英语文化随身带

2015-01-23Track10

疯狂英语·初中天地 2015年10期

关键词：随身带小狐德勒

Track 10

by Toby Charlton-Taylor

翻译：小狐

英语文化随身带

Take-Away English

Track 10

by Toby Charlton-Taylor

翻译：小狐

电台节目“英语文化随身带”文章短小精悍，内容包罗万象。将英语文化装进口袋里，利用闲散的时间随身翻阅，英语学习者可以在潜移默化中了解当代英语世界的生活和文化。

无论何时、无论何地，交易总是无处不在。大公司做大交易，小公司则做小买卖，而可交易的东西五花八门。不过，你有没有听说过把自己的名字拿来交易的？有一个小哥不断更换自己的名字为各种品牌做宣传，是不是很特别？

听力练习（本文为美式发音）：

本文会读两遍，第一遍为正常语速，第二遍为慢速英语。

STEP 1：合上杂志先听一遍（正常语速），理解文章大意。

STEP 2：听第二遍（慢速），在画线部分填上所缺单词或词组。

STEP 3：归纳文章重点，再用英语表达自己的看法。

重点词汇

Identity [aI'dentItI] n.身份

identify with 与……一致

original [ə'rIdʒInəl] adj.最初的，最早的

last name 姓

promote [prə'məʊt] v.宣传，推销

auction ['ɔːkʃən] n.拍卖

publicity [pʌb'lIsItI] n.宣传，推广，广告

application [æplI'keIʃən] n.应用程序

make a deal 达成交易

satellite ['sætəlaIt] n.卫星

in exchange for 作为……的交换

resident ['rezIdənt] n.（常与of连用）居民，住户

How 1._ is your name? For a lot of people, our names are part of our identity.It’s one of the frst things we learn as a child.We receive it 2._ our parents and we give it to our children.For some people, our name defnes us, but not for a man with a last name you probably have never heard before.

Meet Jason Surfrapp, previously known 3._ Jason Sadler.Jason says he never identified with the last name Sadler.4._ , Sadler wasn’t even his original last name.Throughout his childhood his last name changed a number of times as his mother got remarried.Jason took the last names of his father and later father fgures[人物], but he never felt they were part of his identity.One thing that does defne Jason is 5._.

In 2010, Jason started a business called iwearyourshirt.com.It was a simple business with a simple idea.He sold his body as a human billboard[广告牌].Every day, he would wear a different T-shirt promoting a different company.And every day he would take pictures and videos of himself and 6._them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.Jason did this until 2013 and turned his humble T-shirt idea into a million dollar business.

Jason didn’t stop at 7._ his body into a human billboard.He sold his name.In 2012, he held anauctionoffering to change his name for one year.The winner was headsets.com, which paid him $45,000.Jason was now Jason Headsetsdotcom.

Why would any company pay him to wear a T-shirt or change his name? They were all 8._business ideas that anyone could do, but Jason’s ideas were so original and so creative that he was on CNN and lots of other national news programs.Headsets.com said that they made $250,000 in extra sales from thepublicitythey got from Jason’s name change.The next year, Jason did it again and sold his name to a company that makes a 9._application.Jason Surfrapp was his new name.

Jason isn’t the only one to 10._ his name for money.In 2005, the city of Clark, Texas changed its name to Dish, Texas aftermaking a dealwith thesatelliteTV company Dish.In exchange forthe name change, all 201residentsof this small town receive free satellite TV.

How important are names to you? How would you feel if someone wanted to pay you to change your name or the name of your town?

你的名字有多重要？对于许多人来说，我们的名字就是我们身份的一部分。它是我们年幼时最先学到的东西之一。我们的名字得于父母，并传递给子孙。对于一些人来说，我们的名字定义了我们自己，但对于这个你可能从未听过其姓氏的人来说，事情并非如此。

来见见杰森·瑟夫拉普，一个曾经名叫杰森·赛德勒的人。杰森说，他从未与其姓氏赛德勒有过任何关联。实际上，甚至赛德勒都不是他原来的姓氏。在他的童年时期，由于其母亲频繁改嫁，他的姓氏也多次更换。杰森从他父亲及其后的继父们那里承袭了各种姓氏，但他从未感受到它们是他身份的一部分。而使杰森与众不同的则是他的创造力。

2010年，杰森开创了一门生意，名为iwearyourshirt.com。这是一项开始于一个单纯想法的简单生意。他出售自己的身体作为人形广告牌。每一天，他都会穿上一件不同的T恤，为不同的公司做推广宣传。而每一天，他都会为自己拍照录像，然后上传到脸谱网、推特和Youtube上。杰森一直做着这些工作，直到2013年将其不大的T恤创意变成了价值百万美元的大生意。

杰森并不止步于将身体变作广告牌上。他卖掉了他的姓氏。2012年，他举办了一场拍卖会，提供其姓氏一年的使用权。获胜者是Headsets.com，该网站为此支付了四万五千美元。杰森如今名为杰森· Headsetsdotcom。

为什么会有公司付钱给他穿T恤或是更改他的姓氏呢？这些是任何人都能够想到的简单商机，但杰森的想法是如此原始而且富有创造力，这让他登上了美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)和许多其他国家的新闻节目。Headsets.com表示，他们因杰森改换姓氏的广告宣传额外赚取了25万美元。第二年，杰森再次拍卖，并把他的姓氏卖给了一家做上网应用程序的公司。杰森·瑟夫拉普便成了他的新名字。

杰森并不是唯一一个为了赚钱而改名的。2005年，德克萨斯州的克拉克市在与卫星电视公司Dish达成交易后，改名为Dish市。作为改名的回报，这个小城所有的居民共201户人家都能免费收看卫星电视。