2007年VOA标准英语-New Movie Shows Life of US Teachers

By Greg Flakus
Austin, Texas
21 July 2007

Classroom scene from Chalk

The world of public schools has been portrayed¹ many times in motion pictures, but usually the school setting is used to either tell a sentimental² story or a bleak³ dramatic story about the challenges faced by teachers. A lighter⁴ and somewhat more realistic view is provided in a new film about teachers called, appropriately, "Chalk." This film, which was shot entirely⁵ in Austin, Texas, in a pseudo-documentary style often referred to as "mockumentary," was the brainchild of two former teachers. VOA's Greg Flakus spoke⁶ with them and filed this report from Austin.

The teachers' world came to life in an actual Austin high school with students playing the roles of students and even a few teachers and administrators⁷ mixing in with the actors playing teachers.

Two former Austin high school teachers, actor Chris Mass and director Mike Akel came up with the idea for the film and developed the characters together.

Mike Akel, director Chalk

The film begins with the statement that 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within three years, which is the issue Mike Akel wanted to explore. "Chris and I had always heard, 'If you can make it past your third year, you might have a chance.' You know, veteran teachers would tell us that," he said.

The film shows the challenges that confront teachers, but it does so with a subtle and wry⁸ humor. "It is painful and funny. As an artist, I think that is what we are called to do is expose truth in a loving way," he said.

"Chalk" was shot in documentary style with actors improvising⁹ most of their lines.

Akel says this style of acting¹⁰ required the crew to improvise¹¹ as well. "We wanted it to feel like a documentary. True documentarians don't try to interrupt the process of the subject. They are at the mercy of the subject as far as the boom operators and camera operators. So that is what we wanted. We wanted to keep everyone on edge," he said.

Actor Chris Mass

Chris Mass, who plays history teacher Mr. Stroope in "Chalk," says real life school administrators who have roles in the film worked well with the improvisation¹². "Both of those assistant principal and principal are real and you just kind of tell them, 'Here is what we are going to do in this scene' and 'just play yourself and do what you do.," he said.

In coming up with the characters and storyline, Mass and Akel drew on their own experiences as teachers and they both have strong feelings about the profession and definite opinions on why the job has become so hard.

Mass says part of the problem is that teachers today have to compete with a huge world of mass media and movies for the attention of students. "They want to be entertained all the time and I would tell them, 'look, I love movies, I make them on the side, but you are not here for MTV world.' There is so much media and fluff that it makes it hard for a teacher to try to get science across to them," he said.

Both Mass and Akel also see lack of discipline at home and a lack of parent interest as a problem in many big city public schools. Akel says teachers often feel parents have abandoned their children at school. "Chris had a teacher night, a back-to-school night, and out of 150 kids, ... five -- five -- parents came," he said.

Teachers who have seen the film have provided the filmmakers with positive feedback and Chris Mass says it is especially gratifying to hear positive comments from beginning teachers who can identify strongly with the film's characters. "I think just to be understood as a new teacher, to watch "Chalk," and say 'They really capture (the teaching world), it does not fix what I deal with day in and day out, but they really capture what I face.' Empathy is powerful," he said.

"Chalk" has won several awards on the film festival circuit, has played in theaters throughout the country and is now set to be released internationally on DVD on September 25.

1 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

3 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

4 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

8 wry   

adj.讽刺的；扭曲的

参考例句：

• He made a wry face and attempted to wash the taste away with coffee.他做了个鬼脸，打算用咖啡把那怪味地冲下去。
• Bethune released Tung's horse and made a wry mouth.白求恩放开了董的马，噘了噘嘴。

9 improvising   

即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• I knew he was improvising, an old habit of his. 我知道他是在即兴发挥，这是他的老习惯。
• A few lecturers have been improvising to catch up. 部分讲师被临时抽调以救急。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

12 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。