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

 

音乐天才郎朗

 

    音乐天才郎朗清楚地记得是什么促使他希望成为一位钢琴演奏家。那是在孩童时代，在中国沈阳的家里看动画片时他听到的一支曲子。

 

    郎朗十四岁半来到美国，就读于费城柯蒂斯学院。为了帮助他适应新的环境和语言，他的导师加里·格拉夫曼为他配备了一名翻译。但是，由于懒惰——郎朗自己承认说，他一直没有多少进步。

 

郎朗：一年之后，我的英语还是很糟糕，格拉夫曼先生对我非常生气。他说，“好吧，现在我要撤掉你的翻译。你必须说英语，要不然我不会再给你上课。”就这样，他对我十分严格。不过效果挺不错。

   

郎朗受到美国观众的注意是在1999年。郎朗在最后时刻顶替钢琴家安德烈·瓦茨登台与芝加哥交响乐团合奏演出。观众被他俊朗的外表和强而有力的弹奏动作所征服。然而，在郎朗究竟是出色的演奏家，还是仅仅是个表演者这个问题上，评论家们产生了分歧。

    郎朗没有理会这些评论家。

 

郎朗：我认为对我而言，我专注于钻研音乐并且尊重作曲家，让音乐忠于原作，同时又具有个性。另外，对于现场音乐会，很重要的一点是：每次弹奏总有细微的差别。我想只要你真正热爱你所做的，这点不成问题。

   

显而易见，郎朗热爱他所做的事。在弹奏拉赫玛尼诺夫的《帕格尼尼主题狂想曲》时，郎朗沉醉地将身体倾向钢琴，双眼紧闭，头微微后扬。你几乎和他一起沉浸在音乐的无尽美妙中。

 

郎朗：我认为一名出色的音乐家的演奏应该让所有人都喜欢。不仅仅是初学者或是专家，而是每一个人。关键是，只要你真正竭尽全力，全情投入，我的意思是，把所有的感情都倾注到琴键上，你就能让音乐很自然地流入观众的心中。我想他们会为之感动，同时感到这的确是美妙的一天，在接下来的几天里都能做个好梦并拥有好心情。当你拥有好心情时，你就拥有了更美好的人生。

 

 

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。