By Sophie Zhang

陶曉 注

There is something very voyeuristic[1] about our society.

I wish I could spin[2] that into something positive, but I can’t. Unfortunately, we are the generation that takes a special, perhaps twisted pleasure in delving into other people’s private lives, thus giving birth to occupations such as paparazzi and gossip blogger.[3] Why is that we somewhere, embedded in our psyche,[4] is the tendency to wonder about celebrities, stars, and even our friends? Facebook and Twitter aren’t just ways of reconnecting with your long lost classmates.[5] Facebook, quite obviously, is about seeing what other people are doing, seeing who other people are dating, seeing what parties other people have gone to. Is this a normal fascination[6] or are we heading down a dangerous path?

Let’s examine the impact of our behavior. The easiest case would probably be a celebrity, so let’s take one of the most high profile[7] cases in recent history—Miss Britney Spears. Almost everyone on the planet knows who Britney Spears is—her one name status is evidence of her superstar standing. Britney. Instantly recognizable, just like MJ and Madonna and Cher.[8] The woman may not be the most talented vocal singer that we know of, but she is the very definition of “star.” After all, we aren’t particularly curious about Celine Dion’s[9] life, but Britney? We want to know everything. Britney going to the supermarket is news. Britney sitting on the beach is news. Britney drinking a Red Bull[10]? News. It’s a wonder she hadn’t cracked earlier.[11] We all remember her notorious breakdown in 2007. All of a sudden, she seemed to go nuts—infamously shaving off her long, beautiful locks for a crass bald head; attacking a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella; dating a paparazzo herself; donning bright pink wigs outside; sitting her son in the front seat of her car.[12] The list goes on and on. Suddenly, the world unanimously[13] went: what happened to Britney?

We’ll never know what really happened to her. But based on her gratuitous swearing, public tantrums, and snarling, Britney just didn’t care anymore.[14] She wanted the world to see what it had done to her. It had turned a beautiful, promising young girl into a disgusting, disheveled mess.[15] She was tired of constantly being hounded by others, working under immense pressure, constantly being under the spotlight.[16] For once in her life, she wanted to do whatever she want.

Now Britney seems to be fine—though we all know that she has lost her original fire and spark that initially launched her to superstardom.[17] In the documentary filmed after her breakdown, she stated that her life was worse than a prison. In prison, at least you know you will someday get out. In contrast, she can never escape the pressure and boundaries that the world has unknowingly imposed on her life. But it seems like we haven’t learned. We talk about human compassion and empathy, yet we continue to use these people as our puppets.[18] We scoff at superstars who use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate.[19] But we never stopped to wonder what they were self-medicating. We never stopped to realize that we were the ones causing them to spiral downwards[20]. We are at fault[21]. We, collectively, have ruined the lives of many individuals whose only fault was the desire to entertain the world. Stars who were blessed with good looks and maybe a smidge[22] of acting or singing talent. We have destroyed them.

Poor Michael Jackson. Poor Britney Spears. Poor Drew Barrymore[23]. Poor Lindsay Lohan[24]. We seem to think that it’s okay to punish them because they are rich and talented. The fact is, why should we punish anyone? We’re responsible for their success, so why are we making them suffer? Perhaps it’s jealousy that stems from[25] deep within. Perhaps it’s jealousy that makes our curiosity insatiable[26]. Either way, we have ruined them. And they will never recover.

And it looks like we will never learn. The rise of social media has not only invited us to the personal lives of celebrities, but also the personal lives of our friends and family. We’ve seen celebrities fall under the blinding spotlight we put them under. Now we have directed that spotlight to our loved ones. Society is already on the path of superficiality[27]. Someday, that superficiality will destroy us. We have become the generation of falling stars.

Vocabulary

1. voyeuristic: 喜歡窺探別人隱私的。

2. spin: 杜撰，編造。

3. 不幸的是，我們這代人喜歡探究他人的隱私生活，這種特別而又扭曲的喜好使得狗仔隊(duì)和流言蜚語(yǔ)博客一類的新職業(yè)應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。delve into: 探索；paparazzi: （paparazzo的復(fù)數(shù)）狗仔隊(duì)；gossip blogger: 流言蜚語(yǔ)博客。

4. embed: 把……嵌入，使深留腦中；psyche: 靈魂，心靈。

5. facebook: 臉譜網(wǎng)，知名社交網(wǎng)站；twitter: 推特網(wǎng)，著名社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)和微博客服務(wù)的網(wǎng)站。

6. fascination: 入迷，著迷。

7. high profile: 高調(diào)的，引人注目的，受媒體關(guān)注的。

8. MJ: 邁克爾?杰克遜，美國(guó)已逝流行音樂(lè)之王；Madonna: 麥當(dāng)娜，美國(guó)流行天后；Cher: 雪兒，美國(guó)女歌手、演員。

9. Celine Dion: 席琳?迪翁，加拿大流行女歌手，代表作有《我心永恒》（My Heart Will Go On）等。

10. Red Bull: 紅牛，全球著名的能量飲料品牌，1966年誕生于泰國(guó)，引入歐洲后開(kāi)始正式使用英文品牌“Red Bull”。

11. 如此壓力之下，她之前沒(méi)有垮掉真是個(gè)奇跡。crack: 垮掉，吃不消。

12. 突然之間，她似乎就變瘋了——剃掉她漂亮的長(zhǎng)發(fā)，剪了個(gè)光頭，此事吵得紛紛揚(yáng)揚(yáng)；拿一把雨傘打一個(gè)狗仔隊(duì)攝影師的車子；和狗仔約會(huì)；出門(mén)時(shí)戴著亮粉色的假發(fā)；還把兒子放在車子的前座上。go nuts: 發(fā)瘋；don: 戴上。

13. unanimously: 一致地。

14. gratuitous: 無(wú)理由的；tantrum: 發(fā)脾氣；snarl: 咆哮。

15. promising: 有前途的，有希望的；dishevel: 使蓬亂，使頭發(fā)凌亂，使衣服弄皺。

16. hound: 追逼，煩擾；immense: 極大的，巨大的；spotlight: 聚光燈，公眾關(guān)注中心。

17. 現(xiàn)在布蘭妮似乎情況還不錯(cuò)——盡管我們都看得出來(lái)昔日使得她迅速成為超級(jí)明星的激情和活力已不復(fù)存在。fire: 激情；spark: 生氣，活力。

18. compassion: 同情，憐憫；empathy: 同感，共鳴；puppet: 木偶，受人操縱的人。

19. scoff at: 嘲弄，譏笑；self-medicate: 自我藥療。

20. spiral: 螺旋式的上升或下降；spiral downwards: 此處意為“迅速墮落”。

21. at fault: 有過(guò)錯(cuò)，有責(zé)任。

22. smidge: 一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)（口語(yǔ)，亦作smidgeon, smidgen, smidgin）。

23. Drew Barrymore: 德魯?巴里摩爾，美國(guó)好萊塢演員，童星出身。太快成名令她備感壓力，11歲就開(kāi)始飲酒，12歲吸煙和吸食大麻，13歲開(kāi)始嘗試可卡因。

24. Lindsay Lohan: 林賽?羅韓，美國(guó)女演員，以其喜劇成名。年少成名的林賽?羅韓酗酒、吸毒、酒醉駕駛，負(fù)面新聞不斷。

25. stem from: 起源于，來(lái)自。

26. insatiable: 無(wú)法滿足的，貪得無(wú)厭的。

27. superficiality: 膚淺，淺薄。

（來(lái)源：英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)雜志 編輯：陳丹妮）