香港高考 · 英语阅读翻译 2025 DSE - Part A

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Celebrity Gossip

名人八卦

[1] It’s 2023 and Joe Jonas has filed for divorce from Sophie Turner after four years of marriage. Other personalities, including Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn, Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez, as well as Hugh Jackman and Deborra Lee all split up. In fact, so many high-profile pairs have called it quits that some people have deemed 2023 ‘The Year of Celebrity Breakups.’

2023年，乔・乔纳斯与苏菲・特纳在结婚四年后申请离婚。其他名人情侣，包括泰勒・斯威夫特与乔・阿尔文、爱莉安娜・格兰德与达尔顿・戈麦斯，以及休・杰克曼与黛博拉・李，也都宣告分手。事实上，公开知名的情侣分道扬镳的数量极多，因此有人把 2023 年称作 “名人分手之年”。

[2] Logically speaking, we shouldn’t be interested in this kind of scandalous speculation, this celebrity gossip. The inner lives of celebrities have next to nothing to do with us, after all: we’re unlikely ever to meet them, and their romantic relationships have no bearing on how our own lives unravel, down here in the ‘real’ world. “And yet we are interested, even if we’re reluctant to admit it,” says Dr. Alice Leppert, a media and communications professor who focuses on stardom and celebrity culture.

按道理来说，我们本不该对这类捕风捉影的绯闻、名人八卦感兴趣。名人的私生活和我们几乎毫无关系，毕竟：我们大概率不会和他们碰面，他们的感情纠葛，也不会影响我们在 “现实世界” 里的人生走向。“可是，我们确实会感兴趣，哪怕不愿承认。” 专攻明星现象与名人文化的传媒学教授爱丽丝・莱珀特博士说。

[3] These public figures represent a lot of our highest goals, declares clinical psychologist and breakup coach Dr. Andrea Liner. They tend to be attractive, wealthy, and considered successful, which many people assume makes them invulnerable to a lot of life’s problems. “So, when we find out that beautiful, gorgeous, wealthy celebrities are getting cheated on or divorcing or breaking up, it kind of humanizes them and can be validating for us to see that they have problems, too,” she says. “But it can also confuse us because we think that they shouldn’t be having problems like that if they’ve achieved these levels of success. Part of the problem is that celebrities may often perform an image or identity that doesn’t always align with their authentic selves,” she adds. Their marital problems can come as a shock if all the public saw was a happy family. Liner says that’s especially true because celebrities share so much of their lives online, creating an “almost artificial sense of intimacy” that obscures what’s happening behind the scenes.

临床心理学家、情感辅导顾问安德里亚・莱纳博士提出：这些公众人物，承载了很多我们心中最向往的人生目标。他们通常外形亮眼、家境优渥、被视作人生赢家，很多人会以为他们不会遭遇普通人的种种困境。“所以当我们发现，这些光鲜亮丽、家财丰厚的名人，也会遭遇出轨、离婚或分手时，这会让他们回归普通人的模样；同时也会让我们感到慰藉 —— 原来他们同样会遇到麻烦。” 她解释道。“但这也会带来认知困惑：我们会默认，如果他们已经取得如此成就，就不该遇到这类烦恼。其中一个原因是，名人常常会塑造一种荧幕形象，这个形象未必贴合真实的自己。” 她补充。如果公众看到的一直是美满家庭的样子，爆出婚姻危机时，大家就会十分震惊。莱纳称，这点尤其明显：名人在网上分享大量日常，营造出一种 “近乎虚假的亲密感”，掩盖了幕后的真实状况。

[4] Gossip is so central to our cultural psyche that the American Psychological Association (APA) has its own definition. According to the APA, gossip consists of personal talk or communication about information that’s often not proven to be true, and it may be (but is not necessarily) scandalous in content or malicious in intention. Gossip impacts group bonding and has big implications for the transmission and reinforcement of cultural norms, too.

八卦在大众文化心理中占有重要地位，美国心理学会（APA）甚至专门为它下了定义。根据该学会的解释：八卦指针对私人信息的谈论与交流，这些信息往往未经证实；内容可能涉及绯闻，也可能带有恶意（但并非必然如此）。八卦会影响群体联结，对文化规范的传播与巩固，也有重要作用。

[5] But why? What purpose does gossip serve? What function is it fulfilling in our society? Put simply, why do we care?

但原因何在？八卦有什么作用？它在社会中承担着怎样的功能？简单来说：我们为什么会在意？

[6] “There are some people who try to classify gossip as negative or critical discussion about other people, but really, gossip is just sharing social information with each other,” says author and professor of psychology Dr. David Ludden. “Anytime you’re talking about people who aren’t present, it’s gossip,” he says. “We’re social animals and we need to be able to know what’s going on in social environments, so gossip is very helpful,” says Ludden, who studies the psychology of language and how it is shaped and is shaped by our social world. “Basically, gossip can help you go into social encounters more prepared for what’s coming. “I don’t have to have an encounter with someone directly to have some idea what they’re like, because other people are telling me about their encounters with them,” says Ludden.

心理学学者、作家大卫・勒登博士说：“有些人会把八卦定义为带有负面或批判色彩的议论，但说到底，八卦只是人与人之间交换社交信息。”“只要你在议论不在场的人，这就是八卦。” 他解释。勒登研究语言心理学，以及语言和社会环境之间的相互影响，他提出：“人类是社会性动物，我们需要掌握社交环境里发生的事，而八卦在这方面十分有用。简单讲，八卦可以帮你在社交前做好准备。我不必亲自接触某人，就能大致了解对方，因为其他人会分享他们和这个人打交道的经历。”

[7] It can also be a way to build relationships: “Sharing gossip can bond people socially,” says Dr. Stephen Benning from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Benning published a study in 2019 which found that gossip provides a currency of private information that creates a shared sense of the community holding that information. So, gossip is particularly compelling for people who are seeking to connect with others.

八卦也可以用来建立人际关系。内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校的斯蒂芬・本宁博士说：“交换八卦，能拉近人与人之间的社交距离。” 本宁在2019年发表研究指出：八卦相当于一种 “私密信息通货”，知道这份消息的人，会形成社群共鸣。因此，对于渴望建立联结的人来说，八卦格外有吸引力。

[8] But it’s not all so innocent. Benning found that we’re also attracted to gossip for some other reasons: attacking people’s social standing and their position in social networks (what is called ‘negative influence’), merely elevating our own social status, or simply trying to be included in a social network that we previously weren’t. Similarly, Ludden says that “lots of the bad gossip is done in an attempt to make ourselves feel better than the person we’re talking about. That’s not a healthy approach to building a sense of self-esteem.”

但八卦并非全都单纯无害。本宁发现，人们热衷八卦还有别的动机：打击别人在社交网络中的声望与地位（即所谓 “负面影响力”），借此抬高自己的社会位置，或是单纯为了融入原本不属于自己的社交圈子。与之类似，勒登提出：“很多恶意八卦，是为了让自己相比被议论者产生优越感。靠这种方式建立自尊，并不健康。”

[9] Negative influence (talking badly about someone or trying to cut them down) was a clear motive for some people on certain occasions. Yet, the study found that this was actually the weakest motivation that led people to gossip. Gathering and validating information about the person being gossiped about was the strongest.

在某些情况下，“施加负面影响”（说人坏话、刻意贬低他人）确实是一部分人的动机。但研究发现，这其实是最弱的诱因；收集、核实被议论者的相关信息，才是催生八卦最主要的动力。

[10] There’s also some evidence suggesting that negative gossip can have a positive impact on social groups and promote cooperation (though perhaps not in the most altruistic way). In an article published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers found that when people communicated reputational information about others (the researchers’ definition of “gossiped”), others tended to interact with people who were portrayed as cooperative and ostracize those who were portrayed as selfish. As a result, those who were ostracized tended to change their behavior and act more cooperatively.

也有证据显示，负面八卦对社群可以产生正面作用、促进合作（尽管动机未必纯粹利他）。《心理科学》期刊上的一篇研究提到：当人们传递他人的口碑信息（也就是该研究定义的 “八卦”）时，大家会更愿意和被评价为乐于合作的人来往，并排挤被视作自私的人。结果，遭到排挤的人往往会调整行为，变得更愿意配合他人。

[11] What motivates us to gossip about A-listers we don’t socialize with?

那么，是什么驱使我们去议论那些我们现实中毫无交集的一线名人？

[12] Ludden says that just because we’ve never met these celebrities doesn’t mean we don’t have relationships with them: “What we do is we create parasocial relationships — imaginary relationships with a singer or athlete whose successes we’ve followed and celebrated.” Like gossip itself, these parasocial relationships can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the circumstances. They can fill the gaps in our real-world relationships, and they’re a risk-free way to feel connected to others, since you can’t be rejected by someone who’s not actually in a relationship with you.

勒登解释：就算我们从未见过这些名人，也不等于我们和他们不存在情感联结。“我们会建立准社会关系：和歌手、运动员这类公众人物形成想象中的关系，我们持续关注、为他们的成就喝彩。” 和八卦一样，这类准社会关系视情况而定，可能良性，也可能带来负面影响。它可以弥补现实社交的空缺，而且这种联结没有风险——对方并没有和你建立真实关系，因此你不会遭到拒绝。

[13] Gossiping about these celebrities can be a similarly low-stakes way to feel connected, since the information you’re sharing doesn’t pose a risk to you or a member of your social circle. “It can feel uncomfortable and vulnerable to share information about your own worlds,” Benning says. “Gossiping about celebrities is a safer way to interact with a date, to ingratiate yourself to a group at parties, or to feel part of a new team at work.” It can also serve as a form of stress relief. “When life is overwhelming, focusing on celebrity gossip can be a way to numb out our feelings of dissatisfaction, unhappiness, or stress,” says Benning. “Scrolling through celebrity gossip puts us in a dissociated state where we can take breaks from difficult feelings.”

聊名人八卦，同样是一种低风险的方式，让人获得社交归属感；你分享的消息，不会波及你和身边熟人。本宁说：“分享自己生活里的私事，容易让人不安，暴露脆弱。而聊名人八卦，是更稳妥的社交方式：可以用来和约会对象搭话、在派对上融入群体，或是让自己在新团队里找到归属感。它也可以舒缓压力。当生活让人喘不过气，翻看名人八卦，可以暂时麻痹不满、沮丧和压力。刷明星新闻会让人进入一种抽离状态，得以暂时逃离负面情绪。”

[14] But just like regular gossip, sometimes the motivation behind celebrity gossip is to make ourselves feel better than others. “Celebrity gossip is a safe way to snack on schadenfreude (the delight in the misfortune of others),” says Benning. “It feels a lot less shameful to admit we enjoy watching celebrity misfortunes than to admit we enjoy watching the misfortunes of family and friends.”

但和普通八卦一样，有时候人们关注名人八卦，是为了获得优越感。本宁说：“名人八卦，是一种心安理得体验幸灾乐祸的方式。承认自己乐见明星遭遇不顺，相比承认自己乐见亲友倒霉，负罪感会低很多。”

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