日本動漫誕生百周年

You may still remember the “Eight Minutes of Tokyo” in the closing ceremony (閉幕式) of the Rio Olympics last August. Even if the Tokyo Games wasn’t going to be here for another four years, the performance of the new host successfully stole the show (大出風頭) with its famous animated (動畫的) characters – Doraemon, Hello Kitty and Super Mario.

你或許還記得去年八月里約奧運會閉幕式上的“東京八分鐘”。就算四年后的奧運會不在這里舉行，這位新東道主現(xiàn)場表演中的哆啦A夢、凱蒂貓、超級馬里奧等著名動畫角色也已經成功地搶了風頭。

It was a wise choice since there is probably nothing that shouts “Japan” more loudly than the country’s animation, known as “Japanimation”. And this year marks the 100th anniversary (周年紀念) of the very first Japanese cartoon, made in 1917.

這是個明智之選，因為或許沒有什么能比日本動漫更能代表這個國家的了。首部日本動畫誕生于1917年，所以今年是日本動畫的百年紀念。

In the past century, the wild imagination of Japanese animators continued to feed our curiosity. Monsters, fairies (仙子), robots and magic feature often in their work. It has also been inspiring film industries in other parts of the world. The touching story of Disney’s The Lion King (《獅子王》，1994), for example, actually comes from Japan’s Kimba the White Lion (《森林大帝》，1965). And the 1999 Hollywood hit film, The Matrix (《黑客帝國》), was also heavily influenced by the 1989 Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell (《攻殼機動隊》).

在過去的一百年間，日本動畫師們天馬行空的想象力不斷地滿足著我們的好奇心。怪獸、仙子、機器人以及魔法生物是他們作品中的?？?。日本動畫也不斷賦予了世界各地的電影業(yè)靈感。比如，迪士尼公司的《獅子王》 (1994)這一感人故事實際上就來源于日本的《森林大帝》(1965)。而1999年的好萊塢大片《黑客帝國》，也深受1989年日本漫畫《攻殼機動隊》的影響。

“I love his films. I study his films. I watch his films when I’m looking for inspiration (靈感),” John Lasseter, director of Pixar’s Toy Story, once said about famous Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.

“我愛他的電影。我研究他的電影。每當我要尋找靈感時，我就會看他的電影，”皮克斯工作室《玩具總動員》系列電影的導演約翰·雷斯特在談到日本動畫大師宮崎駿時，這樣說。

And our thirst (渴望) for this imaginary world is only growing.

而我們對于幻想世界的渴望與日俱增。

At the end of last year, for example, the story of Japanese cartoon Pokemon (《寵物小精靈》，1997-) was brought to life with the help of augmented reality (AR，增強現(xiàn)實) technology. People in many countries are often seen searching for Pokemon in real life locations through the screens of their phones. They play it on their way to school, to work, and during holiday outings. Although Pokemon began as a video game a year before the cartoon came out, people should give the animation a “Thanks” for bringing it to a wider audience.

比如，去年年底，增強現(xiàn)實技術將日本動畫《寵物小精靈》(1997-)的故事帶入了現(xiàn)實世界。許多國家的人時常通過自己的手機，在現(xiàn)實生活中尋找寵物小精靈。人們在上班上學的路上，甚至假日出游途中，都在玩這一游戲。盡管《寵物小精靈》系列在動畫推出的前一年就有了游戲版本，但人們還是要感謝動畫，讓更多的人知道了這一系列。

Besides being a source (來源) of entertainment, Japanese animation is also a shaping force of our daily lives. For example, wearing glasses used to be considered as uncool and geeky (書呆子氣的), but after the 1981 TV animation Arale (《阿拉蕾》), in which there is a heavily-nearsighted (高度近視的) girl with wings and magic powers, glasses soon became fashionable. And the language we use – the word meng (萌), to name one – is also reportedly from Japanese animation.

除了為人們提供娛樂消遣，日本動漫還能影響我們的日常生活。例如，戴眼鏡在過去曾被視為土氣又呆板，但在1981年的動畫片《阿拉蕾》播出后，動畫片里的那個插著一對翅膀、會用魔法的高度近視女孩，令眼鏡很快就變得時髦起來。而我們所使用的語言 —— 比如說“萌”這一詞 —— 據說就來源于日本動漫。

But interestingly, with all the imagination that is so admired by modern fans, it would still be hard for Japanese animators in 1917 to believe that the two-dimensional (二維的) worlds that they were creating at the time would have such a big influence in today’s three-dimensional world.

但有趣的是，盡管(動畫中的)想象深受現(xiàn)代粉絲們的喜愛，但對于1917年的動畫師們來說，他們當時所創(chuàng)造的二次元世界會對今天的三次元世界有如此巨大的影響，這點依然令人難以置信。