时事英语－英语新闻导读 2004.3.2

Oscar.com Predictable But Attractive
奥斯卡官方网站吸引网迷眼球  
Sat Feb 28,10:21 PM ET

By Leslie Walker

One of these days Hollywood will lighten up on the Net. Until then, movie fans may have to stay clear of sites such as Oscar.com if they want to have fun with the Academy Awards (news - web sites). 

Over the past week, the official Oscar.com site's highlight has been a contest to see who can predict -- how's this for predictable? -- the winners of Sunday's ceremony. Nothing creative such as, say, online voting on which star's attire¹ or thank-you sermons stood out over the night.

Oscar.com is nonetheless attracting plenty of visitors: 197,000 in the week ended Feb. 22, up 26 percent over the previous week, according to comScore Networks Inc.

Starting a few hours before Sunday's televised 8 p.m. ceremony, the site will begin broadcasting live Internet video of the red-carpet scene outside Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, followed by the celebration afterward² at the Governors Ball. The site also plans to offer Internet video-on-demand packages about the stars' fashion and jewelry³, plus press-room interviews after their thank-yous.

Speaking of thank-yous -- could a Web site get much cheesier? -- Oscar.com also plans to feature winners' written lists of all the people they couldn't get around to mentioning during their acceptance speeches.

Oscar.com's video will also be streamed to certain models of Sprint⁴ PCS Vision cell phones. It's available courtesy of the four-month-old MobiTV service, which costs $10 a month.

Oscar.com isn't alone in offering dorky Academy Award Internet activities, though. America Online has been handing out digital cameras to movie stars and inviting⁵ them to take pictures of themselves getting ready for the ceremony. For each self-styled "celeb candid⁶" that a star posts on America Online, AOL has pledged to donate money to charity. (AOL keyword: celeb candids)

If you want to fine-tune your Oscar bets by seeing who's predicting what, you should check out other sites. Oscar Watch (www.oscarwatch.com) tracks what critics are saying -- among other things, that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is the overwhelming favorite to win Best Picture. And the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) has its own polls on the best and worst in movies of last year, along with loads of Oscar trivia.

1 attire   

v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装

参考例句：

• He had no intention of changing his mode of attire.他无意改变着装方式。
• Her attention was attracted by his peculiar attire.他那奇特的服装引起了她的注意。

2 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 sprint   

n.短距离赛跑；vi. 奋力而跑，冲刺；vt.全速跑过

参考例句：

• He put on a sprint to catch the bus.他全速奔跑以赶上公共汽车。
• The runner seemed to be rallied for a final sprint.这名赛跑者似乎在振作精神作最后的冲刺。

5 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

6 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。