【英语语言学习】女性爱自拍

Selfie was the Oxford¹ Dictionary's word of the year back in 2013, but selfies are still the rage. And this year, we learned something interesting about the medium. It appears to be dominated by women. The five most popular people on Instagram are all women. Kim Kardashian, who needs no introduction, is on that list, and she came out with the first book dedicated² to selfies, hers, of course.

And as NPR's Aarti Shahani reports, in this story that has some colorful language, a debate brewed³ over what the selfie may say about females.

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE⁴: In 2015, women didn't just pout⁵ their lips to do duck face. They - we - shaped the conversation.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!")

KIM KARDASHIAN: I think girls, to be honest, they take a lot of nude⁶ selfies.

SHAHANI: Kim Kardashian talking with Jimmy Kimmel about her new book, entitled "Selfish," replete⁷ with boob and butt⁸ shots.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!")

KARDASHIAN: And I think some of them, you know, I'll look back and think - God, why would I complain about, you know, feeling fat? I, you know, I liked the way I looked then. So it's taught me to be a little easier on myself.

SHAHANI: This year, Kardashian also came out endorsing⁹ the selfie stick, which by taking pictures farther away, makes you look skinnier. Comedian¹⁰ Amy Schumer trashed the stick.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AMY SCHUMER: Selfie sticks are the most disgusting development that human beings have made for a long - I am so infuriated when I see someone with a selfie stick.

SHAHANI: Schumer also released a music video and hashtag, "Girl, You Don't Need Makeup," encouraging fans to post skin that's bare in a different way. Another selfie campaign, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, encouraged young women in tech to show that there are young women in tech. Women did face some serious public shaming this year for clicking away so relentlessly¹¹.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS BROADCAST)

STEVE BERTHIAUME: Check it. Did that come out OK?

BOB BRENLY: That's the best one of the 300 pictures I've taken of myself today.

SHAHANI: At an Arizona Diamondbacks game, sportscasters Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly mocked a group of sorority sisters who were posing instead of watching the game.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS BROADCAST)

BRENLY: Every girl in the picture is locked into her phone.

BERTHIAUME: Oh, lord.

BRENLY: Every single one is dialed in. Welcome to parenting in 2015.

BERTHIAUME: (Laughter).

SHAHANI: The video got nearly 53 million views, though it omits a key detail. Right before the camera caught the selfie sisters, fans were asked to take selfies as part of a commercial promotion¹². And so the question arises - are selfies really a woman thing, or do men do it too, just without the same scrutiny¹³? In November, husbands weighed in.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "INSTAGRAM HUSBANDS")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I've had to delete all of the apps off my phone just to make more room for more photos.

SHAHANI: In this satirical video called "Instagram Husbands," men shared horror stories of a wife or girlfriend turning them into human selfie sticks.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "INSTAGRAM HUSBANDS")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Oh, wait, just a second. I should probably comment on this. It helps me out if I'm the first one to comment.

SHAHANI: NPR tracked down the man behind this viral video, Jeff Houghton. And he says he limits himself to, like, five selfies a year.

JEFF HOUGHTON: For me, it just kind of feels weird¹⁴ to take a lot of pictures of myself

SHAHANI: But when asked to take out his phone and go through his photo gallery, the picture changes. It turns out he just took a selfie with his son building a Lego tower.

HOUGHTON: That was two or three days ago.

SHAHANI: Then another at a new boutique hotel.

HOUGHTON: It's a selfie of me in a bathroom with good lighting¹⁵.

SHAHANI: Before that one...

HOUGHTON: Oh, someone at work had a selfie stick, and I took a picture...

SHAHANI: As we keep scrolling¹⁶, the Instagram husband comes to this realization¹⁷.

HOUGHTON: So maybe I'm, I don't know, I bet I'm going over my five per year idea.

SHAHANI: Yep, it looks like there may be a tad bit more.

HOUGHTON: (Laughter) You busted¹⁸ me. Yes, I guess there is.

SHAHANI: This year, about 2,000 scholarly articles reference selfies, according to Google Scholar, a steady uptick from prior years. Many of the papers examine women's self-representation with titles like "Virtual Lactivism: Breastfeeding Selfies And The Performance Of Motherhood."

But Terri Senft, a media scholar at New York University, says we still don't know in any rigorous way if selfies really are more of a woman thing.

TERRI SENFT: If you counted, for instance, every group party shot or every shot from a GoPro camera or every shot that includes some sort of extreme sports or guys playing instruments, I actually think that you would find a relative parity¹⁹.

SHAHANI: She says it could be men and women are both into it, maybe just differently.

Aarti Shahani, NPR News, San Francisco.

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 brewed   

调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• The beer is brewed in the Czech Republic. 这种啤酒是在捷克共和国酿造的。
• The boy brewed a cup of coffee for his mother. 这男孩给他妈妈冲了一杯咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 pout   

v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴

参考例句：

• She looked at her lover with a pretentious pout.她看着恋人，故作不悦地撅着嘴。
• He whined and pouted when he did not get what he wanted.他要是没得到想要的东西就会发牢骚、撅嘴。

6 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

7 replete   

adj.饱满的，塞满的；n.贮蜜蚁

参考例句：

• He was replete with food and drink.他吃喝得饱饱的。
• This immense space may be replete with happiness and glory.这巨大的空间可能充满了幸福和光荣。

8 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

9 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

10 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

11 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

12 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

13 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

14 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

15 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

16 scrolling   

n.卷[滚]动法，上下换行v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的现在分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Another important detail required by auto-scrolling is a time delay. 自动滚屏需要的另一个重要细节是时间延迟。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In 2D visualization and drawing applications, vertical and horizontal scrolling are common. 在二维的可视化及绘图应用中，垂直和水平滚动非常普遍。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

17 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

18 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

19 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。