文/By+Sarah+Gerard+譯/趙越

追星的人很多，中學生也不例外。有的通過各種渠道搜集偶像資料，了解其最新動態(tài)，一說起自己的偶像就滔滔不絕；有的把自己的零花錢全都攢起來，偶像的專輯、電影、海報、簽名T恤等東西無一不想收入囊中；有的甚至因為偶像的事逃課、和父母吵架、做一些很極端的事。不過凡事都有特例，美國女孩薩拉雖然追星也十分狂熱，但卻并未因此而迷失自我。這個普普通通的少女喜歡到處追著自己喜歡的明星合影，四年多的時間里和明星合影多達6200張，到后來甚至有些明星都主動與她合影，然而如此瘋狂追星的薩拉卻始終門門功課全優(yōu)。薩拉究竟是怎樣的一個女孩？又是如何做到追星如此成功的呢？

If you're famous， "Stalker Sarah" waits for you in your hotel lobby or outside your favorite nightclub， or approaches you in a restaurant or backstage at your concert. Each time， she asks you for a picture.

She's collected almost 6200 of them in a Flickr2） account under the name Sarah M Online， which she started when she was 12. Each photo has two subjects： a member of Hollywood's elite class—everyone from Justin Bieber and Brad Pitt to virtual unknowns—and Sarah， positioned in the right of the frame. She turns her head 45 degrees. She wears a black leather jacket and a classic rock T-shirt. She smiles the same calm， practiced smile.

After five years of striking this pose again and again， Sarah M Online， now 17 and a senior in high school， has achieved her own level of celebrity. She has fans （and haters）， passes to movie premieres3）， a manager， and an invitation to Perez Hilton's4） 35th birthday party. She and Miley Cyrus are friends.

"I go to events now and I'll just get absolutely swarmed5） by kids，" she tells me. "I'll sign hundreds of autographs and take hundreds of pictures ... Miley Cyrus said one time， 'When they touch you， they feel like they've touched Justin， they feel like they've touched One Direction. Meeting you is like an indirect way to meet their idols.'"

Her fans always ask how she does it. How does the home-schooled teen meet celebrities？ How does she do it several times a day？ "I just approach them，" she told me. "If it's not the right time， I won't go up to them. I'll just stay back and watch if there are a lot of paparazzi6）."

Though she often embeds7） herself among those photographers， Sarah doesn't consider herself one， preferring to be thought of as a collector. She doesn't make money. And while she isn't the only stalker of this kind， Sarah is definitely the best. She knows where to wait， where to hide， and how to follow.

"When Harry Styles8） was here， my friends and I had to figure out， 'Okay， what time will he have to land？' We had to figure out the time difference， what time his plane will fly out， how much time he would need to sleep before a concert." And though she tends not to approach celebrities walking their dogs， for instance， or playing with their kids at the park， the gallery contains as many photos snapped in supermarkets and Hollywood parking lots as at red carpet events.endprint

One of the earliest pictures shows her posing between Nickelodeon9） star Vanessa Hudgens and Hudgens's then-boyfriend， Zac Efron10）. She was 12 or 13， a shiny， round-faced kid in an oversized white T-shirt and black hooded11） sweatshirt12）. Her caption13） reads：

Zac， Vanessa， and I at the California Pizza Kitchen a week after Zac got out of surgery. They were SOOOOO nice！ Vanessa is my idol， and Zac is one of my favorite actors. I was so nervous but they were so nice！！

The omission of last names might suggest that Sarah and the couple were actually friends. But what kind of friend calls her friends idols？ Videos of Sarah on YouTube show her bowling with a Jonas14） brother one minute and waiting in the shadows outside Chateau Marmont the next. And even if her behavior is stalkerish， stars still call her a sweet kid. "Oftentimes now， the celebrities will approach me because they know that I'll say something nice about them，" she says. Sarah also protects their fame： in response to negative online attention the Jonas Brothers were receiving， she decided to include them on her site 80 times in one year.

But she's not immune to her own hate mail： "Stalker Sarah"， which she's reclaimed as her moniker15）， started out as an online insult. She once read some of the letters she gets in a YouTube video. "Stalker Sarah scares me， to be honest，" one said. Another： "If I get famous and she asks for a picture， that biotch16） ain't gettin' one！" But even as she laughs at these in the clip， Sarah purposely doesn't share her last name for fear of online predators17）.

She shares limited biographical info on Twitter， Instagram18）， and in occasional interviews. She is home-schooled per19） an agreement with her father that， if she got straight A's， he would drive her to "as many events as he possibly could".

Production companies have noticed her—and even offered TV shows—but she knows she's not truly famous. Sarah's rise happened accidentally， when she started posting her photos on Flickr for her family. Before that， she would keep them in a book. "I had this big purse that I'd carry everywhere with me， and when I'd see celebrities， they'd say， 'So who have you seen lately？'" She'd pull out her book and show them.

Soon， she started noticing her Flickr hits go up. She wasn't sharing the photos herself； she didn't have a Facebook or a Myspace20） account. But some of her earliest fans were passing them around. "One day， over 24 hours， I got a million hits." So she decided to build up her Twitter following. Four years ago， when she started her account， it was private； now she has 70，000 followers. "Justin Bieber requested to follow me！" she remembers.endprint

Once she finishes high school， she wants to work in the entertainment industry. At this point， she's already dipping her toe into21） the work of a publicist； if she's at an event and sees a paparazzi that she knows likes to print negative stories， "I'll be like， 'Let me call and get this person out here. I know who to call because I know who's going to write a good story.'"

如果你是一位明星，“跟蹤狂薩拉”會在你下榻的酒店大廳或你最愛光顧的夜總會外面等著你，也可能會在飯店或你演唱會的后臺接近你。每一次，她都會要求與你合影。

薩拉在Flickr上有一個名為Sarah M Online的賬戶，里面上傳了她從12歲起就開始收集的她與明星的合影，到現(xiàn)在（編注：本文寫于2013年）差不多都要有6200張了。每張合影中都有兩個人：一個是好萊塢的精英人士——從賈斯汀·比伯、布拉德·皮特到實際上不怎么知名的人；另一個則是照片中站在右側的薩拉，她穿著一件黑色皮夾克和一件經典搖滾風格的T恤，頭傾斜45度，笑容始終淡定而老練。

在過去的五年里，薩拉把這個姿勢擺了一次又一次；今年她17歲了，是一名高中畢業(yè)班的學生，已然收獲了自己的知名度。她有粉絲（也有討厭她的人），有經紀人，有許多電影首映式的入場券，還受邀參加佩雷斯·希爾頓35歲的生日派對。她還和麥莉·賽勒斯是朋友。

“現(xiàn)在我去參加活動時，都會被一群孩子們團團圍住，”薩拉對我說，“每次我都要為好幾百個人簽名，并跟他們合影……麥莉·賽勒斯一次曾說，‘當他們觸摸到你時，他們覺得自己好像觸摸到了賈斯汀，觸摸到了單向樂隊。見到你就好像是以一種間接的方式見到了他們的偶像?！?/p>

薩拉的粉絲總會問她是如何做到這些的。這位在家接受教育的少女如何能夠見到眾多明星？她又如何能夠在一天之內數次見到明星？“我就是去接近他們，”她告訴我，“如果時機不對，我就不會走上前去，而只是退回去，觀察是否有許多“狗仔”出沒?！?/p>

盡管薩拉自己常常混在那些“狗仔”攝影師當中，但她并不認為自己是其中一員，她更喜歡別人把她看做是一位收藏者，因為她并不會從中賺錢。雖然像這樣的跟蹤狂不止薩拉一個，但她絕對是他們當中最出眾的那一個。她知道去哪里等候，在哪里隱藏，也知道如何尾隨。

“哈里·斯泰爾斯要來這兒開演唱會時，我和我的朋友們就得弄清楚，‘好吧，他坐的飛機什么時候降落？我們還得算清楚時差，確定他坐的飛機什么時候會起飛，以及演唱會開始之前他會需要睡多久?！彪m然薩拉不太喜歡在明星們比如遛狗或者陪孩子在公園里玩的時候接近他們，但相冊里她與明星在超市、好萊塢停車場的合影和在紅毯活動上的合影一樣多。

在薩拉早年與明星的合影中，有一張是她站在尼克羅頓國際兒童頻道女星瓦妮莎·赫金斯和赫金斯時任男友扎克·埃弗龍中間的合影。薩拉當時也就十二三歲，圓圓的臉上神采飛揚，身穿一件超大號的白色T恤和一件黑色的連帽運動衫。照片的說明文字是這樣的：

扎克做完手術一周后，我和扎克、瓦妮莎在加州比薩廚房。他們太太太太太好了！瓦妮莎是我的偶像，而扎克是我最喜歡的演員之一。我非常緊張，不過他們人很好??！

薩拉直呼其名也許說明她和這對情侶的確是朋友。不過，誰會稱自己的朋友為偶像呢？關于薩拉，YouTube上有一些這樣的視頻：前一分鐘她還在跟喬納斯兄弟樂隊的某位成員一起打保齡球，下一分鐘她又在夏特蒙特酒店外面隱蔽的地方等候著某位明星。雖然薩拉的行為有點像“跟蹤狂”，但明星們仍然認為她是一個招人喜歡的孩子?！艾F(xiàn)在明星們常常會主動接近我，因為他們知道我會說他們的好話?！彼f。薩拉也會保護這些明星的名聲：針對喬納斯兄弟在網絡上受到負面關注一事，薩拉決定一年之中讓他們在自己的主頁上出現(xiàn)80次。

然而，對于詆毀自己的郵件，薩拉卻無法做到不受任何影響：“跟蹤狂薩拉”起先是網上侮辱她的叫法，現(xiàn)在被她拿來當成自己的綽號。她曾在YouTube上的一個視頻里讀過她收到的某些詆毀信件?！袄蠈嵳f，跟蹤狂薩拉真的嚇到我了。”其中一封信中如是說。另一封信中則寫道：“如果我出名了，她想要跟我合影，我是絕對不會讓那個賤人得逞的！”雖然薩拉在該視頻中對這些都報之一笑，但她還是有意隱瞞了自己的姓，以避免網絡攻擊者尋釁滋事。

在推特、Instagram上和偶爾接受的一些采訪中，薩拉只公開了有限的個人信息。薩拉在家接受教育源自她和爸爸達成的一個約定：如果她成績全優(yōu)，爸爸就會盡量開車送她去參加“盡可能多的活動”。

一些制作公司已經注意到了她——甚至還邀請她上電視節(jié)目——不過薩拉明白，她并不是真正的明星。薩拉走紅純屬偶然，她一開始在Flickr網站上傳照片是為了給家人看。在此之前，她會把照片收藏在一本相冊里?！拔矣羞@個大包，無論走到哪兒我都會帶著它。當我碰到明星時，他們會問，‘你最近都見到誰了呀？”她便會從包里掏出那本冊子，展示給他們看。

很快，薩拉開始注意到她的Flickr頁面點擊量在上升。她自己并沒有把那些照片公開；她也沒有Facebook或Myspace賬戶。不過，她最早的一些粉絲把這些照片傳開了?！坝幸惶?，才一天多的時間，我的賬戶就獲得了100萬的點擊量?！庇谑?，她便決定在推特上開一個賬戶。四年前她剛開通賬戶時，并沒有對外公開；現(xiàn)在，她已經有七萬粉絲了?！百Z斯汀·比伯還向我求關注呢！”她回憶道。endprint

高中一畢業(yè)后，薩拉就想進入娛樂圈工作?，F(xiàn)在，她已經開始涉足公關工作了。如果她在參加某個活動時，看到自己知道的某個愛寫負面新聞的“狗仔”記者，“我會這樣說，‘讓我打個電話并把這個人轟出去吧。我知道要打給誰，因為我知道誰會寫一篇好的報道?！?/p>

1. stalker [?st??k?（r）] n. 跟蹤者

2. Flickr： 一個圖片分享網站

3. premiere [?premie?（r）] n. （戲劇、電影的）首次公演

4. Perez Hilton： 佩雷斯·希爾頓（1978～），美國知名博主、著名電視工作者

5. swarm [sw??m] vt. 擠滿

6. paparazzo [?p?p??r?ts??] n. 跟蹤偷拍名人照片的攝影者，狗仔隊員。其復數形式為paparazzi。

7. embed [?m?bed] vt. 把……嵌入，放入

8. Harry Styles： 哈里·斯泰爾斯（1994～），英國超人氣組合單向樂隊（One Direction）的成員之一。

9. Nickelodeon： 尼克羅頓國際兒童頻道，于1979年4月1日開播，是美國有線電視里一個主要給兒童和少年觀看的頻道。美國演員、歌手瓦妮莎·赫金斯（Vanessa Hudgens， 1988～）參演的首個電視劇就在該頻道播出。

10. Zac Efron： 扎克·埃弗龍（1987～），美國電影演員，以出演迪士尼《歌舞青春》（High School Musical）系列電影而知名。

11. hood [h?d] vt. 給……罩上兜帽（或風帽等）

12. sweatshirt [?swet???t] n. （從頭上套穿的長袖圓領的）厚運動衫

13. caption [?k?p?n] n. （圖片的）說明文字

14. Jonas： 指Jonas Brothers，即喬納斯兄弟，由大哥凱文·喬納斯（Kevin Jonas， 1987～）、二哥喬·喬納斯（Joe Jonas， 1989～）以及弟弟尼克·喬納斯（Nick Jonas， 1992～）所組成的美國搖滾樂隊。

15. moniker [?m?n?k?（r）] n. 綽號

16. biotch： 相當于bitch，常用于網絡上的俚語。

17. predator [?pred?t?（r）] n. 造成破壞的人（或事物）；損人利己者

18. Instagram： 一個免費提供在線圖片及短視頻分享的社交應用

19. per [p?（r）] prep. 按照，根據

20. Myspace： 一個社交網絡服務網站，提供人際互動、使用者自定的朋友網絡、個人檔案頁面、部落格、群組、照片、音樂和視訊影片的分享與存放。

21. dip one's toe into： 開始做某人不熟悉的（或覺得新奇的）事情endprint