2007年VOA标准英语-British Reality TV Show Spawns Allegations of R

By Tom Rivers
London
17 January 2007

The producers of Celebrity¹ Big Brother, Britain's latest reality television show, are facing claims that they are allowing racial slurs² directed at one of the program's participants to be broadcast unchecked. For VOA News, Tom Rivers reports from London.

Thousands have e-mailed complaints to the broadcasting regulating body here calling the behavior depicted³ on the program, blatantly⁴ racist⁵.

Shilpa Shetty

As they see it, a number of the fellow competitors have been verbally abusing fellow participant Shilpa Shetty, a well-known Indian film actress.

Shetty is the only Asian on the show.

Over the past few days she has been brought to tears on a number of occasions by comments made by others contestants⁶ regarding her accent, her skin color and other remarks seen as derogatory.

The program runs for three weeks and over that time period the celebrities⁷ in the specially⁸ constructed house are constantly filmed. Each participant also carries a live microphone. Gradually, the contestants are voted off the show until the last one remaining is declared the winner.

The format⁹ has been around in Britain for a number of years, but this the first time that the broadcaster, Channel Four, has had to deal with claims of airing allegedly racist remarks.

Such is the sensitivity of the issue that Prime Minister Tony Blair was asked about it during his weekly parliamentary Question Time session on Wednesday.

"I have not seen the particular program in question and therefore cannot comment on it but of course I would agree entirely¹⁰ with the principle he has outlined which is that we should oppose racism¹¹ in all its forms," he said.

The question was raised by fellow Labor¹² Party parliamentarian Keith Vaz.

"I was pleased with what the prime minister said, but it is for the broadcaster to make sure that they intervene and prevent the broadcasting of prejudices to millions of people throughout this country," he said.

In addition to the public outcry in Britain, the issue has spilled over into India where a number of protests have been held.

On a trip to India, Gordon Brown - the man expected to succeed Mr. Blair as Britain's next prime minister - said the more than 10,000 complaints made so far by British people shows the depth of feeling that Britain is a country of fairness and tolerance¹³.

The behavior of the Big Brother participants will be closely monitored over the next few days. At this stage it is unclear if the program makers¹⁴ will have to intervene directly.

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 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

3 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

4 blatantly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• Safety guidelines had been blatantly ignored. 安全规章被公然置之不顾。
• They walked grandly through the lobby, blatantly arm in arm, pretending they were not defeated. 他们大大方方地穿过门厅，故意炫耀地挎着胳膊，假装他们没有被打败。

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

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 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

8 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

9 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

12 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。

13 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

14 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》