美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Black Mirror' Is Back, Reflecting Our Technological Fears

'Black Mirror' Is Back, Reflecting Our Technological¹ Fears

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"Black Mirror" returns today on Netflix. The dark anthology show has six new episodes. This third season explores ways that technology and social media could transform and even threaten humanity. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans has been watching.

(SOUNDBITE OF SMARTPHONE PERCOLATING³)

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE⁴: That's the sound of success for bright-eyed social striver Lacie Pound. Lacie, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, is the main character in a "Black Mirror" episode called Nosedive. In her world set in a future just a little ahead of our own, everyone uses a smartphone to rate everyone else they encounter using a scale of one to five stars.

It's like getting an Uber review for every social interaction in your life. Good ratings produce that percolating sound we just heard, like nailing the high score on a "Super Mario Bros." game. And people who have high personal scores get perks⁵, as Lacie learns from a realtor at a high-end condo complex.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK MIRROR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As realtor) You know our prime influencers program?

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD: (As Lacie) Do I qualify for that?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As realtor) No. No, you don't. We'd need you around a 4.5.

HOWARD: (As Lacie) 4.5.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As realtor) Hit 4.5, and there's a 20 percent discount.

DEGGANS: But Lacie's at a 4.2. And the absurd plan she hatches to get to 4.5 highlights the crushing pressure she's under. To look happy and be relentlessly⁶ polite comes at a cost. This is where "Black Mirror" excels like a "Twilight⁷ Zone" for the modern media age.

It's an anthology show, which means each episode stands alone, every one a new story with new characters. All six episodes center on technology like virtual reality, video games and online surveillance. And they all end with a plot twist.

One episode, Shut Up And Dance, shows various people blackmailed⁸ by hackers⁹ who hold devastating¹⁰ information gathered online. The victims get text messages pushing them to commit increasingly desperate acts, including a young man who was captured on video committing a sensitive act alone.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK MIRROR")

ALEX LAWTHER: (As Kenny) They filmed me through my computer camera...

JEROME FLYNN: (As Hector) Like, filmed you?

LAWTHER: (As Kenny) ...Like, you know, doing it.

FLYNN: (As Hector) Like, sex?

LAWTHER: (As Kenny) No, like - you know.

FLYNN: (As Hector) Well, everyone does that.

LAWTHER: (As Kenny) They're going to print it everywhere. They're going to send it to everyone.

DEGGANS: You might think that's bad but not the worst thing to have on video. But the episode's final twist puts it all in a new, more sinister¹¹ light. "Black Mirror" was created by British satirist¹² Charlie Brooker, who wrote or co-wrote every episode in the new season.

Brooker's been credited for predicting Donald Trump's presidential campaign in a 2013 "Black Mirror" episode called The Waldo Moment, in which an insulting yet popular TV cartoon bear nearly wins an election with populist rhetoric¹³ that skewers¹⁴ traditional politicians.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK MIRROR")

DANIEL RIGBY: (As Jamie Salter) You think you deserve respect...

TOBIAS MENZIES: (As Liam Monroe) Well, it's just common courtesy.

RIGBY: (As Jamie Salter) ...Because you went to public school and grew up believing you're entitled to everything?

(APPLAUSE)

MENZIES: (As Liam Monroe) Perhaps ad hominem nonsense.

JACK¹⁵ MONAGHAN: (As show host) Gwendolyn Harris...

RIGBY: (As Jamie Salter) Something's got to change. No one trusts you lot.

DEGGANS: Anthology series are difficult beasts. There's no continuing cast for viewers to bond with. Every episode has to earn your attention with new characters and a new story. This season's batch¹⁶ of "Black Mirror" episodes are more consistently compelling than ever.

It's tough to say exactly why here because so much of the shocking energy in each episode comes from game-changing plot twists. It would be criminal to reveal those in advance.

But Brooker and his collaborators have raised their game this season, delivering a half-dozen episodes that poke¹⁷ at our dependence¹⁸ on and fascination¹⁹ with technology in bold, new ways.

I'm Eric Deggans.

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 percolating   

n.渗透v.滤( percolate的现在分词 )；渗透；（思想等）渗透；渗入

参考例句：

• Bubbles simply supply a short cut for the faster-moving percolating gas. 气泡不过是对快速运动的渗透气体提供了一条捷径。 来自辞典例句
• I' ll percolate some coffee, ie make it by percolating. 我去用过滤法煮些咖啡。 来自辞典例句

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 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

6 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。

7 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

8 blackmailed   

胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He was blackmailed by an enemy agent (into passing on state secrets). 敌特威胁他（要他交出国家机密）。
• The strikers refused to be blackmailed into returning to work. 罢工者拒绝了要挟复工的条件。

9 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

10 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

11 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

12 satirist   

n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人

参考例句：

• Voltaire was a famous French satirist.伏尔泰是法国一位著名的讽刺作家。
• Perhaps the first to chronicle this dream was the Greek satirist Lucian.也许第一个记述这一梦想的要算是希腊的讽刺作家露西安了。

13 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

14 skewers   

n.串肉扦( skewer的名词复数 )；烤肉扦；棒v.（用串肉扦或类似物）串起，刺穿( skewer的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Damaged skewers and clogged bobbin holder. 木锭子破损，纱管支架底座阻塞。 来自互联网
• I heard you really like mutton skewers and that you can eat 50 at one time. 听说你特别爱吃羊肉串儿，一次能吃五十串儿。 来自互联网

15 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

16 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

17 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

18 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

19 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。