jurassic
Park and its sequel,
The Lost World
, the stars of which were computer-generated dinosaurs, suggests that this may very well be true.
单选题
The special-effects revolution began in the mid-1980s with Star Wars.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第三段第一句话“The revolution began in the mid-1970s with George Lucas"s Star Wars…”可知，特效开始于20世纪70年代中期。故选B。
单选题
ILM is the company responsible for many of the changes in special effects.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第三段第三句话“The company behind these changes is Lucas"s Industrial Light & Magic(ILM).”可知，ILM公司就是负责特技中的这些变化的，故选A。
单选题
Dennis Muren started schooling at a very early age.
单选题
By age 10, Muren was able to use computer graphics to make things seem to move.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第四段第三句“By 10, he had an 8-millimeter movie camera and was making these things move through stop-motion.”可知，Muren用的并不是计算机绘图技术，而是电影摄影机，使得物体看起来能活动。故选B。
单选题
With the stop-motion process, many separate shots can be combined into a single image.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章第四段最后两句话“Stop-motion is a process in which objects are shot with a camera, moved slightly, shot again, and so on. When the shots are put together, the objects appear to move.”和第七段第一句话“With CG technology, images can be scanned into a computer for processing, for example, and many separate shots can be combined into a single image.”可知，通过计算机绘图技术，许多单一的镜头可以组合成一个静态单一影像，并不是通过单格拍制。故选B。
单选题
Muren feels that with CG technology, special effects can be used to make movies more expressive.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 由文章最后一段第二句“CG technology has now reached the point, Muren says, where special effects can be used to do just about anything so that movies can tell stories better than ever before.”可知，题干的说法正确。故选A。
单选题
Today"s movies are emphasizing special effects at the expense of the story.