VOA常速英语:Interactive TV Lets Viewers Choose Plot and Story Lines

When it comes to TV, the rules have always been straightforward programmers provide content and you watch it. But now interactive TV is giving viewers a starring role.
谈到电视，规则一直简单明了，编剧写出剧本，观众只负责观看。但是现在，互动式电视可以让观众来担任主要角色。

Instead of their just being one story, you could actually change the arc of the story by making choices that send the story in different directions.
不像以前只能有一个故事，你可以改变故事的发展，做出不同的选择来决定故事的走向。

New York-based start-up Echo is doing just that with their interactive videos.We developed a platform that allows for viewers to interact with live-action video.
总部位于纽约的初创公司Echo就是通过互动视频做到这一点的。我们开发了一个允许观众与实景真人视频交互的平台。

So when Jill, the main character in one of Echo shows, runs into a guy at a party and can’t remember his name or how they met, viewers can choose for her.
因此，当Echo一档节目中的主角吉尔在派对上遇到一个男人，却不记得他的名字或他们是怎么认识的时候，观众可以为她做出选择。

Do you remember the first time I told you that I wanted to be an animal chiropractor? Oh, duh, I remember it was when we...It’s interesting here. You see kind of two types of people.
你还记得我第一次告诉你，我想成为一名动物按摩师吗？哦……我记得，那是……这个部分很有意思，会出现两种不同类型的观众。

There’s the people who would click when swimming at the beach because they were trying to help her succeed.
第一种会点击“在海滩游泳”这个选项，因为他们想要帮这个女孩。

And there’s the people who start a “Dumpster Fire” at Planned Parenthood or something because they’re basically they want to see how bad this can go.
第二种就会在计划生育中心或其他地方制造比较混乱的局面，因为他们想看看这个最差能发展到什么程度。

Proponents of interactive TV say it’s similar to the engagement and control players have in video games.Whether or not it’ll resonate with viewers will depend on who’s watching. Among younger audiences, I think you’ll see increasing willingness to experiment.
交互式电视的支持者说，这种角色类似于视频游戏中的参与型和控制型玩家。它是否会引起观众的共鸣将取决于观众。在年轻的观众中，我觉得会有越来越多的人愿意尝试。

Big names have begun experimenting with the interactive format.
大牌已经开始尝试交互式电视这种模式。

It’s still early, but when you see players like Netflix and Walmart that are starting to put real money and real time into this, I wouldn’t be surprised of a few years from now, we started calling this the next big thing.
现在还为时尚早，但等你看到像Netflix和沃尔玛这样的商家开始投入真正的资金和时间，几年后的事情发展绝对在我的意料之内，我们把这称为下一个大事件。

Just like the old saying goes, viewers will have to stay tuned.
就像老话说的，观众们敬请期待。

Tina Trin VOA News New York.
美国之音记者Tina Trin纽约报道。