Academy Award Voters
Once a year in February or March, you’ll see on American television the Academy Awards, more popularly known as the Oscars. The Oscars are given to the best movies of each year. If you enjoy movies, you probably know about the Oscars, but do you know who actually “picks” (selects; decides) the winners?
每年二月或三月，美國電視上會播出奧斯卡金像獎，也被稱為奧斯卡獎。奧斯卡獎是頒發給每年最佳電影的獎項。如果你喜歡電影，可能對奧斯卡很熟悉，但你知道誰實際上「挑選」（選擇；決定）獲獎者嗎？The organization that “gives out” (presents) the awards is known as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, although it is more commonly referred to simply as “the Academy.” The Academy has over 5,700 members, and each member belongs to one of 15 “branches” or groups, depending on what part of the movie business you are in, such as actors, directors, writers, and more. In order to become a member of the Academy, you have to be selected and approved by other members. You can’t just “apply” (ask to join); you have to be asked first. Membership is for life; you remain a member until you die.
頒發奧斯卡獎的機構是美國電影藝術與科學學院，儘管通常簡稱為「學院」。學院有超過5,700名成員，每個成員屬於15個「分支」（群組）之一，這取決於你在電影行業中的角色，如演員、導演、編劇等。要成為學院的成員，必須經由其他成員選擇並批准。你不能自己「申請」（要求加入）；必須先被邀請。會員資格是終身的，直到去世為止。
You will not be able to find a list of the members of the Academy anywhere. The list is secret; the Academy won’t officially tell you who is a member and who votes each year for the Oscar winners. But in 2012, the Los Angeles Times newspaper investigated and found out the names of almost all of the members, about 89% of them. Here’s what they found about the people who vote for the Oscar winners:
你無法在任何地方找到學院成員的名單。這份名單是保密的；學院不會正式告訴你誰是成員以及誰每年投票選出奧斯卡獲獎者。但是，2012年，《洛杉磯時報》進行了一項調查，發現了近89%的成員的姓名。以下是他們對投票選出奧斯卡獲獎者的成員的調查結果：
- 96% of all Academy voters are white, 2% African American, and slightly less than 2% Latino/Hispanic96%的學院投票者是白人，2%是非裔美國人，稍少於2%是拉丁裔/西班牙裔
- 77% are men77%是男性
- All but one of the 15 branches is over 90% white (the actor’s branch is 88% white)除了一個分支外，其他14個分支中超過90%是白人（演員分支中88%是白人）
- 50% of the members have been active in making movies in the past 2 years50%的成員在過去兩年中仍積極參與電影製作
- The “median” (average) age of an Academy member is 62; only 14% of the members are under the age of 50
學院成員的「中位」（平均）年齡是62歲；只有14%的成員年齡低於50歲
We can compare these “statistics” (numbers; figures) to the American population, where 64% are white, 16% Latino, 13% African American, and a little over 4% Asian American. As you can guess, a little more than half of the population is female, and less than 20% over the age of 65.
我們可以將這些「統計數據」（數字；數據）與美國人口相比較，其中64%是白人，16%是拉丁裔，13%是非裔美國人，稍多於4%是亞裔美國人。正如你所猜測的，女性約佔總人口的一半多一點，而65歲以上的人口比例不到20%。
重要單字
- 1. Pick [pɪk] - 挑選
- 2. Give out [ɡɪv aʊt] - 發放、頒發
- 3. Branch [bræntʃ] - 分支、群組
- 4. Apply [əˈplaɪ] - 申請
- 5. Median [ˈmiːdiən] - 中位數
- 6. Active [ˈæktɪv] - 活躍的
- 7. Statistics [stəˈtɪstɪks] - 統計數據
- 8. Latino/Hispanic [ləˈtiːnoʊ/hɪsˈpænɪk] - 拉丁裔/西班牙裔
- 9. African American [ˈæfrɪkən əˈmɛrɪkən] - 非裔美國人
- 10. Asian American [ˈeɪʒən əˈmɛrɪkən] - 亞裔美國人
