双语阅读：《爱情公寓》被网友批抄袭

2012-09-25 00:00:00来源：新东方网

　　Technology companies and other industrial firms are used to guarding against the theft of intellectual property by unscrupulous businesses in developing countries.

　　But the latest audacious rip-off to emerge from China strikes at the heart of America"s favourite pastime - television.

　　A popular sitcom is accused of copying classic U.S. series such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.

　　The show, iPartment, adheres the old sitcom trope of following a group of 20-something friends as they experience life in a big city.

　　But sharp-eyed fans have noticed that the series seems to be uncomfortably close to some specific American hits.

　　The stars of the series live together in two neighbouring apartments in a tower block - exactly the situation in Friends, but with New York transferred to Shanghai.

　　One of the characters is a university lecturer, and another a radio host - not a world away from palaeontologist Ross and actor Joey.

　　The bizarre parallels led to an online backlash from Chinese watchers of iPartment, who took to micro-blogs to express their anger and post screenshots and video clips highlighting the similarities.

　　"Many lines and scenes have been completely ripped off from American shows, " a web user named Grace told the Global Times.

　　"I thought it was shameful to do this. It is an insult to the American TV producers and an insult to the screenwriters and producers of original Chinese TV shows."

　　Another incredulous fan wrote, "Is [iPartment] only intended for those born after 1990, who have not watched Friends?", according to the Daily Telegraph.

　　While the show has been on the air since 2009, it has recently started to reach a much wider audience after being picked up by leading cable networks.

　　Last weekend, producers were forced to admit taking ideas from others, as they publicly apologised for using a comedian"s jokes without attribution, and offered to compensate him for the plagiarism.

　　However, a spokesman for the programme denied stealing from Western shows - and instead blamed the similarities on a lack of imagination in resorting to sitcom clichés.

　　"We didn"t copy the American sitcom, " he said. "Comedies have stereotypes, like the handsome man, the gorgeous woman, the cheap man and so on. They have that in many comedies.

　　"Our creation is not plagiarism, but more a homage to the American sitcom."

　　2009年《爱情公寓》第一季热播，就有不少网友指出其中大量桥段抄袭美剧《老友记》。到了第二季则是全面模仿《老爸老妈浪漫史》、《生活大爆炸》等美剧桥段。如今热播的第三季也不例外，哪一段是模仿《老爸老妈罗曼史》，哪一段是拷贝《老友记》，扒出“山寨段落”然后在网上晒出来，已成为网友观剧后的规定动作。有网友在网上发帖，贴出其中抄袭画面对比截图，甚至有网友还剪出了“爱情公寓3第一第二集抄袭集锦修正版”。

本文关键字: 美剧