Da Vinci No．2
During a 43-year Hollywood career, which spanned1 the development of the movie industry as a modern American art, Walter Elias Disney established himself and his product as a genuine2 part of American culture. David Low, the late British political cartoonist3, called Disney “the most significant figure in graphic arts4 since Leonardo.”
Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse and founder5 of Disneyland Park and the Walt Disney World Resort6, along with members of his staff, received more than 950 honors during his lifetime from every nation in the world, including 48 Academy Awards.
Self－made Success
Walt Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901. His father, Elias Disney, was an Irish-Canadian. His mother, Flora Call Disney, was German-American. Walt was one of five children, four boys and a girl.
Raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri, Walt early became interested in drawing, selling his first sketches7 to neighbors when he was only seven years old. At McKinley High School in Chicago, Disney divided his attention between drawing and photography, contributing8 to the school paper. At night he attended an academy of fine arts.
During the fall of 1918, Disney tried to join the army. But only sixteen years of age, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas, where he spent a year driving an ambulance9 and for Red Cross officials. His ambu lance was covered all over with Disney cartoons. Quite unusual.
After the war, Walt returned to Kansas City, where he began his career as an advertising10 cartoonist. Here, in 1920, he created and marketed his first original11 animated12 cartoons, and later perfected a new method by combining live action and animation.
In August of 1923, Walt Disney left Kansas City for Hollywood with nothing but a few drawing materials, $40 in his pocket and a completed animated fairy tale subject. Walt's elder brother, Roy O. Disney, was already in California, with an immense13 amount of sympathy and encouragement, and $250. Combining their resources, they borrowed an additional $500, and set up a shop in their uncle's garage. Soon, they received an order from New York for the first Alice in Cartoonland featurette14, and the brothers expanded their production operation to the rear15 of a Hollywood office.
Mickey Mouse ＆ Donald Duck
creation of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie (1928). Steamboat Willie was the first fully synchronized17 sound cartoon and featured18 Disney as the voice of a character first called “Mortimer Mouse.” Disney's wife, Lillian, suggested that Mickey sounded better and Disney agreed.
Living a plain life, he reinvested profits19 to make better pictures. His insistence on technical perfection and his unusual gifts as story editor quickly pushed his firm ahead. The invention of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie, and Goofy combined with the daring and creative20 use of music, sound, and folk material (as in The Three Little Pigs) made the Disney shorts of the 1930s a worldwide success. The success led to the establishment of profitable, Disney-controlled business in advertising, publishing, and franchised21 goods, which helped shape popular taste for nearly 40 years.
Disney rapidly expanded his studio to include a training school where a whole new generation of animators developed, which made it possible the production of the first feature-length22 cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Produced at the unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression23, the film is still considered one of the everlasting monuments of the motion picture industry. Other costly animated features followed, including Pinocchio, Bambi, and the famous musical experiment Fantasia.
Disney's 1945 feature, the musical The Three Caballeros, combined live action with the cartoon, a skill he used successfully in such other features as Song of the South and the highly praised Mary Poppins. In all, more than 100 features were produced by his studio.
Disneyland
Walt's curious mind and sharp sense for education through entertainment resulted in the award-winning True－Life Adventure series. Through such films as The Living Desert, The African Lion, and White Wilderness, Disney brought fascinating insights24 into the world of wild animals and taught the importance of conserving America's outdoor heritage25.
On July 18, 1955, Disney opened Disneyland, a gigantic projection26 of his personal fantasies in Anaheim, California, which has proved the most successful amusement park in history with 6.7 million people visiting it by 1966. The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. In 1971, Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, opened. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo and Paris.
Dream for Tomorrow
A pioneer27 in the field of television programming, Disney began television production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961. The Mickey Mouse Club was a popular favorite in the 1950s.
Disney had also dreamed of developing a city of the future, a dream that was realized in 1982 with the opening of the Center for Experimental Prototype28 Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which cost $900 million.
“I don't believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that is more important to people everywhere than finding the solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin? Well, we're convinced29 we must start with the public need. And the need is not just for curing the old ills of old cities. We think the need is for starting from scratch30 on virgin31 land and building a community that will become a prototype for the future.”
In addition to his theme parks, Disney created a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts. He thought of this as the ultimate32 in education for the arts, where people in many different fields could work together, dream and develop, and create the mixture of arts needed for the future. Disney once said: “It's the principal33 thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures34. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something.”
Disney's parks continue to grow with the creation of the Disney-MGM35 Studios, Animal Kingdom, and an extensive sports complex36 in Orlando. In all, the Disney name now develops itself to a multi-billion dollar industry, with multiple business all over the world.
Disney was moving ahead when he died of circulatory37 problems on December 15, 1966 in Los Angeles.
Walt Disney is a legend38，a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which he represents: imagination, optimism39, and self-made success in the American tradition. Walt Disney did more to touch the hearts, minds, and emotions of millions of Americans than any other person in the past century. Through his work he brought joy, happiness, and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. Certainly, our world shall know but one Walt Disney.
达芬奇第二
沃尔特·伊莱亚斯·迪斯尼四十三年的好莱坞生涯跨越了电影业作为一种现代美国艺术的发展历程，沃尔特·迪斯尼使他本人连同其产品成为道地的美国文化的一部分。已故的英国政治漫画家大卫·娄称迪斯尼为“自里奥纳多·达·芬奇以来绘画艺术领域最重要的人物。”白手起家
沃尔特·迪斯尼于1901年12月5日诞生在伊利诺斯州的芝加哥市。父亲伊莱亚斯·迪斯尼是爱尔兰裔加拿大人；母亲弗洛拉·科尔·迪斯尼是有德国血统的美国人。沃尔特另有三兄弟、一个姊妹。
沃尔特是在密苏里州马瑟林镇附近的一个农场长大的。他自幼便迷上了绘画，当第一次把自己的素描卖给邻居们时，他才七岁。在芝加哥的麦肯里高中念书时，他把兴趣均分给了绘画和摄影，向校报投稿。晚上他到美术学院听课。
1918年秋，迪斯尼试图参军，但因年仅十六岁而遭拒绝，于是他加入了红十字会，被派往国外。在海外一年当中，他先后开过救护车、为红十字会官员当驾驶员。他的救护车从头到尾涂的，都是他迪斯尼的卡通画。挺不寻常的。
一战结束后，沃尔特回到堪萨斯城，在那儿干起了广告漫画家的职业。1920年，他在此地推出并出售了他的首批原创动画片，后来还完善了一种集人物表演与动画于一体的新方法。
1923年8月，沃尔特·迪斯尼离开堪萨斯去好莱坞发展。除了少许绘图材料、兜里的40美元以及一个完整的动画版童话故事题材之外，他身无它物。沃尔特的哥哥罗伊·奥·迪斯尼已经在加利福尼亚，他能贡献的也只有极大的同情和鼓励，加上250美元。两人将各自的资源合并，又外借了500美元，在他们叔叔的车库里搭建起了一个工作室。很快，他们就收到一份来自纽约的订单，订购他们的首部动画短片《爱丽丝在卡通乐园》。随后，兄弟俩把他们的制作空间扩展到了好莱坞一家事务所的后面。
米老鼠与唐老鸭
1925年7月13日，沃尔特与他的首批雇员之一结为夫妇。后来他们喜得两个女儿，黛安和莎伦。《汽船威利号》（1928）中创造的米奇老鼠形象使他一举成功。该片是首部实现声画同步的卡通片，并由迪斯尼本人为那个起初叫“莫蒂默老鼠”的角色配音。迪斯尼的夫人莉莲建议说“米奇”这个名字更好听，于是迪斯尼采纳了这个建议。
生活上很节俭，他把赚得的利润投资于制作更好的影片。技术上精益求精以及编造故事的卓越才能使他的公司蒸蒸日上。米老鼠、唐老鸭、米妮和高飞等一系列卡通形象的推出，加上对音乐、声响和民间题材大胆而创新的运用（如《三只小猪》）使二十世纪30年代的迪斯尼动画短片成为举世闻名的成功奇迹。由此建立了利润巨大的由迪斯尼控制的广告、出版和商品专卖等产业，领导大众时尚将近40年。
迪斯尼迅速扩充其制片厂，增设了一所培训学校，在那里培养出一代全新的动画师，并成功地推出了第一部长篇卡通片，《白雪公主和七个小矮人》（1937）。在经济大萧条的艰难时期，该片149万零9千美元的造价可谓前所未闻，该片至今仍被视为动画片的不朽丰碑之一。此后又有一些成本昂贵的动画片问世，包括《木偶皮诺乔》、《小鹿班比》和著名的音乐实验剧《幻想曲》。
迪斯尼于1945年推出的音乐动画片《三个骑士》融人物表演和卡通手段于一体；后来他又把该方法成功地运用到其他一些作品中，如《南方之歌》和受到交口称赞的《欢乐满人间》。他的制片厂一共推出了100多部动画片。
迪斯尼乐园
沃尔特的探索欲和寓教于乐的敏锐意识促使他创作了名为“真实生活历险”的获奖系列片。通过《充满生机的沙漠》、《非洲狮》和《白色荒野》等影片，迪斯尼以深刻的洞察力展现了一个引人入胜的野生动物世界，通过教育使人们意识到保护美国自然遗产的重要性。
1955年7月18日，在加利福尼亚州的阿纳海姆，迪斯尼向公众开放了迪斯尼乐园。这个凝聚着他个人想像力的巨型工程，被证明是历史上最成功的娱乐公园，到1966年游览人数已达六百七十万。建迪斯尼乐园的想法是他带孩子们上别的娱乐园游玩、在一旁观察他们骑着玩具开心地玩耍时受启迪而产生的。他决心要建一座供全家人共享欢乐的公园。1971年，在佛罗里达州的奥兰多市，迪斯尼世界也开张了。从那以后，迪斯尼主题公园相继在东京和巴黎落户。
未了之梦
作为电视节目领域的开拓者，迪斯尼1954年就开始进军电视制作业。1961年，随着《奇妙的彩色世界》问世，他成为最早推出彩色电视节目的制作人之一。“米老鼠俱乐部”是20世纪50年代深受大众青睐的一个节目。
迪斯尼还有一个梦想，就是要建一座未来之城，这个梦想在1982年随着“明日实验样板社区中心”的落成而实现了。该中心耗资9亿美元。对此迪斯尼曾这样说道：
“我认为在世界任何地方，对那里的人民而言，最严峻的挑战莫过于找到某种方法解决我们城市所面临的问题。但我们该从何开始？我确信我们必须从公众需要入手。这种需要不仅仅在于治愈旧城市的种种痼疾；我们认为它意味着在一片处女地上从头开始，建设一个供未来仿效的样板社区。”
除了主题公园，迪斯综合艺术。迪斯尼曾说：“这是在我归隐田园之际希望能留下的一样主要东西。如果我能帮助提供一个为未来培养人才的场所，我想那可以说是事业有成。”
随着迪斯尼—米高梅电影制片公司、“动物王国”以及奥兰多一处大型综合体育设施的建立，迪斯尼的公园在继续扩展。总而言之，如今迪斯尼的大名已成为一个拥资数十亿美元公司的响亮标志，其附属的各类企业遍布全球。
正当迪斯尼开拓新事业时，不幸因血液循环系统疾病于1966年12月15日在洛杉矶逝世。
沃尔特·迪斯尼是一个传奇人物，是二十世纪的民间英雄。他之所以深受世界大众的喜爱是基于他所代表的理想：想像力、乐观主义和白手起家的美国式成功理念。在过去的一个世纪里，最能打动无数美国人的心灵、思想和情感的，当数沃尔特·迪斯尼。他的勤奋工作给各国人民带来了欢乐、幸福和一种普遍的交流方式。毫无疑问，在这个世界上，沃尔特·迪斯尼是独一无二的。
1．span v．跨越，横跨
2．genuine adj．真正的
3．cartoonist n．漫画家; 动画画家
4．graphic arts n．形象艺术，绘画艺术
5．founder n．奠基人
6．resort n．胜地
7．sketch n．素描
8．contribute v．投稿
9．ambulance n．救护车
10．advertise v．做广告
11．original adj．独创的
12．animated adj．活动的
13．immense adj．极广大的
14．featurette n．电影短片
15．rear n．后面
16．be blessed with 在……方面有福气; 幸运地享有
17．synchronize v．使声画同步
18．feature v．由……主演，以……为特色
19．profit n．利润，利益
20．creative ] adj．创造性的
21．franchise v．赋予特权
22．feature－length adj．长篇的, (电影)达到正片应有的长度
23．depression n．经济萧条
24．insight n．洞察力
25．heritage n．遗产，传统
26．projection n．设计
27．pioneer n．先驱
28．prototype n．原型，样板
29．convince v．使信服
30．start from scratch 从头开始
31．virgin adj．未开垦的
32．ultimate n．最终
33．principal adj．主要的
34．greener pastures 此指田园
35．MGM 全称是Metro－Goldwyn－Mayer (美国)米高梅电影制片公司
36．complex n．综合性建筑
37．circulatory adj．循环系统的
38．legend n．传说，传奇人物
39．optimism n．乐观主义