The film “Avatar” has received great popularity around the world. It turned out to be a great success. The film got $1 billion in ticket sales in a very short time. The story in the film happens on an alien planet called Pandora where many strange species live. Among the planet’s inhabitants(居民,栖息动物),the one that has the most similarities with humans is the Na’vi, and it is the struggle between the Ma’vi and human invaders(入侵者) that forms the story of the film.
As to the factors(因素) leading to the film’s success, many think that the entertaining feast(盛宴) for the eyes and the wonderful story shouldn’t be forgotten, but the new language invented especially for the film which provides audiences with a new experience also plays an important part.
In order to increase the truthfulness of an alien race(外星人), the film’s director James Cameron asked an expert in languages from the University of Southern California to invent a language for the Na’vi. Professor Paul Frommer combined the languages spoken among Indians, Africans and mid-Asians and worked with James Caneron for four years to create the Na’vi language based on the original 30 words that the director had already come up with.
According to Professor Frommer, the most important characteristic of the Na’vi language is that it could be pronounced. “This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors and actresses,” Professor Frommer told the BBC, “it has to sound natural and it should make human beings comfortable when using it.”
The language has a vocabulary of around 1000 words but Progessor Formmer hopes to enlarge the vocabulary in possible follow-ups to the film and in video games. The professor hopes that one day his creation will be as successful as the Klingon alien language from the “Star Trek”films. “There’s a translation of Hamlet into Klingon and it has received great popularity among the audiences,” says Professor Frommer,“if anything like this happens to the Na’vi language, I’d be very happy.”
1. What do we know about“Avatar” from this passage?
A. The story in it is a moving love story.
B. It brings the producer $1 billion in total.
C. The story in it happens on an alien planet.
D. It talks about humans and aliens’ friendship.
2. The director of “Avatar” James Cameron had a language invented for the Na’vi to
A. make the film a whole mystery B. make the Na’vi more believable
C. make the Na’vi different from humans D. make the film have specific characteristics
3. Who first created the basic words of the Na’vi language?
A. Paul Frommer. B. An Indian. C. James Cameron D. Hamlet.
4. The important feature of the Na’vi language is that
A. it can be spoken by humans B. it has just 30 original words
C. it has a vocabulary of 1000 words. D. it is like the Klingon alien language
5. We can infer from the passage that
A. James Cameron will produce follow-ups to “Avatar”
B. the Na’vi language is another kind of the Klingon language
C. the director believes the Na’vi language will be popular
D. Paul Frommer hopes to add new words to the Na’vi language