中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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Oscar statues on display. British historical drama "The King's Speech" has won the most Oscar nominations with 12 nods for the film industry's top honors, ahead of "True Grit", with 10.(Agencies) |
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Every year around now, tens of thousands of DVDs of movies still playing in theaters are sent by Hollywood studios to Oscar, Golden Globe and other awards voters. Every year, some of these discs are copied, and the movies end up being shared online, where they can cut into theater-ticket and DVD sales. This time, studios are taking a new approach to prevent this kind of piracy, and technology is playing a big part. Ahead of Sunday's Screen Actors Guild awards, Fox Searchlight this month became the first studio to have nearly 100,000 SAG voters view new movies such as "Black Swan" through a free download from Apple Inc.'s iTunes store. Paramount Pictures, Focus Features and other studios did the same later with movies such as "The Fighter" and "The Kids Are All Right." In all cases, downloads are set to expire 24 hours after being viewed and are not available to the public. As an anti-piracy tool, virtual screenings are cheaper and simpler than past efforts. But digital screeners won't necessarily be a savior either. People determined to break the law will find a way, even if it comes down to recording a digital movie by pointing a standard video camera at the computer screen. The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that $25 billion globally is lost to it every year, and it is partly responsible for US DVD sales falling from a peak in 2006 at $20.2 billion to about $14 billion in 2010. Although the industry group says most of the damage comes from handheld video camera recordings in theaters around the world, awards screeners are still a problem. In the past, studios went as far as sending voters specialized players equipped with stronger copy protections than regular DVDs, but that system was abandoned years ago as being too troublesome. So most studios continue to send discs to voters by mail — as many as 20,000 per movie. And the risk of leaks remains. Oscar screeners sent out in late 2008 were the source of online bootlegs of "Slumdog Millionaire," "Australia," and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Investigators followed the trail of unique disc identifiers called watermarks and convicted two men of felony copyright infringement. The penalty for uploading movies to websites can reach up to three years in prison and a fine for first-time offenders, but the penalties get stiffer for repeat offenders or those with a profit motive. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
每年一到這個時侯，好萊塢電影公司會將數(shù)萬張正在公映的電影光碟寄給奧斯卡、金球獎和其它獎項的評委。 每年，被寄出的部分光碟都會遭到拷貝，最終電影會被上傳到網(wǎng)上，而這會影響影片的票房和影碟銷量。 今年，電影公司將采取一種新手段防止此類盜版，而科技發(fā)揮了重要作用。 周日（1月30日）美國演員工會獎即將揭曉，福克斯探照燈公司本月讓近10萬名評委通過蘋果公司的iTune音樂商店免費下載《黑天鵝》等新影片，開創(chuàng)了先例。派拉蒙影業(yè)、焦點電影公司、和其它一些電影公司隨后用同樣方式讓評委觀看《斗士》、《孩子們都很好》等影片。 但這類下載會在觀看24小時后失效，而且不能對外發(fā)布。 作為一種反盜版工具，虛擬放映成本更低，而且比過去的措施更簡便。但數(shù)字放映也不一定是救星。想盜版的人總會有辦法，哪怕是在電腦屏幕前放一臺標(biāo)準(zhǔn)視頻攝像機，把電影錄下來。 美國電影協(xié)會估計，全球每年因盜版導(dǎo)致的損失達250億美元。美國的影碟銷量從2006年202億美元的高峰降至2010年的約140億美元，盜版也是原因之一。 盡管影業(yè)組織表示，從全球來看，大部分損失源于影院的手持錄像機，但寄給評委的碟片也是個大問題。 在過去，電影公司最多不過是給評委寄送版權(quán)保護手段更強的特制影碟，但由于太過麻煩，這種做法已經(jīng)廢棄很多年了。 因此大部分電影公司繼續(xù)給評委郵寄影碟，大約每部電影寄兩萬張。影片外泄的風(fēng)險仍然存在。 在2008年底，寄送給奧斯卡評委的影碟正是《貧民窟的百萬富翁》、《澳洲亂世情》、《返老還童》等參賽影片泄露到網(wǎng)上的罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。調(diào)查人員通過獨特的影碟水印標(biāo)識進行了追查，并宣判兩人因侵犯版權(quán)獲重罪。 將影片上傳至網(wǎng)上最多可獲刑三年，初犯可處以罰金，但多次犯罪或以盈利為目的的罪犯量刑會加重。 相關(guān)閱讀 2010最受好評電影：《玩具總動員3》和《社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)》 （中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: savior: a person who saves, rescues, or delivers（救世主，救星） screener: an advance screening of a film sent to critics, awards voters, video stores (for their manager and employees), and other film industry professionals, including producers and distributors.（提前寄送給影評人、評委、及其它影業(yè)機構(gòu)的樣片） bootleg: something, as a recording, made, reproduced, or sold illegally or without authorization（非法制造販賣的，盜版的） follow the trail of: 追蹤，尾隨，或步人后塵，效法 felony: a serious crime, such as murder or arson（重罪，重刑罪） |
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