2021年第四届普译奖英语写作大赛初赛题目
The Popularity of Virtual-idols
Recent days have witnessed the emerging popularity of computer-generated Internet stars, which is unexpected yet reasonable. In my opinion, the embrace of virtual stars originated from Japan in contemporary China can be attributed to the following three main factors.
First and foremost, virtual-idols themselves are empowered with versatility and humanness. Thanks to the surging development of animation, speech synthesis, and 3D digital imaging, etc., virtual-idols nowadays are as attractive and capable as live stars. In fact, audiences are particular about entertainment activities against the backdrop of market economy, so the transient novelty of the fresh concept itself is insufficient enough to sustain long-term popularity if the product itself is dull. However, to the majority's joy, virtual-idols perform almost perfectly in many facets, from vivid facial expression to flexible movement and to appealing voice etc. Moreover, the AI technology fuels virtual-idols to make them as smart as possible.
Secondly, virtual-idols are more approachable for their followers. Compared to real idols in the spotlight, the easy access to virtual-idols is embodied in two aspects: the disappearance of the block of physical distance and lower expense. Virtual-idols are always there to meet their audiences' need as long as the Internet is available and stable.
Thirdly, virtual-idols are tailored to receivers' idiosyncratic flavor. As is known to us all, in real life, idols enjoy more subjective initiative, and fans to some extent are passive admirers who have to adapt to their idols' style. However, in virtual realm, idols are the manifestations of their developers' preference.
Above are the reasons why virtual-idols enjoy so much popularity nationwide within so short a time. Nevertheless, as the saying goes, every coin has two sides, virtual idols are by means without their innate flaws. We should keep a clear mind and view the phenomenon dialectically rather than be invariably feverish. For example, virtual-idols can never share delicate and rich feelings as we human beings do. To be exact, they are emotionless since all their performances are nothing but the running of sets of programs stored in computers. And this further leads to another tricky issue: how to avoid homogenization when the computer instructions for virtual-idols are similar?
In a nutshell, the popularity of virtual-idols are by no means groundless considering their versatility and humanness, approachability, and idiosyncrasy. However, virtual-idols at the same time are prone to falling into the trap of homogenization. Therefore, we should take both sides into due consideration to gain a whole picture of the new phenomenon.
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