Pop stars today enjoy a style of living which was once the
prerogative only of Royalty. Wherever they go, people turn out in their
thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of
their smiling, colorfully dressed idols. The stars are transported in their
chauffeur driven Rolls-Royces, private helicopters or executive
aeroplanes. They are surrounded by a permanent entourage of managers,
press agents and bodyguards. Photographs of them appear regularly in the press
and all their comings and goings are reported, for, like Royalty, pop stars are
news. If they enjoy many of the privileges of Royalty, they certainly share many
of the inconveniences as well. It is dangerous for them to make unscheduled
appearances in public. They must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds
which idolize them. They are no longer private individuals, but public
property. The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be
calculated, for their rates of pay are astronomical. And why
not Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly. The great days
of Hollywood have become legendary: famous stars enjoyed fame, wealth and
adulation on an unprecedented scale. By today’s standards, the excesses of
Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular. A single gramophone record nowadays
may earn much more in royalties than the films of the past ever did. The
competition for the title "Top of the Pops" is fierce, but the rewards are truly
colossal. It is only right that the stars should be paid in
this way. Don’t the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the services
they perform to their companies and their countries Pop stars earn vast sums in
foreign currency—often more than large industrial concerns—and the taxman can
only be grateful fro their massive annual contributions to the exchequer. So who
would begrudge them their rewards It’s all very well for
people in humdrum jobs to moan about the successes and rewards of others. People
who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent
only the tip of the iceberg. For every famous star, there are hundreds of others
struggling to earn a living. A man working in a steady job and looking forward
to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards. He has
chosen security and peace of mind, so there will always be a limit to what he
can earn. But a man who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks. He
knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top.
He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete
failure. But he knows, too, that the rewards for success are very high indeed:
they are the recompense for the huge risks involved and if he achieves them, he
has certainly earned them. That’s the essence of private enterprise. What does "the tip of the iceberg" mean in the sentence "People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg" ( Para. 4)
【参考答案】
"The tip of the iceberg" means that the most famous stars a......