读美国小学五年级作文有感
不久前，我家五年级的小学生嚷嚷着要去社区图书馆借关于电影特技方面的书。这是干啥呀？咱家地方小，全家上下没有会表演的人，照猫画虎咱都不会，玩儿什么电影特技呢？小宝一听我在逗他玩儿，赶紧给我解释，他借电影特技书是为了做写作课题(project)。
在美国，Project(课题) 这个词简直被用烂了。从小学开始，美国娃娃们就得慢慢学会做课题了。据小宝介绍，他们的语文老师让全班同学一人找一个课题(project)，所有同学都从零开始，以纸上谈兵的方式，每人要解决一个研究课题。
记得我在中国读中小学时，所有的作文课总是搞一刀切，全班五十几人全都围着一个作文题转悠。常常有中国的教育学家对中国学生的创造力担忧。在我看来，中国学生创造力的提高首先得从思想解放做起。比如让学生自由选择作文题，就是最简单的思想解放运动。如果孩子们的大脑被捆住了，他们的眼睛再机灵，手脚再利索，也很难创造出活跃的思想。
根据我对小宝的简单采访，我得知他们的这个作文题目任选。美国孩子本来就思想活跃，一旦让他们自由发挥，作文内容的范围之广，真会让人感到惊奇。比如为了对付这个美国小学五年级作文，有的学生研究动物(猪，马，牛，狗任选)，有人研究植物(大树，小草，鲜花随你挑)，有人研究政治(共和党，民主党你看着办)，有人研究医学(内外妇儿精神病可供选择)，有人研究作家(诗人，小说家，散文家五彩缤纷)，有人研究天文学(太阳，星星，月亮，火星，金星让你眼花缭乱)。瞧，全班二十几个学生，通过搞作文课题这种方式，真的可以达到上通天文下通地理琴棋书画无所不包的境界了。
值得一提的是，虽然作文题目可以天马行空，但美国小学老师对不同作文的评分标准却是严格统一的。不久前，我刚刚上完一门美国大学写作课，我对美国大学老师的作文评分标准可谓是了如指掌。我再对照一下小宝老师的评分标准，我吃惊地发现，美国小学老师和美国大学老师的作文评分标准居然基本一致: 作文引言(introduction)，内容(contents)，结尾(conclusion)的模式，几乎一模一样。
如此这般的评分标准，你不觉得很有趣吗？如果认真服从这个作文评分标准，美国小学生能写出大学生水平的作文，就根本不奇怪了。这也解释为什么时常会有国内外家长慨叹美国小学生写的作文真不简单。以我家小宝为例，为了应付这篇作文，他做的努力几乎和美国大学生一模一样：去图书馆借书，到网上查资料，分析搜集到的资料，写提纲，正式写作文，为文章配图。
我刚刚读了一下我家小宝写的作文，我的感受是，反正我在中国小学五年级时，我肯定是写不出这样的作文的。如同小宝老师的评语所示，他的作文内容之广，文章之流畅，可谓全优。看了美国小学老师对小宝的作文评语之后，我不禁想起了美国大学老师对我作文的评语，两位老师的评语几乎也是一模一样的。
经对比一看，我总算弄明白了，好好写作文，要从娃娃抓起。美国孩子只有在小学时就好好练习写作文，上大学时才能与时共进。假如眼下的中国小学生有意将来赴美读大学，孩子一定要从现在就开始，要按照美国的作文要求好好练习写作文了。只有这样，才能避免将来初来异国留学时的挫折感。
附注：我家小宝下面的作文得了99分。除了少数的几个单词没大写，老师几乎没挑什么错。
Special Effects
Special effects make live-action movies magical, but they are complex to make. They are used to create things that can’t really be filmed in real life, like Godzilla or Frankenstein. The research of special effects is important because it will make you realize that it is possible to create anything such as aliens, ghosts, explosions, and magical fantasylands using a variety of techniques including CGI! I will answer questions such as how to actually create the effects, how to transform humans into un-humane creatures and whether the guns in movies are real. Special effects are the main reason why we have out-of-this-world movies.
There are many ways to make visual effects in movies. People use something called mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects). This means that they use mechanized props such as scenery, scale models, animatronics, pyrotechnics (fire), and atmospheric effects (weather). Some examples include blowing up cars or buildings. They can be used to enhance fight scenes such as using break-away doors, etc. There are many other processes such as the Dunning-Pomeroy process. Today filmmakers use CGI more often. CGI can be put into sets and makeup. There are a variety of techniques to create visuals! I used to think that some effects are “real” and not all made from a computer. For example, atmospheric machines make rain, fog, wind, clouds, etc. I also thought that CGI (computer-generated-imagery) being used more often made sense because I learned that as technology grows, CGI could be cheaper. CGI is also safer. People use effects to create environments and cool sci-fi things, but you can also use them to create un-human creatures.
Special effects are used for cool things such as explosions, but they can also use them to turn ordinary people into unearthly things. Filmmakers use something called prosthetic make-up to do this. First, the filmmakers take a mold of a body part (often the face) for making the prosthetic. The mold is made out of prosthetic alginae. Recently they have used skin-safe silicone rubber. A hard mother mold is created overtop for support. The edges have to be as flawless as possible for it to look good. I never knew that some of the non-human creatures in movies were real people. I used to always think that they were computer-made. Boris the Animal from Men in Black 3 is an example. I also was surprised when I found out that some actors/actresses wear a MASK when they are playing the role of something un-human. I used to think that the makeup was used straight on their face with a paintbrush or something. As you finally realize, sometimes you won’t scream when you see a Wolf man on the screen.
Scenes with special effects aren’t always filmed on the spot with mechanized props; sometimes you have to add them in with a computer. Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a special-effects/post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on color hues. A color range in the top layer (usually green and blue screens) is made transparent revealing another image behind it. Mechanical effects are often used during live-action shooting. Filmmakers also add in special effects with CGI (computer-generated-imagery). Sometimes they film something like its not there and then they go back to it on a computer and put in special effects to make the thing they filmed imaginably real. I also didn’t know that you could use a blue screen for movies; I thought they were only green. Visuals are amazing for many things, such as explosions etc., but I always wondered whether the weapons and guns in the movies are real and I wonder when you need them.
The weapons you see on screen may seem like props, but I learned that some filmmakers use real weapons. Although the weapons are real, they fire blank ammunition almost all the time. A leading supplier of weaponry in movies called Bapty and Co supply filmmakers with some old guns or even the modern rifle. The suppliers discuss the weapon they should use for a character, and then the armourer who makes the weapon decides how the weapon will be used and what versions of the gun they need. Many guns included rubber guns, practical guns, non-practical guns, etc. Before they can use the guns, the government has to allow them. I never knew that sometimes people use real guns because I thought it was unsafe but then I learned that they usually fire blanks. I also thought that if you use a weapon, you make it yourself all the time but there is usually a weaponry supplier. Guns and weapons have a huge impact on movies with genres like sci-fi.
Ageing in movies is one of the greatest techniques to use on young actors/actresses. Filmmakers and make-artists use things like foam latex eyebags, and sagging lips or chins. They can use these to make people like then 33 year old Dustin Hoffman look ninety years older in the movie Little Big Man. People used to use masks with built in wrinkles and sags. The simplest thing for the hair is dying it gray or another color. Sometimes if actors/actresses don’t want their face to be older using prosthetics, the filmmaker uses a wire running around the lower teeth. At the sides there were molded dental plastic to push out the lower cheeks to give the impression of jowls. I used to always think that the elderly people in the movies really are old people but sometimes they just use makeup on young people’s faces! It was cool when I found out that you could paint your face to give wrinkles. As it turns out, young actors/actresses can be turned into 100 year olds.
Special effects are good to use when filming things that don’t exist. My research has shown that special effects can be created with mechanized props, that prosthetic make-up is used to make un-human creatures, and that the guns in movies are usually real. Special effects impact a lot on today’s movies. Special effects are not only used to enhance movies, they are used to amaze our mind and imagination.
