VOA慢速英语 2007 1215

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

 
Thousands of members of the Writers Guild¹ of America and their supporters march in Los Angeles last month

More than ten thousand film and television writers in the United States have been on strike since November fifth. Work has stopped on many TV shows and movies.

The international market for American entertainment means that Americans are not the only ones watching and waiting for a settlement.

This week, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced nominees² for its Golden Globe Awards next month. This is supposed to be an exciting time in Hollywood: the awards season, leading up to the Academy Awards in February.

But tensions are growing. The strike could continue into the New Year.

Talks broke down a week ago between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The writers now accuse the producers of violating federal labor³ law by breaking off the negotiations⁴. The producers rejected the charges.

The most recent negotiations ended last week when the producers refused to continue talks until the writers drop several demands. Among these is a proposal to include writers of reality shows and animated⁵ programs in their union.

But the main issue is this: Writers and producers have been unable to agree about payment for work that appears on the Internet. The download market for TV shows and movies is still small but expected to grow. No one knows exactly how much "old media" will move into new media.

Writers want a share of the profits. But producers say it is too early to know how much profit can be made on the Web, and how that money should be divided. Their proposals would need to renegotiated in the future.

TV shows are already competing for attention with Web sites and video games. Yet the strike could end up costing shows more fans. Without new material, programmers have to fill time with repeats and depend heavily on reality shows and game shows.

The first programs affected⁶ were late-night shows. Without writers to keep people laughing, the programs immediately went to repeats. But now, Daily Variety has reported that some late-night shows may be returning by early January -- with or without their writers.

After all, who wants old jokes from hosts like Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jon Stewart during a presidential campaign?

The dispute may become even more complex once movie and TV directors begin their own negotiations with the producers alliance. The current contract between the Directors Guild of America and production companies ends in June.

The directors decided⁷ this week to go forward with negotiations, but not until January. They say they want to give the writers and producers one last chance to return to talks. A writers strike in nineteen eighty-eight lasted twenty-two weeks.

An entertainment industry strike affects a lot of people. Think of all the names in the closing credits of shows and movies. In Los Angeles alone, film and television production creates an estimated thirty billion dollars in economic activity each year.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.

 

1 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

2 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。