双语新闻:英女科学家自曝应召女身份(图)实用英语
文章作者 100test 发表时间 2009:11:20 16:49:40
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网
英女科学家自曝应召女身份
A former prostitute whose memoirs were turned into the TV series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" has revealed her true identity -- Brooke Magnanti, a British research scientist。
Magnantitold British newspaper The Sunday Times that she wrote under the penname Belle de Jour to describe the encounters she had as a high-classcall girl while she was earning money as she wrote her PhD。
Shedetailed her secret life in a blog from 2003 which then led to abest-selling book, "The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl" in2005, and sparked two more books, as well as a TV series starringBillie Piper that is shown in about 25 countries。
Despitemany attempts to discover her true identity and questions over whetherher memoirs were genuine, Belle de Jour remained anonymous, untilMagnanti, 34, finally decided it was time to unmask herself sayinganonymity had become "no fun."
"It feels so much better on this side. Not to have to tell lies, hidethings from the people I care about. To be able to defend what myexperience of sex work is like to all the skeptics and doubters," shewrote on her blog on Sunday。
"Anonymity had a purpose then - it will always have a reason to exist, for writerswhose work is too damaging or too controversial to put their names on... but for me it became important to acknowledge that aspect of mylife and my personality to the world at large."
Magnanti,who lives in Bristol in southwest England, is a research scientist whoworks as a specialist in developmental neurotoxicology and cancerepidemiology at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol, employed by theUniversity of Bristol。
She said she worked as a 300 pounds ($500) an hour prostitute for 14 months for an escort agency in 2003 but had no regrets about that time. She said she felt worse "about my writing than I ever have about sex for money."
A statement on the website of Britain’s Orion Books, which publishedBelle de Jour’s novels, said: "It’s a courageous decision for Belle deJour to come forward with her true identity and we support her decisionto do so."
"We have published her since 2005 and we are looking forward to continuingthat relationship," said the publisher, adding that Belle would not begiving any further interviews。
本文来源:百考试题网 A spokesman for her employer, the University of Bristol, told the SundayTimes: "This aspect of her past bears no relevance to her current roleat the university."