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(外星人) 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(特征)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."
For most families, a long car journey is the bane of any trip.But for the Zapps, their 83-year-old
vehicle has been a home for the past 11 years, as the couple travel around the world on a never ending
trip of a lifetime, covering 142,000 miles over four continents.
Herman and Candelaria Zapp, who got married to each other in 1996 and to their journey in 2000,
Set off from Patagonia, Argentina, heading for Alaska. They came back to Argentina in2004,but settled
there only for a couple of weeks, before deciding the open road is the only way to live. They have been
traveling ever since, with a trip around South America between 2005 and 2007, then central America,
the U.S. and Canada until 2009.The car was shipped to Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South
Korea as they traveled those countries and they are currently in the Philippines on a tour of South East
Asia.
As a proof that life is possible in such a mobile style, the family of the two slowly grew to a number
of six.They became, over the years and while on the road, parents to four children, Pampa (eight), Tehue
(five), Paloma (three) and Wallaby (one). Remarkably, each of their kids has a different nationality.
"My grandfather knew that we wanted to travel and to never stop so he gave me the old Grdham-Paige car he used on his farm," Herman said. Each night the six Zapps either sleep in or around a tent set up
next to their car, but more often than not they find a friendly local who will put them up for the night.The
only hard rule the couple have to stick by, is the 40mph speed limit the 83-year old car is restricted to.
Their trip is supported with the money coming from selling books they write about the places they visit.
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