The Oscars'influence has waned

江蘇河海大學 鮑樹銀

海詞積累

1.sneer（Para.1）v.嘲笑；譏諷

Shesneeredat Tom's musical tastes.

她嘲笑湯姆的音樂品位。

2.saccharine（Para.1）adj.故作多情的

I hated the movie'ssaccharineending.

我討厭這部影片煽情的結尾。

3.chauffeur（Para.1）n.（受雇為他人開車的）司機

He employs two house maids and achauffeur.

他雇用了兩個保姆和一個司機。

4.beholder（Para.2）n.觀看者

Beauty is in the eye of thebeholder.

美是個人的主觀感受。

5.spotty（Para.3）adj.（質量）有好有壞的；參差不齊的

His attendance record wasspotty.

他的出勤記錄時好時差。

6.bias（Para.3）n.偏見；偏好

She showed abiastowards science at an early age.

她在少年時就顯示出對科學的偏愛。

7.proxy（Para.3）n.代替物；指標

The number of patients on a doctor's list was seen as a goodproxyfor assessing how hard they work.

醫生的病人數被看作是衡量他們工作努力程度的可靠指標。

8.tally（Para.3）n.記錄

They do not keep atallyof visitors to the palace,but it is very popular.

他們沒有對來宮殿的游客做一個記錄，不過這個地方非常受歡迎。

9.nominee（Para.4）n.被提名人

Hisnomineefor vice president was elected only after a second ballot.

他提名的副總統在第二輪投票后才當選。

10.statistical（Para.4）adj.統計的;統計學的

The report contains a great deal ofstatisticalinformation.

該報告包含大量統計資料。

11.advent（Para.5）n.出現

Theadventof the computer has brought this sort of task within the bounds of possibility.

電腦的出現使這種任務在可能的范圍內。

12.sequel（Para.5）n.（書、電影、戲劇等的）續集；續篇

She is currently writing asequelto Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.

她目前正在寫達夫妮·杜穆里埃的《蝴蝶夢》續集。

13.snub（Para.5）v.冷落；怠慢；對……不予理睬

the boys who hadsnubbedher in high school

在中學里曾經冷落她的那些男孩

Green Book? Criticssneeredwhen Academy Award voters named thissaccharinetale of a friendship between a black pianist and his white,tough-guychauffeurthe Best Picture of 2018.Yet rather than being a rare injustice,the award reinforced（強化）a trend.The top Oscar has increasingly gone to films that are soon forgotten.

A film's quality is in the eye of thebeholder. Its influence,however, can be measured more objectively.IMDb,a crowdsourced onlinedatabase,containsalistof references to every film in subsequent（隨后的）films and TV shows.For example,Casablanca has over 1,600 references, including a discussion in When Harry Met Sally and a poster in True Romance.

The data arespotty:Films from the 1980s get four times as many references as those from the 1940s.However,the samebiasis likely to apply to all films made in a given year.So a roughproxyfor a movie's cultural influence is to count how many times it was referred to in subsequent years,and then compare itstallywith those of all other films made in the same year.

Decades ago,Best Picturenomineeswere regularly among the most influential films.Fully 68%of references to films made in 1939 are to Gone with the Wind (a winner)and The Wizard of Oz (nominated).Astatisticalmodel shows that in the 1950s,Best Picture winners had a 20%chance of being the most-referred-to film.

①That changed with theadventof Star Wars,summer blockbusters（非常成功的書或電影）andsequels.②Since the 1970s the films most referred to have been commercialflicks.③Oscar voters usually reject such movies;the ones they do like have become commercially less successful,and thus less culturallyrelevant.④Best Picture winners today just have a 2%chance of leading the references table.⑤BysnubbingBlack Panther(which already has 151 references)and the art film Roma,this year's voters scoffed（譏諷）at both cultural influence and critical acclaim.

——From The Economist

文本探究

本文是一篇議論文。奧斯卡獎的投票者將《綠皮書》這部講述黑人鋼琴家和他的白人硬漢司機之間友誼的故事評選為了2018年最佳影片。現在奧斯卡投票者對文化影響力和評論界的好評嗤之以鼻。奧斯卡最佳影片獎越來越多地被頒給了那些很快就被遺忘的影片。

探究視角1：篇章結構

篇章結構梳理：

Structure Paragraph（s） Main idea（s）Introduction Para.1 The top Oscar has increasingly gone to films that are soon forgotten.●A rough proxy for a movie's cultural influence is to count how many times it was referred to in subsequent years,and then compare its tally with those of all other films made in the same year.●Decades ago,Best Picture nominees were regularly among the most influential films.Conclusion Para.5 This year's voters scoffed at both cultural influence and critical acclaim.Background Para.2～4

典型段落段內結構分析：

Para.5

句子序號 句義概括 句間關系①② Since the 1970s the films most referred to have been commercial flicks.背景③ The ones Oscar voters do like have become commercially less successful,and thus less culturally relevant. 現象④ Best Picture winners today just have a 2%chance of leading the references table.總結⑤ This year's voters snub Black Panther and the art film Roma. 舉例段意概括：奧斯卡投票者對文化影響力和評論界的好評嗤之以鼻。

探究視角2：語言學習

詞匯拓展（熟詞生義）

1.flick

① n.輕打；輕彈

e.g.With a flick of the wrist,Frye sent the ball into the opposite court.

弗賴伊手腕一甩，把球送到了對方球場。

② n.電影

e.g.an action flick動作片

2.relevant

①adj.相關的；切題的

e.g.Relevant documents were presented in court.

法庭上出示了相關的文件。

②adj.有價值的；有意義的

e.g.Her novel is still relevant today.

她的小說今天仍有現實意義。

探究視角3：文化拓展

綠皮書

《綠皮書》是由彼得·法拉利執導，維果·莫特森、馬赫沙拉·阿里主演的劇情片，該片于2018年9月11日在多倫多國際電影節首映；2019年3月1日在中國內地上映。該片改編自真人真事，講述了意裔美國人保鏢托尼，他被聘用為世界上優秀的爵士鋼琴家唐開車。鋼琴家將從紐約開始舉辦巡回演奏，倆人之間開始了一段跨越種族、階層的友誼。《綠皮書》成功地刻畫了有色人種所面臨的那些困境，這不僅會發生在南部腹地，也會發生在像紐約市這種地方。

參考譯文

奧斯卡的影響力已經減弱

《綠皮書》？奧斯卡獎的投票者將這部講述黑人鋼琴家和他的白人硬漢司機之間友誼的故事評選為了2018年最佳影片。這部電影很煽情，影評人對它得獎很是冷嘲熱諷。然而，與其說這個獎是一種不太常見的不公正，不如說是為了強化一種趨勢。奧斯卡最佳影片獎越來越多地被頒給了那些很快就被遺忘的影片。

電影的質量取決于觀眾的主觀感受。但是，我們可以更客觀地衡量其影響。IMDb是一個資源密集型的在線數據庫，統計了每部電影在后續電影和電視節目中的引用次數。例如，《卡薩布蘭卡》被引用了超過1，600次，包括《當哈利遇見莎莉》中的一段討論和《真實羅曼史》中的一幅海報。

數據是參差不齊的：80年代的電影被引用的次數是40年代的四倍。但是，觀眾同樣的偏愛很可能適用于某一年的所有電影。因此，一部電影的文化影響力大致可以用以下方法來衡量：數一數它在隨后的幾年中被引用的次數，然后將其與同一年內的其他所有電影被引用的次數進行比較。

幾十年前，最佳影片提名通常是最有影響力的電影里面的一部。1939年出品的影片中68%都引用了《亂世佳人》（獲獎影片）和《綠野仙蹤》（提名影片）。一個統計模型顯示，在20世紀50年代，最佳影片獎得主有20%的可能成為被引用最多的電影。

隨著《星球大戰》、暑期大片和續集的上映，情況發生了變化。自20世紀70年代以來，被引用最多的電影都是商業電影。奧斯卡投票者通常不會選這類電影；他們真正喜歡的電影在商業上不太成功，因此在文化上也不那么重要。今年的最佳影片獎得主只有2%的可能成為被引用最多的電影。現在的投票者對《黑豹》（已被引用151次）和藝術電影《羅馬》不屑一顧，對文化影響力和評論界的好評嗤之以鼻。