The Miss World pageant (盛会) is an international beauty pageant founded in the United Kingdom (联合王国) by Eric Morley in 1951.
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It started as the Festival Bikini Contest, in honour of the recently introduced swimwear (泳衣) of the time, but was called Miss World by the press (媒体). It was originally (最初地) planned as a one-off event.
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Opposition to the wearing of bikinis (比基尼) led to their replacement (代替) with more modest swimwear after the first contest. In 1959, the BBC started broadcasting (广播) the competition. The pageant's popularity (流行) grew as the popularity of television grew.
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Along with the rival Miss Universe (环球小姐) pageant, Miss World has grown to be the most sought after and prestigious title in beauty pageantry. It is the most widely attended and broadcast such event, with over a hundred delegates (代表) in competition (Miss Universe, by comparison, welcomes approximately (大约) 80 delegates). The road to the Miss World crown is a long one. In the year preceding the global finals, each delegate must win her national title or a specially designated Miss World national preliminary (预赛). The annual final is typically a month long extravaganza, with several preliminary events, galas, dinners, balls and activities, culminating (最后) in a globally telecast final show in which the field is narrowed to between 15-20 delegates.
The winner spends a year travelling the globe representing (代表) the Miss World organization in its various causes. MW has an explicitly altruistic (无私心的) agenda, and has raised over 250 million pounds for various global charities (慈善).
The only international pageant to have over 100 countries participate (参加), Miss World is considered less "predictable" than many of its international rivals, because of its diverse judging panels. The representatives of India, among them international actress Aishwarya Rai, were the success stories of the 1990s, capturing (获得) the crown four times, once back-to-back. Although China has been doing extremely (非常地) well since entering and hosting (举办) the pageant (a top five placement from 2001 to 2003) the pageant has yet to crown an East Asian winner.
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[此贴子已经被作者于2005-11-6 15:41:28编辑过] |