A superhero blood cell stars in a clever TV hit

Sal Monella is a poisonous gangster hell bent on infection, and a pimple is a power-mad oil gland. That's life--and a quirky twist on salmonella and acne--in the animated world of Ozzy & Drix, part of the WB network's Saturday-morning lineup. This was the first season for what might be called a "smartoon." It was in the top programs among kids ages 2 to 11. And it's coming back this fall.

Instead of battling mystical monsters, Ozzy & Drix cleverly personifies body parts--a muscle cell is a police chief--to teach kids about their bodies. Rather than lecture kids about smoking, Ozzy & Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen, a smarmy villain with long claws that hook into brains and cause addictions. Bad guys like Nick are taken down by the title stars: Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, a street-smart white blood cell, and Drix, an uptight but intelligent cold pill with a chest full of medicine. White blood cells help fight infection, and Drix is a medicine chest. Get it?

Ozzy & Drix makes a point of tackling "issues that are very real to the day-to-day lives of kids," says David Foster, a Harvard University internist who helps develop story lines for the show. "We hope they take an interest in what is going on inside them." That's why all the action occurs within 13-year-old Hector, who contracts diseases, encounters peer pressure, and even drinks spoiled milk. "This poor kid has been through a lot," says Producer Alan Burnett.

Pun fun. The slap-your-knee, ba-dum-dum humor takes many forms. Ozzy and Drix set up a detective firm behind Hector's cornea--they're "private eyes"--to ensure him a safe adolescence. Blood cells race like cars through Hector's arteries and past a "roadside" billboard reading "Peace for the Middle Ear." There's a rock concert at the Diaphragm Club featuring the band Metabolica. Ozzy and Drix drive a Cel Camino.

"This is a very interesting direction for broadcasters to take," says Sandra Calvert, a psychologist and director of the Children's Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. "We rarely see someone go after the health area." Kids go for the slapstick and drama while adults are drawn to the puns and parodies, and the dual enjoyment sparks questions and conversation, she says.

Consider an upcoming episode in which Hector eats bad sausage containing parasitic worms. A spoof of jaws begins as his stomach becomes a sea of acid dotted with boats. On one, Ozzy teams up with grizzled Captain Quinine--recalling movie shark hunter Quint and the fact that quinine was once used to treat parasites. Ozzy and the Cap'n blow up the monsters with bicarbonate of soda. A soothing end, not for the worms, but for Hector's upset stomach.

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By Samantha Levine U.S. News & World Report; 7/28/2003-8/4/2003, Vol. 135 Issue 3, p40, 2p, 1c

注(1)：本文选自U.S. News & World Report；7/28/2003-8/4/2003, p40, 2p, 1c；

注(2)：本文习题命题模仿对象2002年真题text4和text2第5题；

1.From the first three paragraphs, we learn that ___________.

[A] Ozzy & Drix is a cartoon about good-guy fighting bad guy.

[B] the target audience of Ozzy & Drix are children.

[C] smartoon is a new type of cartoon

[D] the purpose of Ozzy & Drix is to help children fight against diseases

2.Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

[A] Ozzy in the cartoon lacks experiences.

[B] Hector’s friends show sympathy to him when he contracts disease.

[C] A new season of Ozzy & Drix will be on show this fall.

[D] Ozzy & Drix mainly deals with battling frightening creatures。

3.According to Sandra Calvert, broadcasters may learn from Ozzy & Drix_________.

[A] how to create humorous effect

[B] that health area is worth exploring

[C] that dual enjoyment of both kids and adults is the key to Ozzy & Drix’s success

[D] that kids and adults alike take great fun in Ozzy & Drix

4.Which of the following best defines the word “slapstick”?

[A] humorous acting

[B] serious theme

[C] interesting plot

[D] instructive stories

5.The author uses the episode in which Hector eats bad sausage containing parasitic worms to show _____________.

[A] how the cartoon is plotted

[B] how children feel when they fall ill

[C] the pun and humor in the cartoon

[D] the way children can be educated

答案：B C B A C

篇章剖析：

本篇为说明文，通过点面结合来说明一档流行的电视节目《奥兹和德里克斯》的内容，特点，引人之处等。第一段是对热门电视系列剧《奥兹和德里克斯》的简要介绍，突出了其“出奇”和“热门”两大特色，第二段，第三段说明了这个电视剧的主要内容，即以赋予身体各部分人性化的特点帮助孩子们了解自己的身体以及发生在日常生活中的问题；第四段，第五段介绍了该剧轻松幽默，老少咸宜的特点；第六段以一段剧情结束全文，让人更加深刻的体会这部剧作。

词汇注释：

salmonella [sAlmE5nelE]n. 沙门氏菌

pimple [5pImp(E)l]n. 丘疹, 面泡, 疙瘩

gland [^lAnd]n. 腺

quirky [ `kw:kI ] adj. 诡诈的, 离奇的

acne [5AknI]n. 痤疮, 粉刺

lineup [`laInQp] n. 系列节目

personify [p:5sRnIfaI]vt. 赋与...以人性, 使人格化

nicotine [5nIkEti:n]n. 烟碱，尼古丁

smarmy [5smB:mI]adj. 令人厌烦的, 爱说奉承话的, 虚情假意的

osmosis [Cz`mEJsIs, Cs-]n. 渗透(作用), 渗透性

street-smart: adj. 经验老到的

uptight [5QptaIt, Qp5taIt]adj. 过分拘谨的；(行为，观点和品味)极端保守的

internist [5Int:nIst]n. <美>内科医师

contract [kEn5trAkt]v. 感染

cornea [5kC:nIE]n. [医]角膜

artery [5B:terI]n. 动脉

slapstick [5slApstIk] n. 闹剧；滑稽剧

parody: [5pArEdi] n. 模仿滑稽作品

spoof [spu:f] n. 胡说；戏弄；哄骗

grizzled [5^rizld] adj. 灰色的, 头发斑白的

难句突破

Rather than lecture kids about smoking, Ozzy & Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen, a smarmy villain with long claws that hook into brains and cause addictions.

主体句式：Ozzy & Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen

结构分析：这是一个复杂句，主句为Ozzy & Drix turns nicotine into Nick O'Teen，Nick O’Teen后面有个较长的同位语，其中还含有定语从句。Rather than作为连接词引导从句，通常表示否定意义，意为：“而不是”，用于和另外一种可以肯定的情况作比较。比如，Rather than sit in a cozy room, he works out in the cold air. 他没有在舒适的房间里安坐，而是冒着严寒在室外工作。

句子译文：对于吸烟，《奥兹和德里克斯》也没有采用对孩子们说教的方式，而是把尼古丁变成了一个名叫尼克·丁的口蜜腹剑的恶棍，它长着长长的爪子，并用它来钩住人的大脑，使人上瘾。

题目分析：

1. 答案为B，属事实细节题。文中第一段最后说这部卡通片“深受2-11岁孩子的欢迎。”第二段说要通过卡通片教孩子们认识自己的身体，第三段都讲卡通片涉及的是孩子们日常生活中面临的真实问题。由此可见，答案为B：卡通片的目标人群为儿童。C项中的smartoon只是用来说明该卡通构思巧妙，并不是新型卡通。

2. 答案为C，属事实细节题。从文章第一段末it’s coming back this fall可知新一季的Ozzy& Drix即将在秋季上映。文中第二段提到Ozzy是street-smart，这个词的意思是“阅历丰富的，经验老到的”。文中第三段提到Hector患病后遭遇了peer pressure，即同伴的压力，可见同伴们都不喜欢患病的他。第二段特意提到了instead of battling mystical monsters，也就是说这部卡通一改和怪物斗争的模式，所以只有答案C是正确的。

3. 答案为B，属推理判断题。文章第五段一开头就引用Sandra Calvert的话说，这是广播公司可以发展的一个非常有趣的方向，接着又说，以前很少见到涉足保健领域的话题。可见，她的意思是广播公司在保健领域大有可为。

4. 答案为A，属猜词题。文章第四段开头说“The slap-your-knee, ba-dum-dum humor takes many forms.”接下来举例说明，并在第五段说孩子们喜欢这种slapstick，根据上下文判断，“幽默的表演”应该是最佳选项。

5. 答案为C，属推理判断题。从第三段可知双关和幽默是该剧最大的特点，在最后一段的剧情里，作者说奎宁船长的名字让人想起猎鲨专家奎恩特以及奎宁曾用于治疗寄生虫病的事情，可见作者是以此举例说明这部卡通剧作的双关和幽默。

参考译文

沙门氏是一伙恶毒的，会传染疾病的坏蛋，而一个粉刺则是一个迷恋权利的油脂腺。这就是在《奥兹和德里克斯》这档华纳电视网周六早晨节目中展现的生活---而且是对于沙门氏菌和粉刺最离奇的一次改编。而这仅是这部堪称 “聪明卡通”的系列片的第一季。在2至11岁的孩子中，它是最受欢迎的一档节目。今年秋季，它又将上演。

《奥兹和德里克斯》中并没有和神秘怪兽作斗争的内容，而是将人体的某些部位赋予了人性化的特征——一个肌肉细胞担任了警察局长——目的是教孩子们了解自己的身体。对于吸烟，《奥兹和德里克斯》也没有采用对孩子们说教的方式，而是把尼古丁变成了一个名叫尼克·丁的口蜜腹剑的恶棍，它长着长长的爪子，并用它来钩住人的大脑，使人上瘾。像尼克这样的坏蛋都被卡通片名里的明星们治服了：善于渗透的“奥兹”琼斯是一个经验老到的白血球；拘谨聪明的德里克斯则是一粒肚子里装满药的感冒药丸。白血球们帮助抗击感染，而德里克斯则是个药箱子。这下明白了吧？

《奥兹和德里克斯》涉及的都是“孩子们日常生活中面对的真实问题”，参与该电视剧剧情编写的
 
哈佛大学内科医生大卫·福斯特说道。“我们希望孩子们对发生在自己体内的事情感兴趣。”所以所有的故事都发生在13岁的赫克托尔体内。这个孩子染病在身，感受到了来自同伴的压力，甚至还喝下了变质的牛奶。“这个可怜的小家伙受了不少罪，”制片人艾伦·伯内特说道。

片中的双关语非常有趣。拍膝盖，打拍子这一类的幽默都通过很多形式表现出来。奥兹和德里克斯在赫克托尔的角膜后面成立了一家侦探事务所---他们是“私人的眼睛”---为的是确保他安全度过
 
青春期。血细胞经过赫克托尔的动脉时好像汽车一样飞驰而过，经过一个“路边”广告牌，上面写着“中耳需要安宁。”“横隔膜俱乐部”正在举办一场“新陈代谢乐队”的专场摇滚音乐会。奥兹和德里克斯开的是一辆卡米诺牌细胞汽车。

“对于广播公司来说，这是一种非常有趣的发展方向，”乔治敦大学儿童数字媒体中心主任，心理学家桑德拉·卡尔弗特说道。“我们很少见到有人在健康领域做文章。”孩子们喜欢有趣刺激的情节，而大人们也被片中的双关语和滑稽的模仿所吸引，这种老少皆宜的片子能引发思考和讨论。

以接下来的一幕中赫克托尔吃了含有寄生虫的变质香肠为例。危险的情况被以一种轻松搞笑的方式演绎了出来。他的胃变成一片酸性物质的海洋，上面漂着几页扁舟。其中一艘小船上坐着奥兹和头发花白的奎宁船长，他们同舟共济---这让人想起了电影中的猎鲨专家奎恩特，以及奎宁曾被用来对付寄生虫的事。奥兹和船长用碳酸水中的重碳酸盐把那些怪物统统炸死了。对虫子们来说，这是灭顶之灾，但对赫克托尔翻江倒海的胃来说，结局令人宽慰。