首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
For a politician, appearing on a live television news programme can be gruelling, but at least the ground rules are fair. The in
For a politician, appearing on a live television news programme can be gruelling, but at least the ground rules are fair. The in
admin
2017-03-15
64
问题
For a politician, appearing on a live television news programme can be gruelling, but at least the ground rules are fair. The interviewer will pitch hard questions, but not ridiculous ones, and your replies will be broadcast in their entirety. Not so if you appear on "The Colbert Report", a satirical show on Comedy Central, a cable channel. The host, Stephen Colbert, typically spends two hours pitching questions such as: "If you could embalm anyone in Congress, who would it be?" (This was to Phil Hare, a Democratic congressman from Illinois who once considered becoming a mortician.) Mr. Colbert edits the footage down to the funniest five minutes and broadcasts it. Under these rules no politician, no matter how quick-witted, can win.
Which is why Rahm Emanuel, the House Democrats’ chief enforcer, recently advised newly-elected Democratic lawmakers to steer clear of the show. Mr. Colbert responded in his usual measured way. "There is a new witch hunt in Washington. First they went after Scooter Libby. Then it was attorney-general Alberto Gonzales. And now the Democratic leadership has unleashed a vicious attack on everything America holds dear: me." He went on: "I know what you’re thinking, nation. Why would Emmanuelle, whose erotic adventures taught a generation the elusive art of sensual love, return from space to counsel freshman congressmen?" And so on. Mr. Colbert ended the segment by offering Mr. Emanuel a replacement for the middle finger he lost in a meat-slicer as a teenager—poking out of a box, raised.
"The Colbert Report" is probably the most popular satire show among political junkies. Comedians with larger, less well-informed audiences, such as Jay Leno, have to keep their political quips short and focused on figures with flaws everyone knows—like Bill Clinton’s lechery or George Bush’s grammatical problems. Mr. Colbert faces no such constraints. His jokes are aimed at people who would never watch Bill O’Reilly’s conservative rant of a cable news show on Fox, but who recognise Mr. Colbert’s obnoxious on-screen persona as a parody of Mr. O’Reilly because they have read about Mr. O’Reilly in the New Yorker. The 1.2 million viewers Mr. Colbert attracts each night may be small by network standards, but they are young, educated and attractive to advertisers.
Politicians appear on "The Colbert Report" for the same reason that ordinary people agree to appear on reality shows: it may be undignified, but it gets you on television. For a big shot like Mr. Emanuel, who can attract a camera any time he wants, the indignity obviously outweighs the publicity. But for politicians no one has heard of, it may not. There are 435 members of the House of Representatives, and Mr. Colbert says he plans to interview them all, one by one, for a series of segments called "Better Know a District".
Some end up looking fools. Mr. Colbert floored Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican from Georgia who co-sponsored a bill to have the Ten Commandments displayed in the Capitol, simply by asking him to name the Ten Commandments. Viewers saw him recite three. His spokesman says he managed seven in all.
By contrast, most of the Democrats who appear on "The Colbert Report" end up looking like good sports. John Yarmuth of Kentucky was joshed into advocating tossing kittens into a wood-chipper: "sometimes the only thing that you can do, [if] you don’t have a shovel." Robert Wexler of Florida confessed to liking cocaine and prostitutes: "It’s a fun thing to do." Such spectacles may make Mr. Emanuel squirm, but viewers know it’s all a joke. Mr. Colbert extracted Mr. Wexler’s "confession" by pointing out that he was running unopposed for reelection and daring him to say something that might otherwise cause him to lose, by completing the sentence "I like cocaine because...".
Mr. Colbert is equally rude to all his guests. But because he is pretending to be a deranged right-winger, his questions about policy are much easier for liberals to parry. Last week he sparred with Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting Democratic representative for Washington, DC, about whether DC residents should be allowed the same voting rights as other Americans. To Ms. Holmes Norton, who is black, Mr. Colbert said: "Do we not have more important things to do than worry about whether all of our citizens get a vote?" Against such a foil, Ms. Holmes Norton could hardly help sounding reasonable.
Republicans, on the other hand, tend to be flummoxed when Mr. Colbert enthusiastically agrees with a point somewhat more extreme than the one they were making. Jack Kingston, a Republican from Georgia, complained about Democratic plans to make congressmen work a full five-day week in Washington. That would mean less time with their families, he told the Washington Post, but "Democrats could care less about families." Mr. Colbert suggested that the five days could include Sunday, thus keeping lawmakers out of church, too, because "Democrats hate God." "I hadn’t thought about that," said Mr. Kingston. "But that would kill two birds with one stone."
An odd thing about political satire in America is that it is directed nearly as much at the media as at politicians. Headlines in the Onion, a spoof newspaper ("[Clinton] feels nation’s pain, breasts"), would not be so funny if those in the New York Times were not so ponderous. Mr. Colbert’s show would make no sense if cable-news blowhards such as Mr. O’Reilly did not exist. The post-modernity of it all was illustrated when Mr. O’Reilly actually appeared on "The Colbert Report" and jokingly admitted that his aggressive on-screen persona was "all an act". Mr. Colbert replied: "If you’re an act, then what am I?"
What is the difference between Colbert’s show and those of others?
选项
A、Colbert’s audience are mainly well-educated people.
B、Colbert has an audience of 1.2 million, which outnumbers that of others’.
C、Colbert boldly points out Bill Clinton’s lechery or George Bush’s grammatical problems.
D、Colbert’s audience doesn’t take his show seriously.
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/F5SO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Socialcontrolreferstosocialprocesses,plannedorunplanned,bywhichpeoplearetaught,persuaded,orforcedtoconformto
Manystudentstodaydisplayadisturbingwillingnesstochooseinstitutionsandcareersonthebasisofearningpotential.
WhenFacebooksaiditwouldstartadatingserviceinColombiainSeptember,ErikaRamossignedup.Single,35,livinginBo
Thegrowthrateoftheregion’seconomyhas________thenationalaverageforsixyears.
Everyautumn,retailershirelargenumbersofseasonalworkerstohandletherushofholidaybusiness.Then,afterthenewyear
OtherEuropeansseizeforsuchexamplestojumptotheoppositeconclusion.
1986年全国人大常委会副委员长班禅喇嘛在西康地区大法会上教诲信徒们,要爱惜民族团结,维护祖国统一。在中国,公民的信仰自由受到法律保护。目前全西藏在寺僧尼约有14,000多人,另有800位宗教界人士在各级人大、政协、佛教协会和政府部门中工作。
ArecentstudybytheCenterforEconomicPolicyResearchsaysthat,inordertoeaseimbalances,theEuropeanUnionneedstoma
"Truth,efficiency,confidence."Underthisguidingtrinity,ManuelVallsmadehisinauguralspeechasprimeministeronApril
股票指数在2005年6月是998。昨天,股票指数达到5,960,创历史最高峰,股指比两年前升了六倍。关键词汇:stockexchangeindex:股票交易指数。这个句子的翻译难点是很多数据的记录,这个句子数字的记录只要能够记录准确,比如说要把998和
随机试题
传统的西方法律思想史研究存在“吃偏食”的现象,即研究的范围、题材的主次、对象的脉络等受制于英语学术谱系,这种单一的考察重心限制了研究者的视角。而实际上,在非英语学术谱系中存在大量有价值的材料。这要求研究者把目光投向先前不够重视的领域。比如“一带一路”建设参
Foreignersoftenfailtoappreciatetheformalcodeof【B1】______inFrance.TheFrenchshakehandswitheveryone(family,childre
26岁,女性,停经45天,突感下腹坠痛及肛门坠胀感,少量阴道流血及头晕呕吐半天。体格检查:面色苍白,BP80/40mmHg,腹肌略紧张,下腹压痛。妇科检查:阴道少量血性物,宫颈举痛(+),后穹隆饱满,子宫稍大,附件区触诊不满意。本例最可能的诊
《中华人民共和国民法通则》第6条规定:“民事活动必须遵守法律,法律没有规定的,应当遵守国家政策。”从法官裁判的角度看,下列哪一说法符合条文规定的内容?(2012年卷一第10题)
施工风险管理中,风险评估的工作有()。
计算机的移动硬件设备包括()。
根据所给资料,回答下列问题。2014年,全国粮食播种面积112738.3千公顷,比2013年增加782.7千公顷。其中谷物播种面积94622.8千公顷,比2013年增加854.1千公顷,增长0.9%。全国粮食总产量60709.9万吨,比
一、注意事项1.申论考试是对考生阅读理解能力、综合分析能力、提出和解决问题能力以及文字表达能力的测试。2.作答参考时限:阅读资料40分钟,作答110分钟。3.仔细阅读给定的资料,按照后面提出的“申论要求”依次作答。二、给定资料
Earthquakesurvivorstrappedinrubblecouldonedaybesavedbyanunlikelyrescuer:Aroboticcaterpillarthatburrowsitsway
Themovementofthesuncreatesperiodsof________.
最新回复
(
0
)