GETTING TO KNOW STEVEN SPIELBERG

Steven Spielberg,whose mother was a music teacher,was born in 1946 in a small town in America.He started making short films when he was still a young boy.He made his first real film when he was twelve.This was a film in which Spielberg used real actors instead of toys.He wrote the scripts for the films himself.In 1959 Spielberg won a prize for a short film which he made when he was thirteen years old.A few years later,when he was sixteen,he made a film called Firelight.

When Spielberg was young,his dream was to go to the Film Academy,but he couldn't.The reason why he could not go there was that his grades were too low.After studying English,he got a smalljob at a film studio.Here he worked on a short film,whick won him a job as the youngest film director in the world.This was the moment when Spielberg's career really took off.

Jaws(1975),one of his first films,was a real blockbuster.It is about a big white shark that attacks swimmers who are spendingtheir holidays in a small village by the se.Many people who saw the film wereafraid to swim in the sea when they remembered the scenes in which people were eaten by the shark.

Spielberg has made two films about creatures that come to the earth from outer space.For example,ET(1982)is about a young boy called Elliott who makes friends with a small creature from outer space and helps him to find a way to go home.The world of adults is cold.Scientists want to find ET to cut him into pieces to do research.But in the world of children and the world where ET comes from,love and friendship are the most important things in life.

Jurassic Park,which Spielberg made in 1993,is about a park where a very rich man keeps different kinds of dinosaurs.When the park is hit by a storm,things start going wrong.The film becomes very .exciting when the children are hunted by meat-eating dinosaurs.

After these highly successful films Spielberg made several follow-ups of Jaws and Jurassic Park.His later films such as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan are about the cruelty of war.Inhis war films,he has shown that love and peace will win over war in the end.

Steven Spielber is one of the top directors in the film industry and also has many fans in China.When asked about the secret of his success,Steven Spielberg said that he owes muchof his success and happiness to his wife and children.He met Cate Capshaw,who is an actress,when he was working on one of his films.After that it still took seven years before they finally got married.The couple has seven children in all.