Life is but a stream3.29
[1] Last year ZHAO XINLONG, aged 25, and his wife and baby boy moved from his parents’farm into a mid-rise apartment in town. It has been atoughadjustment.Luan County is arustbelt communityon thepolluted outskirtsofthe steel city of Tangshan in north-east China. Mr Zhao’s monthly income from driving a taxihas plummetedby morethan half in the past couple of years, and he has not found it easy to makefriends in his new abode.
adjustment[əˈdʒʌstmənt]
n.调解，调整; 调节器; 调解，调停; （赔偿损失的）清算;
[例句]Compensation could be made by adjustments totaxation
通过调整税收可以作出补偿。
rustbelt 铁锈地带; 衰退地区;
[例句]The great migration from the rustbelt that helpedfuel its growth has resumed.
曾经帮助这座城市实现发展的铁锈地带大迁徙又重新开始了。
outskirt ['aʊtˌskɜ:t]
n.市郊，郊区;
[例句]One day they went to a trip out of the city, intothe outskirt.
一天他们出了城，去了郊区，希望能解决问题，或至少来一次暂时的逃避。
plummet [ˈplʌmɪt]
vi.垂直落下; 骤然跌落; n. 铅锤; 坠子; 重压物;
[例句]In Tokyo share prices have plummeted for the sixthsuccessive day
东京股价已连续第6天猛跌。
abode [əˈbəʊd]
n.住所; 公寓; <古>（在某地的）暂住; 逗留;
vt. <古>预兆，预示;
v.容忍( abide的过去式和过去分词 ); 等候; 逗留; 停留;
[2] But when he gets online in the evening, he becomes a different person: Zhao Long’er,an entertainer. Using Kuaishou, a Chinese video-sharing and live-streaming app,he broadcasts to a live audience of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of fellowChinese every night.Taken together,theyadd upto more than100,000. Many of them are diaosi, people whomockingly identify themselves
as losersin dead-end jobs. Online he can relate to them, telling themstories,dirty jokes, whatever is on his mind.
Entertainer[ˌentəˈteɪnə(r)]
n.表演者，演艺人员; 款待者;
[例句]Some have called him the greatest entertainer ofthe twentieth century.
有人曾称他为20世纪最伟大的艺人。
broadcast [ˈbrɔ:dkɑ:st]
vt.广播; 播放; 使广为人知; 尤指用手播（种）;
vi.播放节目; 参加电台、电视节目的演出; 发送传递信号，传播;
n.广播; 电台、电视节目; 播放时间; 播种;
audience [ˈɔ:diəns]n. 观众; 听众; 读者; 接见;
fellow [ˈfeləʊ]
n.同伴; 男子; （大学的） 研究员; （某些学院或大学的）董事;
adj.同伴的; 同事的; 同类的; 同情况的;
vt.使…与另一个对等; 使…与另一个匹敌;
[例句]She discovered to her pleasure, a talent for makingher fellow guests laugh
她高兴地发现自己具备一种能把其他客人逗笑的才能。
mockingly ['mɒkɪŋlɪ]adv. 嘲弄地，取笑地;
[例句]'Do I shock you?'she said mockingly.
“我使你受惊了吧？”她嘲笑地说。
[3]Occasionallyadvertisers pay himsmall sumsto putcommercialsout over hisstream, including things like weight loss products and“gold”jewellery from Vietnam. Most of his followers are also fromnorth-east China. They chat with him online and sometimes give him digitalstickers representing things like a beer that fans buy online and can beconverted into cash. The individual amounts are usually small, but theyadd
up. Live-streaming his life earns Mr Zhao about $850 a month, twice as muchas his day job.
occasionally[əˈkeɪʒnəli] adv. 偶尔; 偶然; 有时候;
[例句]We all overindulge occasionally
我们偶尔都会放纵一下自己。
jewellery [ˈdʒu:əlri] n. 珍宝; 首饰，饰物; 等于jewelry;
converted [kən'vɜ:tɪd] adj. 更换信仰的，修改的;
v.（使） 转变( convert的过去式和过去分词 ); （使）转化; 皈依; 改变（信仰）;
[例句]He converted to Christianity that day.
Twinkle,twinkle, little stars
[4] The internet has amplified people’s interest in the world’s biggest stars, helping their fansfeel a little closer to them,thanks to social media. But it has also made it possible for anybody to becomea little star in their own corner of the universe,connecting intimately withsubsets of fans. In much of the rest of the world the most popular of these areteen idols on YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. Most people over25 wouldstruggletoname aYouTube star other than possiblyPew Die Pie,a Swedish gamer with a global following of more than 50m.
amplified['æmplɪfaɪ] v. 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 ); 增强; 详述;
[例句]'This is the police,' came the amplified voice fromthe helicopter.
“我们是警察，”直升机上传来扩音器中的声音。
subset [ˈsʌbset] n. 子集;
[例句]V'is a nonempty subset of V.
v'是v的一个非空子集。
Swedish ['swi:dɪʃ]
adj.瑞典的;n.瑞典语; （总称） 瑞典人;
[例句]Half of Swedish marriages end in divorce.
瑞典人的婚姻有一半以离婚告终。
[5] China’scrazefor personal live-streaming runs far deeper, into third-tier cities and remoterural areas where the internet is the one and only fun and cheap place to hangout. These personal broadcasts are not simply videos that fans watch, but moreinteractive experiences. The fans make requests, chat with their idols and givethem virtual gifts. Many of those watching aresmall-timelive-streamersthemselves. They are turning each other into mass entertainment.
virtual[ˈvɜ:tʃuəl]adj. 实质上的，事实上的; （计算机） 虚拟的; <物>有效的，虚像的; （粒子） 实际存在的;
[例句]Argentina came to a virtual standstill while thegame was being played
在比赛进行的时候，阿根廷全国几乎陷入了停顿状态。
[6] It is a big and growing business. China’s live-streaming industry more than doubled in size last year, with revenues of around $3bn, according to Credit Suisse, a bank. More than 100 companies now offer the service, providing the platform for performers in exchange fora hefty cut of their earnings (one, YY, is publicly listed on NASDAQ, with $269m in gross revenues from live-streaming in the third quarter of last year, a year-on-year rise of morethan 50%). That compares with box-office receipts for the Chinese film business, the world’s second-largest, of $7bn last year. Of the 710m people with internet connections in China, nearly half have
used livestreaming apps.
CreditSuisse
[词典] 瑞士信贷集团公司总部所在地：瑞士主要业务：银行;
hefty [ˈhefti]
adj.重的; 健壮的; 异常大的;
n.健壮的人;
[例句]She was quite a hefty woman
她是个身材高大的女子。
receipts [rɪ'si:ts]
n.收据; 收入; （企业、银行等） 收到的款，进款; 收到( receipt的名词复数); 收条;
[7] Manyin the audience are diaosi looking for free entertainment and sometimes asubstitute for romance. Women outnumber men as live-streamers, but most of the audiences are male. The government has imposed guidelines aimed mostly atthe seamier side of the business, like the erotic eating of bananas (now banned). Themost successful live-streamers tend to be attractive young singers of eithersex, who can sometimes muster millions of fans. The most popular of them earnmore than $1m a year, almost all of it from virtual gifts, but most of them arelucky to see a few hundred dollars a month, broadcasting anything from eatingmeals to visual pranks to warbling tunes requested by fans. Mr Zhao laments that toboosthis earnings, he has to tell more dirty jokes.
erotic[ɪˈrɒtɪk]adj. （引起） 性欲的，色情的;adv. 引起性欲地;
n.好色之徒;
[例句]It might sound like some kind of wild fantasy, but it wasn't an erotic experience at all.
这听起来可能像是异想天开，但是绝对不是什么性体验。
muster英[ˈmʌstə(r)]
n.集合; 集合的人群; 检阅; 花名册;
vt.集合; 召集; 集结（尤指部队）;
vt.聚集; （自他人处） 搜集某事物; 激发; 激起（支持、勇气等）;
[例句]He travelled around West Africa trying to mustersupport for his movement
他在西非四处奔走，为自己的运动争取支持。
warbler [ˈwɔ:blə(r)]n. 鸣鸟，用颤音歌唱的人;
[例句]Black-and-white North American wood warbler having an orange-and-black head and throat.
黑白相间的北美洲林莺，头部和喉部为橙色和黑色相间。
lament [ləˈment]
vt.悲叹; 悔恨; 痛惜; （为…）哀悼;
n.哀歌，挽歌; 悲恸，恸哭; 悲痛之情; 悼词;
[例句]Ken began to lament the death of his only son
肯开始对独子的死悲痛不已。
[8] Live-streaming emerged in China after the financial crisis of 2007-08, asinternet
companies with questionable business models looked for a way to survive. Six Rooms, or6.cn, may have been the first to offer live-streaming as a service for a mass audience. It was one of numerous YouTube-like video-sharing businesses (YouTube itself is blocked in China) burning money in 2008 and failed to secure a new round of funding. In desperation its CEO and co-founder, LiuYan, turned to live-streaming.
numerous[ˈnju:mərəs]
adj.数不清的; 很多的，许多的; 数量庞大的数量庞大的;
[例句]Sex crimes were just as numerous as they are today
当时性犯罪和现在一样多。
[9] In2007 Mercedes-Benz, a carmaker, had paid 300,000 yuan ($39,000) to his site tolive-stream an event, and his company had developed an inexpensive way to provide such a service on a wider scale to allow people to chat with each otherand exchange virtual gifts. That helped make personal broadcasting a socialgame which could be monetised in a way not replicated on major social platformsof the West. In China, as well as in South Korea and Japan, wherelive-streaming has also caught on, virtual items have long had anunderlying monetary value.
Monetise：货币化;
replicate [ˈreplɪkeɪt]
vt.复制，复写; 重复，反复; 折转; [生] 复制;
adj.复制的; 折叠的; [植] 折转的;
n.复制品; 八音阶间隔的反覆音;
[例句]He invited her to his laboratory to see if shecould replicate the experiment.
他邀请她到他的实验室看她能否复制该实验。
monetary [ˈmʌnɪtri]
adj.货币的，金钱的; 钱的（尤指一国的金融）; 金融的; 财政的，财政（上）的;
[例句]Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoidinflation
一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。
[10]Now that the business model has been proven, all the Chinese internet giants have entered the live-streaming business. Pioneers like YY and Six Rooms must compete with bigger social platforms like Tencent. Six Rooms was acquired by a Chinese entertainment conglomerate for close to $400m in 2015, but Mr Liu,44, remains the CEO. He has been using machine learning to work out what kindsof live-streamersinspirethe most devotion from fans and get the mostvirtual gifts, down to preferences for facial features, tone of voice andregional provenance. He plans tounveil an even more ambitious effortsoon: hired performers whose traits are determined, and perhaps enhanced, bymachine learning. At this rate, life onthe long tail of entertainment may start getting more difficult for rustbelt dreamers.
Conglomerate[kənˈglɒmərət]
n.砾岩; 联合大企业; 合成物; 组合物;
adj.成团的; 砾岩性的;
vt.使聚结; 使成团;
[例句]Fiat is Italy's largest industrial conglomerate.
菲亚特是意大利最大的产业集团。
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