英语畅谈中国文化50主题 42

　　42 The crazy TV box
F: Television appeared in China some 20 years ago. People have been seen cultivated by this magic box and in return this box has turned them into idiots.
M: Americans were turned into idiots much earlier than you were. Television became popular in the US in the 1960’s. Over 80% of the household has TV-sets then. Rather than doing their own reading many people switched to TV for information. Consequently, people’s opinion was swayed by what they saw on TV. President Kennedy was the 1st president to benefit from TV campaigning, his Charisma¹ help him to defeat Richard Nixon.
F: Television was not turning people into idiots any more, it drives them crazy. By copying US and European TV shows, many Chinese TV stations have introduced their own versions of contest programs. Programs are focused on various skills of the participants or their desire to chase wealth or fame. Many young people are crazy about these programs. The most well-known is a sing contest called Super Girls. It was the Chinese version of the American idol² with the winner becomes the instinct household names.
M: It is not just viewers, editors and producers are also gone crazy. Take some TV anchors for example, in order to attract viewers; the broadcaster of weather channel in Russia stripped herself on screen. Although we haven’t seen any naked Chinese anchor women yet, it was equally crazy. Typically Chinese anchor women like to yell or imitate the Hong Kong and Taiwan accents. It’s if they have lost their senses or feeling of decency³.
F: And an extreme crazy example is a TV anchor was a soccer commentator⁴, he is now remembered as his hysterical⁵ yelling during last year’s world cup match of Italy and Australia.
M: As a result, many Italians have become his fans because of his compliments to the Italian team.
F: The only person who seen remains⁶ sober on news anchor on CCTV they look so restrained and unemotional. There are no eye contacts between them and they always seem so eager to collect the manuscripts at end of each show. I don’t understand why they look so dull.
M: They are certainly not crazy, they are boring.
F: TV used to be call a low IQ box, It should be called a Pandora box, because there are lots of bad things pouring out of it these days.

1 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

2 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

3 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

4 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

5 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。