选自BBC 6 Minute English 重点描红，用于口语。
The business of eSports
Neil Now Sam, how would you define eSports?
Sam eSports? Well this is essentially competitive video gaming. Individuals and teams take part in competitions where they play video games.
Neil So just like me and my kids at the weekend?
Sam Well, no! eSports is enormous. Tens of thousands of people turn up to watch these events. The players are professional and get paid huge salaries – the best ones are millionaires.
Neil Well, maybe I’m not quite in that league yet! But the business of eSports is our topic for this programme. Before we press ‘play’ on the subject though, a question. Approximately how much was generated by eSports and video games in the last year? Was it…
a) $130 million?
b) $13 billion?
c) $130 billion?
What do you think then, Sam?
Sam I’m going to say $130 billion. It’s a huge amount, but I think it’s that successful at the moment.
Neil OK, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. Not so long ago the idea of making a living playing computer games would have seemed impossible. However, times have changed as technology has improved. eSports are even going to be included in the 2022 Asian Games. So it might not be long before they make an appearance at the Olympics. Gabriël Rau is a pro-eSportsman. He was interviewed for the BBC programme In Business. He thinks eSports are going to grow and grow, but does he think that’s a bad thing?
Gabriël Rau, pro-eSportsman It’s becoming more of a normal sports thing with this generation about to have children and moving forward I feel like it might even become a staple. Might become as normal as sports are right now. I don’t think it necessarily has to be a bad thing. It is time-consuming though, so I feel like, if you do want to introduce anybody, especially children, into video games, discipline is the way to go.
Neil So, is the growth of eSports a bad thing?
Sam Not, according to Gabriël. He thinks that people having children now have grown up with computer games and these are beginning to be seen in the same way as traditional sports. In fact, he thinks they will become a staple.
Neil And what does he mean by that?
Sam Something that is a staple is a basic element, something we expect. For example, in the UK we talk about potatoes being a staple food and football being a staple of the school curriculum.
Neil But he does mention a disadvantage, doesn’t he?
Sam Yes. He speaks quite quickly but he says that it is time-consuming. It eats up a lot of time!
Neil Oh yes, I know that from my own experience. I can start playing a game then find that many hours have passed and it’s the middle of the night.
Sam And that’s why Gabriël goes on to talk about the need for discipline. This is having strict controls and restrictions and importantly sticking to them. So, for example, if you say you are only going to play for an hour every day, you have to stop playing after an hour, even if you want to carry on. That’s discipline.
Neil And he makes the point that this is important if you are introducing children to video games. Not everyone involved in eSports wants to be a player. It’s now possible to study the business of eSports at university where you can learn how to manage eSports events. These are the thoughts of a student on one of those courses talking about her response to seeing a big eSports event.
Student of eSports studies When you look at the background of how it all comes together and the people that spend all that time getting into it, for me I would love to put something like that together, not so much to play it but to put that together and create that experience for other people and that was just my main aspiration really.
Neil So she doesn’t want to play, does she?
Sam No, she doesn’t. She seems more interested in putting together an event, which means setting up and managing an event for others to take part in. That, she said, was her aspiration, her ambition.
Neil Right, before we review the vocabulary, let’s have the answer to our quiz question. Approximately how much was generated by eSports and video games in the last year?
a) $130 million?
b) $13 billion?
c) $130 billion?
What did you say, Sam?
Sam I thought $130 billion.
Neil And, for once, you’re right so well done. The actual figure was approximately $137 billion, which was more than the music industry when you include music sales and concerts. Right on now to remind ourselves of some words and phrases from today’s programme.
Sam Yes, we’ve been looking at eSports, the world of competitive video gaming.
Neil We heard that it was becoming so normal that it might become a staple, an expected basic activity in the same way sports like football are.
Sam But be warned, playing video games is very time-consuming. It eats up a lot of time.
Neil So you need to have discipline. That means you need to have and keep to restrictions such as the length of time you play or the time of day you play. That is particularly important for children.
Sam If you organise an event, you can say that you put it together.
Neil And your ambition, your hope for the future is an aspiration.
Sam And my aspiration is to beat my high score on my favourite game, so are we done now?
Can death metal bring you joy?
Neil Rob, do you like metal?
Rob Er, that’s an odd question. I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, I use metal things every day – my toaster, my bike, the underground…
Neil No, no - not that kind of metal, this kind of metal.
[Death metal music]
Rob Oh, that kind of metal. The musical genre, the type of music…
Neil Yes, and in particular, death metal.
Rob That fast, loud, aggressive sounding, guitar-based music style?
Neil Yep, that’s the one.
Rob Nope. Not my cup of tea at all. What kind of person do you think I am?
Neil Well, that’s the point. The type of person who likes death metal may not be the kind of person you think they are. More on that shortly, but first, a quiz. The electric guitar is an essential element to death metal music. In which decade were the first electric guitars produced? Was it:
a) the 1920s
b) the 1930s, or
c) the 1940s?
Rob I think quite early, so I’m going to say the 1920s.
Neil Well, we’ll see if you’re right later in the programme. Does violent music give people violent thoughts? Recent research claims to have found the answer. This is how the topic was introduced on BBC News. What was the conclusion?
BBC News Presenter A psychological study of fans of death metal suggests that they are not desensitised to violence despite the genre’s association with growling, often graphically violent lyrics including depictions of cannibalism . Researchers found that the main response of fans to the music they love was joy, not violence. Adding that most are very nice people who wouldn’t dream of hurting anyone, let alone eating them.
Neil So what conclusion did the researchers come to?
Rob Well, they found that the response to the music was joy, not anger or violence. It made people happy.
Neil There was a fear that listening to music with violent lyrics, which means violent words, would make people desensitised to violence.
Rob If you are desensitised to something, you don’t see it as unusual or unacceptable, it doesn’t bother you.
Neil The newsreader also said that the lyrics of death metal include topics such as cannibalism, which is the practice of eating human flesh. Listening to someone singing about eating people apparently didn’t make them feel like snacking on their neighbours. Let’s hear the introduction again.
[BBC News Presenter Again]
Neil Professor Bill Thompson from Macquarie University in Sydney conducted this research. What does he say people don’t feel when listening to this kind of music?
Professor Bill Thompson
Most fans are not angry. Most are actually musically trained people who really get a lot of empowerment and aesthetic interest out of the music. They feel joyful. They feel transcendent, they feel empowered. But what they don’t feel is angry.
Neil What don’t people feel?
Rob They don’t feel angry! What they do feel is joyful, the adjective from joy. They feel happy. Something else they feel is empowered. This is a feeling of being in control of your life, that you can make and follow your own decisions.
Neil Music is certainly a powerful art form. Professor Thompson also said that fans have an aesthetic interest in it. This means that they appreciate it as an art form. Let’s hear Professor Thompson again.
[Professor Bill Thompson Again]
Neil
Time to review our vocabulary, but first, let’s have the answer to the quiz question. In which decade were the first electric guitars produced? Was it:
a) the 1920s
b) the 1930s
c) the 1940s
What did you think, Rob?
Rob I took a guess at the 1920s.
Neil Well electric guitars were early, but not quite that early, I’m afraid. The first ones were produced in the 1930s. So well done if, unlike Rob, you got that correct. Now, onto the vocabulary.
Rob Yes, we had a few words connected with music. We had genre for a style of music and also lyrics for the words of a song.
Neil Some of the lyrics of death metal songs are about eating people, which is called cannibalism.
Rob Cannibalism is a form of extreme violence and there was some concern that people exposed to such violent lyrics in songs might become desensitised to actual violence.
Neil This means that they would accept violence as normal and not be worried by it. However, the research showed that this doesn’t happen and fans actually feel joy, which is another way of saying happiness.
Rob The research also suggested that fans have an artistic appreciation of death metal, described as an aesthetic interest.
Neil The final word was for a feeling that fans might get after listening to the music, empowered.
Rob Someone who is empowered is in control of their own life and decisions.
Neil And I feel empowered to bring this edition of 6 Minute English to a close. We look forward to your company next time.