Eileen

Snoopy has a date—and a girlfriend！

The good-natured beagle， the worlds most famous comic-strip dog， moves on from his 65-year-long bachelor life in the upcoming animated feature film The Peanuts Movie. The 20th Century Fox title is released in 3-D and DMax versions in mainland cinemas on Nov 6， the same day as its global release.

Following two storylines， the tale tells about Snoopys imaginary-world heroic rescue of the lovable puppy Fifi， and his best human friend Charlie Browns too-shy-to-speak-out love of a red-haired new classmate. “The new character， Fifi， who was mentioned many times in the comic strip but never drawn， is a big part of Snoopys adventure，” says director Steve Martino， who is known for Ice Age： Continental Drift， during a media event in Beijing on Oct 14.

To attract more Chinese， Martino says that the crew has designed many 3-D effects for the worlds second-largest market， which has a great number of 3-D screens in the nations 5，800 theaters.

Since the American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz created Snoopy in 1950， the naughty boy-like dog has influenced several generations and has become a cultural icon in the United States. On April 9， 1965， Time magazine selected Snoopy and his human friends-Charlie Brown， Linus， Schroeder and Lucy-to feature on the cover.

For most Chinese adults， the earliest memory of the black-and-white beagle may be traced back to early 1980. Though the last cinema was released around 35 years ago， Snoopy still owns high recognition thanks to his images wide use on products， such as toys， costumes and school stationery.

Snoopys micro blog is followed by nearly 350，000 fans on Sina Weibo. On the countrys largest online platform， Baidu Tieba， up to 77，200 comments can been traced on a forum named after the puppy.

To stay faithful to Snoopy and the Peanuts gang was a big challenge to Martino and his team.

“I always wanted to look around Charlie Brown and Snoopys world when I was a kid ... and I really hope Chinese audiences will go into Charlie Brown and his dogs world and take it as real，” says the director， who received his first Snoopy-related gift when he was 6. When asked about Snoopys cultural greatness， Martino says that the dog is one of the oldest and largest balloons in the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. “Snoopy is a very simple and attractive design with a beautiful shape. Schulz put humanity into him and he said Snoopy was everything that he wanted to be，” says Martino， who believes Snoopy in some sense stands for the US spirit of optimism and bravery.

Vocabulary

beagle n. 比格猎犬

bachelor n. 单身汉

crew n. 剧组

cultural icon 文化标志，文化偶像

stationery n. 文具用品

optimism n. 积极

（Do you know anything about Snoopy？ Will you watch the movie？）

知识链接：

由查尔斯·舒尔茨创作的《花生漫画》是全世界最受欢迎的连载漫画之一，其中最引人注目的角色——风靡全球的史努比更受到全球各年龄层的粉丝喜爱，印有史努比图案的商品琳琅满目，甚至连高价的时尚精品都可以看到这只小猎犬的踪迹，史努比风靡全球的程度由此可见一斑。

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