Take Away English-Reality TV 真实电视

Reality TV makes stars out of ordinary people

The latest fashion on British TV is Reality TV. Reality TV means that shows follow and film ordinary people in an artificial situation. This could be at work, or in some kind of competition.

One of the first and most popular Reality TV shows is Big Brother. In this show, 15 complete strangers have to live together in a house for 11 weeks. They are filmed 24 hours a day, and shown on television. Each week, the viewers vote to evict¹ one of the housemates. Finally, only one is left, and they win the prize money – 50 000 pounds!

The show was an instant hit, and runs in several countries. The housemates often become stars as a result of the show, and appear in national newspapers and on other shows.

Another very popular show is I’m a Celebrity² – Get Me Out Of Here! In this show, 10 celebrities³ are taken to the Australian jungle. They have to complete tasks each week, such as eating insects. The show is very expensive to make. The show cost 10 million pounds to make, but over 12 million people in Britain watched the finale.

Reality TV is also big business in the United States. American Idol⁴, which is similar to the Chinese Super Girl, is one example. In this show, thousands of would-be singers audition⁵ in front of a panel of three judges.

Part of the attraction is that many of the singers are not very good – in fact, some are awful! The judges do not have to be polite, and are in fact usually very rude to some of the contestants⁶.

As the show progresses, viewers vote for their favourite singers and the number of singers goes down until only one is left. As a prize, they receive a recording⁷ contract with a major record company.

Reality TV is coming to China, too. The hit US show, The Apprentice⁸, featured the tycoon⁹ and multi-millionaire Donald Trump¹⁰. In the new Chinese version, Wise Man Takes All, 16 would-be businessmen will present their ideas to the judges, and the best one will win 1 million Yuan to make their dream come true. Whatever happens, it seems Reality TV is here to stay.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
reality 现实；真实 viewers 观众 housemates 同居一屋的人 celebrities 名人 finale 最后一场；结局 audition 试唱；试演 tycoon 名人	strangers 陌生人 evict 驱逐；逐出 hit 成功；轰动一时 jungle 丛林 would-be 将要成为…的 awful 非常糟糕的；极坏的 multi-millionaire 亿万富翁

1 evict   

vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走

参考例句：

• The lessor can evict the lessee for failure to pay rent.出租人可驱逐不付租金的承租人。
• The government always says it's for the greater good when they evict farmers from their land.当政府把农民从他们的土地赶出去的时候，总是号称是为了更大众的利益。

2 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。

3 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

4 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

5 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

6 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

9 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。