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为什么《Prison Break》、《America’s Next Top Model》、《The Apprentice》等美国电视节目近年在中国突然刮起了一阵旋风？身为美剧狂热分子之一的CE特约组稿人王源，怀着无比兴趣，就此采访了美国广播公司(ABC)前副总裁哈维·佐丁(Harvey C. Dzodin)先生。
Interviewer: I want to talk about American TV drama mania in China.
Harvey: OK.
Interviewer: Chinese are really crazy about all those TV dramas.
Harvey: OK.
Interviewer: Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, (Un huh.) and like that. (Un huh.) Do you ever think about why – in China, the culture is so different from the American/Western style – why Chinese like the American TV drama so crazily?
美剧太 sexy
Harvey: Well, it’s interesting because programs like Desperate Housewives (Un huh) are not available on television, only by DVDs and stuff, right? (Uhm hmm) Because the government thinks that it’s too sexy or whatever their 2)objection is, so people still know.
Interviewer: Do you think it’s too sexy?
Harvey: Well, you know, if it’s on television and it was scheduled later at night, like ten o’clock at night or so, when children aren’t watching, then you could make an argument that it’s OK. But if you buy DVDs and you don’t 3)supervise young people, very young people, then it may be a little bit 4)problematic. So, it depends on who the audience is. If it’s teenagers, maybe it’s a little sexy. If it’s adults, OK, adults can deal with it better and they can judge the conduct or the actions better and the 5)morality better.
中国电视太 6)mediocre
Harvey: But why do I think that these programs are popular? One – you won’t like this, but – I think Chinese television is pretty mediocre …(Ahh) and it’s very like a 7)formulaic, it’s like a formula, it looks like … the programs look like they’re put together by a 8)committee. There’s very little 9)experimentation and it’s just, to me, when you’re dealing with entertainment, it’s just a few main categories; traditional Chinese historic dramas, then you have like the quiz shows, entertainment shows with the big studio audience, you know, stuff like that. So, there’s not that much innovation.
美国成熟的文化传播机制
Harvey: And I think that American programs are expensively produced; they’re done very well; they’re tested with an American audience to see how they’ll do and 10)fine-tuned, and so I think that these are quite good shows. They’re carefully crafted by 11)artisans, by arts people, by professionals, and 12)there’s the freedom of expression to experiment and to succeed or fail. I mean I’ve spoken to people on Chinese TV and asked them, “Well, how big is your audience?” And they say, “Oh we have no idea.” Or I’ve asked them, “How do you decide if you are gonna renew a program or not?” and they tell me, “Well, we have a committee and the committee decides.” In America, 13)while it’s not a hundred percent true, it’s generally true that we have a committee too, and the committee is the audience. So, if the audience watches the program, then advertisers buy the time and then the program is successful and continues. And so I think this is a very good model for television. It’s a marketplace model for television. This is one reason.
Another reason is that, in a way, America[ns] are cultural14)imperialists. We’ve been promoting American culture for a long time and we can do it very well. And so it’s not only popular in China, it’s popular in many, many countries. These programs are popular almost universally.
中国社会经济的提升
Harvey: Another thing, as well, is that Chinese people are15)upwardly mobile economically and they’re looking more at 16)luxury goods and looking at 17)emulating the more developed societies. Even though China has a long way to go economically, it’s come such a long way. So I think those are some of the reasons.
后记：Harvey Dzodin先生最后打趣说很羡慕大家会中英双语，而他只会英文；他还鼓励各位英语学习者有机会多出去走走，美国人民对中国的情况也很关注。
我们学习英语，是为了能够交流，不单只是把外面的资讯吸收进来，还要让世界认识中国。
（Harvey Dzodin先生这篇访谈不难理解，但你有信心把它正确翻译出来吗？来接受P126译文擂台的挑战吧！）
Interviewer: I want to talk about American TV drama mania in China.
Harvey: OK.
Interviewer: Chinese are really crazy about all those TV dramas.
Harvey: OK.
Interviewer: Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, (Un huh.) and like that. (Un huh.) Do you ever think about why – in China, the culture is so different from the American/Western style – why Chinese like the American TV drama so crazily?
美剧太 sexy
Harvey: Well, it’s interesting because programs like Desperate Housewives (Un huh) are not available on television, only by DVDs and stuff, right? (Uhm hmm) Because the government thinks that it’s too sexy or whatever their 2)objection is, so people still know.
Interviewer: Do you think it’s too sexy?
Harvey: Well, you know, if it’s on television and it was scheduled later at night, like ten o’clock at night or so, when children aren’t watching, then you could make an argument that it’s OK. But if you buy DVDs and you don’t 3)supervise young people, very young people, then it may be a little bit 4)problematic. So, it depends on who the audience is. If it’s teenagers, maybe it’s a little sexy. If it’s adults, OK, adults can deal with it better and they can judge the conduct or the actions better and the 5)morality better.
中国电视太 6)mediocre
Harvey: But why do I think that these programs are popular? One – you won’t like this, but – I think Chinese television is pretty mediocre …(Ahh) and it’s very like a 7)formulaic, it’s like a formula, it looks like … the programs look like they’re put together by a 8)committee. There’s very little 9)experimentation and it’s just, to me, when you’re dealing with entertainment, it’s just a few main categories; traditional Chinese historic dramas, then you have like the quiz shows, entertainment shows with the big studio audience, you know, stuff like that. So, there’s not that much innovation.
美国成熟的文化传播机制
Harvey: And I think that American programs are expensively produced; they’re done very well; they’re tested with an American audience to see how they’ll do and 10)fine-tuned, and so I think that these are quite good shows. They’re carefully crafted by 11)artisans, by arts people, by professionals, and 12)there’s the freedom of expression to experiment and to succeed or fail. I mean I’ve spoken to people on Chinese TV and asked them, “Well, how big is your audience?” And they say, “Oh we have no idea.” Or I’ve asked them, “How do you decide if you are gonna renew a program or not?” and they tell me, “Well, we have a committee and the committee decides.” In America, 13)while it’s not a hundred percent true, it’s generally true that we have a committee too, and the committee is the audience. So, if the audience watches the program, then advertisers buy the time and then the program is successful and continues. And so I think this is a very good model for television. It’s a marketplace model for television. This is one reason.
Another reason is that, in a way, America[ns] are cultural14)imperialists. We’ve been promoting American culture for a long time and we can do it very well. And so it’s not only popular in China, it’s popular in many, many countries. These programs are popular almost universally.
中国社会经济的提升
Harvey: Another thing, as well, is that Chinese people are15)upwardly mobile economically and they’re looking more at 16)luxury goods and looking at 17)emulating the more developed societies. Even though China has a long way to go economically, it’s come such a long way. So I think those are some of the reasons.
后记：Harvey Dzodin先生最后打趣说很羡慕大家会中英双语，而他只会英文；他还鼓励各位英语学习者有机会多出去走走，美国人民对中国的情况也很关注。
我们学习英语，是为了能够交流，不单只是把外面的资讯吸收进来，还要让世界认识中国。
（Harvey Dzodin先生这篇访谈不难理解，但你有信心把它正确翻译出来吗？来接受P126译文擂台的挑战吧！）