网络选秀让成名越来越早

 　　Forget beauty pageants¹ and tween talent shows, modern stage parents have a new outlet² to push their children into the fame game: the Internet.

　　别管什么选美和才艺比赛了，现在的爸爸妈妈可以通过网络让自己的孩子一夜成名。

　　With the ability to instantly broadcast everything from mundane³ childhood firsts to talented kids singing, dancing and acting⁴, parents who seek the spotlight⁵ for their children are capitalizing on the online medium to catapult them to stardom.

　　从蹒跚起步到小荷初露，有关孩子的一切都能通过网络发布出去。家长们开始利用网络媒体推销自家小孩，吸引公众眼球。

　　Baby-faced 16-year old singer Justin Bieber has become the poster child for how YouTube can turn an ordinary kid almost overnight into somebody who inspires teen girls to faint on cue. In 2007 Bieber's mother began posting his musical performances online for family and friends who couldn't attend them in person. Former marketing⁶ manager Scooter Braun happened upon a Bieber clip on YouTube and was so struck by Bieber's talent that he flew the teenager to Atlanta to meet hip-hop star Usher⁷ in 2008.

　　长着一张娃娃脸的16岁歌手Justin Bieber无疑是YouTube这个明星制造机的绝佳代言人。本来他不过是默默无闻的普通男生，然而一夜之间他成为无数女孩的暗恋对象。2007年Bieber的妈妈将他唱歌跳舞的表演视频贴到网上，本是为了给那些没法参加家庭聚会的亲戚朋友看的。市场经纪人Scooter Braun看到这些之后，惊叹于Bieber的才华，特意将他带到亚特兰大与著名Hip-hop歌手Usher会面。

　　Bieber's first single was released in fall 2009 and quickly rose to the top of the international charts, making him an instant sensation and making his story a "how-to" tale for parents looking to make their kids famous.

　　Bieber于09年秋季发行了首张单曲，并很快在国际上有了名声，红极一时的同时也让其他父母意识到，该怎样让自己的小孩也成为同样走红的明星。

　　More and more, parents are trying to market their kids on the Web by posting videos on YouTube and Facebook. But what may seem like innocent self-promotion could actually be damaging to a child's sense of self-worth and their self-esteem.

　　越来越多的父母将这样的视频贴到网上，但这种看似单纯的自我推销很可能扭曲一个孩子的自我价值观以及自尊。

　　In 2009, the Heene family became famous for their "Balloon boy" hoax⁸ when they said their son had been trapped in a homemade balloon speeding across the Colorado sky, only to admit later that they were trying to get attention for a reality show. In the ensuing coverage⁹, it turned out they had also filmed their three young sons singing a violent rap song called "Pussification" and posted the video on YouTube in order to garner¹⁰ the same kind of attention for themselves.

　　09年Heene家因为臭名昭著的“热气球男孩”事件闻名全国。他们谎称自己的儿子受困于一个自制的热气球中，正飘过科罗拉多州上空，随后不得不承认这只是为一场真人秀进行的炒作。随后人们发现，这对夫妻还录制了由三个小儿子演唱不良rap歌曲的视频并放到网上，目的同样是为了引起注意。

　　"If putting your kids in this kind of video is part of a parenting philosophy that promotes fame as an important goal, it is setting kids up to be narcissistic¹¹, to have unrealistic expectations, and an inflated¹² sense of self," worries Jean Twenge, author of "The Narcissism¹³ Epidemic¹⁴: Living in the Age of Entitlement."

　　《自恋魔咒：一个属于头衔的时代》一书作者Jean Twenge警告说：“如果让你的孩子参与这种录像的演出，对你而言是一种获取名声的教育方式，这会让你的小孩变得过于自恋，自我膨胀并对未来有不切实际的期望。”

1 pageants   

n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会

参考例句：

• It is young people who favor holding Beauty pageants. 赞成举办选美的是年轻人。 来自互联网
• Others say that there's a fine line between the pageants and sexual exploitation. 其他人说，选美和性剥削之间只有非常细微的界线。 来自互联网

2 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

3 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

8 hoax   

v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧

参考例句：

• They were the victims of a cruel hoax.他们是一个残忍恶作剧的受害者。
• They hoax him out of his money.他们骗去他的钱。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

11 narcissistic   

adj.自我陶醉的，自恋的，自我崇拜的

参考例句：

• In the modern vocabulary, it was narcissistic. 用时髦话说，这是一种自我陶醉狂。 来自辞典例句
• This is our Nielaoshi, a dwarf has also grown narcissistic teachers. 这就是我们的倪老师，一个长得又矮又自恋的老师。 来自互联网

12 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 narcissism   

n.自我陶醉，自恋

参考例句：

• Those who suffer from narcissism become self-absorbed.自恋的人会变得自私。
• The collective narcissism of the Kerouac circle is ultimately boring.凯鲁亚克和他周围人物的集体自我陶醉欲最终使人厌烦不已。

14 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。