2006年VOA标准英语-Celebrity Website Raises Privacy, Safety C

By Jim Bertel
Washington, DC
11 April 2006
 
watch Celebrity¹ Tracker report

A celebrity website is providing more than gossip on Hollywood's biggest stars -- it is tracking their every move. Many fans say they love it, but some of the stars being tracked believe it invades their privacy and is downright dangerous. 

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Gawker.com,  Celebrity Tracker Website   
  

Celebrities² are big business in the United States. Magazines, television shows, and websites are devoted³ to the latest celebrity news.  But one celebrity website, Gawker.com, is trying to be different from the rest by delivering more than just gossip, it is offering real-time tracking of some of entertainment's biggest stars.

Here's how works: If fans see a celebrity in public, they e-mail that tip to the website. Within 20 minutes, that sighting is posted online complete with a map pinpointing⁴ that star's location.

Jesse Oxfeld  
  
The site's Editor, Jesse Oxfeld, says the "Gawker Stalker" service is just harmless entertainment. "The vast majority of what we do is to entertain our audience to keep people coming back and reading."

But critics argue this is not entertainment, but a threat to the Hollywood stars' right to privacy. 

 
Brad Ziefman
  
Entertainment agent Brad Ziefman sees an even more ominous⁵ threat.

"It opens up channels for fans to find their favorite celebrity and stalk them. It puts them in harm's way; it crosses the lines between public and private."

Britney Spears   
  
Even before this website was created, a number of celebrities, including singer Britney Spears, have been forced to take legal action to keep aggressive fans from getting too close.

In rare cases these celebrity obsessions⁶ can turn deadly. One of the most famous cases occurred in 1980 when a deranged⁷ fan murdered rock star John Lennon in New York City. 

Gawker.com's Oxfeld says celebrities' safety concerns are overblown. "I do not think it is a threat to celebrities I think it is people gossiping in a fun and entertaining way."

Oscar winning actor George Clooney is among the Hollywood stars fighting back. He and his friends have inundated⁸ Gawker.com with false sightings believing that doing so will make the site virtually "worthless."

Stan Rosenfeld   
  
Clooney's publicist Stan Rosenfeld supports this effort. "My concern is not for the multitude of fans that want to wish you good luck. My concern is providing information to stalkers."

Fans of the site argue this is simply the price of fame and if the stars do not like it, they can always walk away. 

1 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。

2 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

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 pinpointing   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的现在分词 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The difficulty of pinpointing primitive and derived characters remains. 要正确地指出原始性状和次生性状仍然感到困难。
• Pinpointing the true source of power in Japan is a notoriously slippery task. 要准确指出日本真正的权力来源，是一项非常困难的任务。

5 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

6 obsessions   

n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰

参考例句：

• 95% of patients know their obsessions are irrational. 95％的病人都知道他们的痴迷是不理智的。 来自辞典例句
• Too often you get caught in your own obsessions. 所以你时常会沉迷在某个电影里。 来自互联网

7 deranged   

adj.疯狂的

参考例句：

• Traffic was stopped by a deranged man shouting at the sky.一名狂叫的疯子阻塞了交通。
• A deranged man shot and killed 14 people.一个精神失常的男子开枪打死了14人。

8 inundated   

v.淹没( inundate的过去式和过去分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• We have been inundated with offers of help. 主动援助多得使我们应接不暇。
• We have been inundated with every bit of information imaginable. 凡是想得到的各种各样的信息潮水般地向我们涌来。 来自《简明英汉词典》