BBC 6 Minute English | THE FAME GAME | English Subtitle

source: Daily Listening    2016年9月4日
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BBC 6 Minute English | THE FAME GAME | English Subtitle

0:12 Thank you!
0:19 Thank you sound effects!
0:21 Thank you, Neil!
0:22 Is this all for me?
0:23 I feel like quite a celebrity!
0:25 Yes, a celebrity – someone famous - particularly someone in show business, that's the world
0:32 of entertainment, theatre and film.
0:35 Today we're talking about fame, and teaching you some related vocabulary.
0:40 Yes.
0:41 Some celebrities are famous for their talent, which means by their ability to do something
0:46 well, like singing, acting or telling jokes …
0:50 And others are famous for… well, for being famous or being associated with someone who
0:57 is.
0:58 The names Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian come to mind: wealthy women with their own
1:02 TV shows.
1:04 But, talking about celebrity, let me ask you a question.
1:07 Actually Neil, only if you play that lovely applause again.
1:11 Go on Neil!
1:12 I knew you would love this.
1:14 Right.
1:15 Here it goes.
1:17 Yes!
1:20 Anyway, Neil...
1:25 I can give you my autograph later…
1:27 You mean signature?
1:29 An autograph is the signature of a famous person, Finn.
1:33 Fans collect these and things like photographs.
1:35 Yes, we call things like those memorabilia.
1:39 For example, Michael Jackson's leather glove with shiny crystals - it became very famous
1:45 in the 1980s when he presented his moonwalk to the world.
1:49 How much was it sold for at auction in 2009?
1:53 Was it: a) US$ 150,000
1:57 b) US$ 250,000 or c) US$ 350,000
2:03 I think Michael Jackson has some big fans in the world so I'll say c) US$ 350,000.
2:11 Okay.
2:12 I'll give you the answer at the end of the programme.
2:15 So the idea of celebrity seems very modern in some ways – does it have a long history?
2:21 Well, Lord Byron, a very famous English poet born in 1788, is considered by some experts
2:29 to be the world's first modern-style celebrity.
2:32 Let's hear Dr Corin Throsby, English Literature researcher at Cambridge University.
2:38 Why was Byron a celebrity?
2:41 Listen out for the noun she uses in the first sentence meaning a product, or something for
2:46 sale.
2:47 If we think of celebrity as the moment where someone's personality becomes a commodity.
2:54 So, for Byron the fact that he was popular on this scale that had never been achieved
2:59 before because his career had coincided with mass printing.
3:03 But something more than that, that there was a sort of a secondary industry of Byron stuff,
3:09 you know, that there were Byron neck ties, people wanted to look like Byron.
3:14 There was this mass of people that loved him.
3:18 He could no longer control his image.
3:20 I think that's what separates celebrity from the fame that had preceded that.
3:26 So the noun was 'a commodity'.
3:30 She said that when someone's personality becomes a product, that's when they turn into a celebrity.
3:37 She talked of fame so big you can't control your own image – that's your reputation,
3:43 the way other people think about you and imagine you.
3:46 Someone interesting in this respect is Justin Bieber.
3:49 Yeah.
3:50 Are you a fan, Neil?
3:51 I'm a massive fan of Justin Bieber.
3:53 I love him.
3:54 I believe you.
3:55 He's a big name and he's always in the newspapers.
3:58 His fans are called 'Beliebers'… and Byron's fans were called 'Byron maniacs'.
4:05 That's the name his wife gave his adoring fans.
4:08 Though she wasn't too happy about them.
4:11 Yes.
4:12 Byron's life was full of scandals, actions which cause shock and disapproval among people.
4:18 And for Byron it was mainly his love life.
4:21 He had affairs with men and women.
4:24 For Justin Bieber it's about his behaviour.
4:27 He was accused of driving after drinking alcohol, and of vandalism.
4:32 Vandalism means causing damage to property.
4:35 Poor Justin Bieber!
4:37 Though he's very popular - his career started when he was in his early teens and I think
4:43 it must have been difficult growing up with this global fame.
4:47 Still, I wonder how much his autograph is worth in the current market…
4:52 Well,I don't know about Justin Bieber's autograph but I do know about Michael Jackson's shiny
4:58 glove.
4:59 It became iconic in the 1980s, but how much was it sold for?
5:03 Was it US$ 150,000; US$ 250,000 or c) US$ 350,000?
5:10 I said c) US$ 350,000.
5:14 And you were right.
5:15 Wow!
5:16 That's rare.
5:17 Did you buy it?
5:18 It wasn't me.
5:19 No.
5:20 Well, our time's up but let's remember the words we heard from today.
5:24 Finn.
5:25 We heard: celebrity
5:27 show business talent
5:30 autograph, memorabilia
5:33 commodity, image
5:35 scandal, vandalism
5:38 That's it for today.
5:40 Please join us again soon for 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.