TV Talk Show Billionairess On Show

TV Talk Show Billionairess On Show

Oprah Gail Winfrey, born Kosciusko, Mississippi, January 29th 1954, former Miss Fire Prevention, and Miss Black Nashville 1971, now she's the queen of daytime television, a multi-media 1)mogul and billionairess, an enviable title that most celebs can't claim. Sounds like she's got it all. Now, but the Patti Sellers of Fortune magazine sat down with Oprah, and tells us, she wasn't exactly born with a silver spoon in her mouth. 

Sellers: She grew up in Mississippi, dirt poor, without running water...
 
The fact is, she didn't even own her first pair of shoes until age six...hard to imagine. But, what Oprah lacked in wealth, she made up for in ambition—a star quality, according to Ken² Baker³, at Us Weekly.

Baker: So, she starts off making a hundred bucks⁴ a week when she's seventeen, working for a radio station. Just two years later, Oprah's already the youngest anchor in television. She’s making fifteen 2)grand a year, which at the time, wasn't so bad.
 
Fifteen thousand dollars! Hey, that's less than one percent of what she makes now. Anyway, she made headlines and that's when the Windy City made Oprah an offer she couldn't refuse. Yeah, a two hundred and thirty thousand dollar contract in 1984, to host the local morning show called, AM Chicago. 

Sellers: She was 3)recruited to Chicago, by a man named Dennis Swanson. In her first meeting with him, she said to him, "Are you concerned about anything?" He said, "No, why?" And she said, "Well, do you know I'm black?" And he said, “Yes, I realize that." And she said, "Do you...do you...do you know I'm overweight?" And he said, "Yeah." And he said, “Listen, if I wanted someone 4)glamorous⁵, I would have brought in someone completely different. I want you to be you.”
 
Hmm. A 5)backhanded compliment? No. He meant Oprah was someone everyone could relate to. Well, it worked. Almost overnight, AM Chicago became The Oprah Winfrey Show... and the ratings 6)went through the roof. So, now she's a local celebrity⁶... with a taste for the finer things in life.

Sellers: ...gets the AM Chicago deal, she's making $230,000 a year. What does she do? She buys herself a 7)mint, $42,000 Jaguar⁷...
 
While all this is going on, Oprah starts her own production company called "Harpo." Yeah! That's Oprah, spelled backwards⁸. You got it. And now she's primed to make a sweet chunk⁹ of change off the syndication deal. The very first season in syndication, the show made a hundred and twenty-five million dollars. And Oprah took home 25% of the gross.

Sellers: ...which means that Oprah earned an estimated thirty-one million dollars between 1987 and 1988. This made her the highest paid performer in show biz.
 
Now she's 8)sitting pretty as the first woman in television to ever produce and host her own television show. The Oprah Winfrey Show has turned "Harpo Inc." into a multi-million dollar company...and Oprah's become a national 9)phenomenon, according to Lynette Rice at Entertainment Weekly.

Rice: You know the talk show has done, what The Oprah Winfrey Show has done...Twenty-two million people tune¹ in to watch this woman talk every day. And when she talks, people listen.
 
Not only do they listen...they read.

Sellers: She started the Oprah Book Club. Since 1996, forty-six books, each of the books that she's mentioned, have become an instant best seller.
 
Women and men...although some won't admit it, can't seem to get enough of the daytime 10)diva, who is well on her way to becoming one of the richest women in the world. Yes, thanks to some brilliant financial planning.

Sellers: She met a man named Jeff Jacobs, who was an entertainment lawyer in Chicago, and he said to her, "You need to own yourself" and he became her guardian¹⁰, her agent and manager. So, the money that comes into Oprah and Harpo, she keeps it all.

Now, I don't mean to be a buzzkill here, but not everything Oprah touches turns to gold. True, true. She did lose a bundle on the film "Beloved." That hurts for a minute! But, Oprah 11)bounced back in a big way with O.

Sellers: In 2000, her magazine was named the best launch in history, with a circulation of two point five million and it makes over $150 million a year.
 
So she's making money 12)hand over fist. Right. Today, roughly three hundred million a year for her television show. Add to that everything else that falls under the umbrella of Harpo Inc, TV movies, O magazine, and her Oxygen Cable Network...all told, her multi-media empire now generates $575 million a year...which puts her personal wealth in the billions. Wow—!

注释：
1) mogul [5mEu^l] n. 显要人物；有权势的人
2) grand [^rAnd] n. <美俚>一千美元，一千
3) recruit [ri5kru:t] v. 征募，招收
4) glamorous [5^lAmErEs] a.富有魅力的，迷人的
5) backhanded compliment 貌似恭维实为挖苦的话
6) go through the roof （物价等）暴涨，飞涨
7) mint [mint] a. 最新的，最近的
8) sit pretty 处于有利地位；过舒服日子
9) phenomenon [fi5nCminEn] n. 现象
10) diva [5di:vE] n. 歌剧中的首席女主角，这里比喻奥普拉的主导地位
11) bounce back 卷土重来，（遭受挫折后）很快恢复
12) hand over fist 迅速大量地

脱口秀女王的“敛财”神话

    1954年1月29日，奥普拉·盖尔·温弗瑞出生在密西西比州一个叫科修斯科的小镇上。这位前“防火小姐”和1971年的“纳什维尔州黑人小姐”如今已是日间电视节目的女王、多媒体业显贵以及——亿万富婆——这可是个连大多数名人都眼红不已的头衔。这么说她真是应有尽有了。现在当然是了，但据《财富》杂志的帕蒂·塞拉斯说——她曾采访过奥普拉，奥普拉并非是“含着金钥匙出生的”。

塞拉斯：她在密西西比州长大，家境极度贫困，连自来水都用不上……

    实际上，她六岁以前都没有一双自己的鞋子……真难以想像。不过，金钱上的不足，奥普拉以雄心壮志来弥补——用《我们周刊》的肯·贝克的话来说，那正是明星必备的素质。

贝克：她十七岁的时候开始在一家广播电台上班，周薪一百美元。两年之后，奥普拉就已经成为最年轻的电视主持人，拿着一万五千美元的年薪，这在当时已经很不错了。

    一万五千美元！？嘿，那还不到她现在挣的百分之一呢。不管怎么说，她不断地跃上新闻头条，也就在那时风城芝加哥也向她发出了难以拒绝的邀请。是的，她在1984年签下一纸二十三万美元的合约，主持一档当地的早间谈话节目《芝加哥早晨》。

塞拉斯：当初招募她到芝加哥的人，名叫丹尼斯·斯文森。当奥普拉第一次见到他时问：“你不会担心些什么吗？”他说：“不担心，怎么了？”她说：“嗯，你知道我是黑人吧？”他回答说：“是，我知道这个。”她又问：“你，你，你知道我很胖吧？”他说：“知道，”接着他又说，“听着，我要是想招个漂亮的主持，我会去找一个跟你完全不一样的人。我希望你就是本色的你。”

    嗯，貌似恭维实为挖苦？非也。他是说奥普拉很“平民化”。这招奏效了。几乎在一夜之间，《芝加哥早晨》改头换面，更名为《奥普拉·温弗瑞脱口秀》，收视率屡创新高。她那时已是一位当地名人——而且对生活的品味更佳了。

塞拉斯：签下《芝加哥早晨》的合约后，她的年收入已达二十三万美元。她把钱花在什么地方了呢？她给自己买了一辆价值四万二千美元的新崭崭的“捷豹”……

    与此同时，奥普拉创办了自己的制作公司——哈泼公司。把奥普拉的名字倒过来拼就是了。没错！从此她要从这个辛迪加协议中分一块大蛋糕了。在辛迪加节目播出的第一个季度里，这个节目赚到了一亿二千五百万美元。奥普拉拿走了其中的四分之一。

塞拉斯：这意味着奥普拉在1987到1988年间赚了将近三千一百万美元。她得以成为收入最高的谈话节目艺人。

    作为第一个制作并主持自己的脱口秀电视节目的女人，她现在简直是春风得意。《奥普拉·温弗瑞脱口秀》使哈泼公司的收入以百万计。而且，按《娱乐周刊》的林内特·赖斯的说法，奥普拉已经成为美国的一个文化现象。

赖斯：这个脱口秀节目，也就是《奥普拉·温弗瑞脱口秀》的影响，你是知道的……每天二千二百万人都在看这个女人在电视上侃侃而谈，而在她说话的时候，人们会听。

    他们不仅听，还读。

塞拉斯：她还开办了“奥普拉读书俱乐部”。从1996年以来，她所提到的四十六本书，无一例外都立即成了畅销书。

    尽管有些人不愿承认，但无论是男人还是女人，对这位日间节目女王的节目都乐此不疲。而她正步向世界上最富裕的女人之列。当然，这还得归功于一些卓越的理财计划。

塞拉斯：她认识了一位芝加哥的娱乐业律师杰夫·雅各布，他曾对她说：“你要掌控你自己。”而后他就成为她的保护人、经纪人和经理人。于是，流进奥普拉和哈泼公司囊中的滚滚财源，一分钱也没损失。

    嗯，我不是要在这里煞风景，可奥普拉并不总能点石成金。没错，没错，她在电影《真爱》上就损失惨重，不过那也只是一时之痛而已。奥普拉很快就凭《O》杂志卷土重来。

塞拉斯：2000年，她创办的杂志堪称出版史上的奇迹，发行量达二百五十万册，每年就给她带来一亿五千多万美元的收入。

    她简直就是财源滚滚啊。是啊，现在她的电视脱口秀每年给她带来大约三亿美元的收入。除此以外，还有哈泼公司、电视电影、《O》杂志以及她的氧气有线电视网……的收入，把这些统统加到一块儿，她的多媒体帝国每年能获得五亿七千五百万美元的收入，使她的个人财富以十亿美元计。哇——！

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

6 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

7 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

8 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

9 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

10 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。