职称英语综合类考试教材阅读判断重点文章及译文（3）

 　　TV Game Shows

　　One of the most fascinating things about television is the size of the audience. A novel can be on the "best seller" lists with a sale of fewer than 100,000 copies, but a popular TV show might have 70 million TV viewers. TV can make anything or anyone well-known overnight.

　　This is the principle behind "quiz" or "game" shows, which put ordinary people on TV to play a game for prizes and money. A quiz show can make anyone a star, and it can give away thousands of dollars in the U.S. and almost everyone watched them. Charles Van Doren, an English instructor, became rich and famous after winning money on several shows. He even had a career as a television personality. But one of the losers proved that Charles Van Doren was cheating. It turned out that the show's producers who were pulling the strings, gave the answers to the most popular contestants beforehand. Why? Because if the audience didn't like the person who won the game, they turned the show off. The result of this cheating was a huge scandal. Based on his story, a movie under the title "Quiz Show" is on 40 years later.

　　Charles Van Doren is no longer involved with TV. But game shows are still here, though they aren't taken as seriously. In fact, some of them try to be as ridiculous as possible. There are shows that send strangers on vacation trips together, or that try to cause newly-married couples to fight on TV, or that punish losers by humiliation them. The entertainment now is to see what people will do just to be on TV. People still win money, but the real prize is to be in front of an audience of millions.

　　注释：

　　1. the size of the audience：观众的数目、规模。size指规模、数量等;audience是集合名词，当它表达一个整体概念时，后面的动词用单数;若表达整体中的具体的成员时，动词用复数形式。

　　2.best seller：畅销书，畅销品

　　3.…with a sale of fewer than 100,000 copies：……其发行量已不到10万册

　　4.TV viewer：电视观众

　　5.overnight：是副词，意为“一夜之间”。又如：Byron became famous overnight.拜伦一夜成名。

　　6.This is the principle behind…for prizes and money：这就是存在于电视“智力竞赛”表演背后的原理，这些表演促使普通老百姓为了奖品和奖金走上电视玩游戏。

　　7.give away：送掉，发给，赠给

　　8.for fun：为了好玩，为了开心。类似的表达法还有：for a change 为了改变一下，为了换换花样。

　　9.文中的famous意为“著名的”。同义词有noted，renowned，popular，distinguished等。

　　10.television personality：电视明星

　　11. It turned out that the show's producers who were pulling the strings, gave the answers to the most popular contestants beforehand.原来，在幕后操纵的节目制片人已提前将问题的答案告诉类那些最受(观众)欢迎的参赛者。

　　12.scandal：丑闻，丑事

　　13.to be on：在文中是“上演”之意

　　14.Charles Van Doren is no longer involved with TV：Charles Van Doren不再参与电视节目了。

　　练习：

　　1. TV can make a beggar world-famous overnight.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　2. The principle behind "quiz" and "game" shows is to put ordinary people on TV to play a game for prizes and money.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　3. Prizes and money are usually provided by TV stars and large companies for winners.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　4. One of the TV personalities, Charles Van Doren was proved to be cheating by persuading the Show's producers to give him the answers beforehand.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　5. The huge scandal of cheating in TV game shows was not exposed until 40 years later in the movie "Quiz Show".

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　6. Nowadays game shows are not treated as seriously as they used to be.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　7. Winners of present-day TV game shows no longer get money from the shows.

　　A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

　　答案与题解：

　　1.A 文章第一段最后一句讲电视可以使任何事物或任何人一夜成名。

　　2.B 第二段第一句话提到的有奖“电视智力比赛”背后运作的原理，指的是第一段最后一句话所讲的“电视可以使任何事物或任何人一夜成名”。而不是所谓“让普通人上电视参加有奖比赛”。This 一词作为一种衔接手段，常用来指上文刚刚提到的内容。

　　3.C 文中只提到“电视智力竞赛”的获胜者会得到价值不等的奖品和奖金，并未提到其来源。

　　4.B 文中第三段提到为了吸引观众，节目制片人主动把答案事先告诉了Charles Van Doren。

　　5.B Charles Van Doren在“电视智力竞赛”中作弊的丑闻早在20世纪50年代就被当时比赛中的一位失败者揭发出来，“智力竞赛”这部电影只是在40年后从中汲取类素材。

　　6.A 第三段中讲“电视智力竞赛”仍旧在电视上放映，只是人们对它的态度不再像从前那样认真。

　　7.B 文章结尾处说今天“电视智力竞赛”的获奖者们获得的真正的奖励是在数百万的观众面前亮相，但他们仍旧能得到一些钱。

　　译文：电视“智力竞赛”表演

　　电视最迷人的方面之一就是其观众的人数多、规模大。一本小说即使“最畅销”，其发行量 也不到10万册。但一部受人欢迎的电视剧可以有7 000万的观众。电视可以使任何事物或任何人一夜成名。

　　这就存在于电视“智力竞赛”表演背后的原理，这些表演促使普通老百姓为了奖品和奖金 走上电视玩游戏。智力测验能够使任何一个人成为明星，它也能使你为了好玩花掉许多钱。但这些钱带来了许多社会问题。例如，20世纪50年代“智力竞赛”在美国就非常流行，几乎所有人都观看这种节目。查尔斯·范·多林是一位英语教师，在赢得了几场比赛后，变得非常富有，甚至成了电视明星。但有一位失败者证明多林是在骗人。原来，在幕后操纵的节目制片人已提前将问题的答案告诉了那些最受(观众)欢迎的参赛者。为什么呢?因为如果观众讨厌获奖的人，那他们就会关掉电视。这一骗局产生了一个巨大的丑闻。40年后，人们根据这个敌事拍了一部名叫“智力竞赛”的电影。

　　多林不再参与电视节目T,但智力竞赛仍在进行，尽管人们已不再像以前那样严肃对待它了。 事实上，有些智力竞赛是尽可能做得荒谬。有些节目送一些陌生人一起去旅游，或让那些新婚夫 妇在电视上打架，或者用羞辱来惩罚那些失败者。现在的娱乐是看人们怎样做才能上电视。人们仍在贏钱，但真正的奖励是熊在数百万的观众面前亮相。