An autobiography is the story of a person’s life, written by that person. It is usually a very famous person who might tell us all about their childhood, how they became famous and any other interesting things that have happened in their lives.

Traditionally, someone would write an autobiography when they were older because they had had a long, successful life. However, these days there are many celebrity magazines with stories and photos of the stars which sell very well. Reality TV shows are extremely popular and lots of people become famous very easily just from being on the TV rather than having a particular talent like singing or acting. As a result, people become famous very quickly and as soon as they are famous, a lot of money can be made from writing an autobiography, even if they are very young.

So now you can find an autobiography from almost everyone who is in the public eye. Even though we can follow the lives of the stars very closely on TV or in magazines nowadays, we maybe don’t know how they live their lives from day to day. Autobiographies often reveal the information we never knew about the stars. The British public are very curious to find out more so they are very keen to read autobiographies.

Not every star wants to write though. Sometimes celebrities employ writers to write their life stories for them. The writer will interview the star, listen to everything they want to say, record interviews and then write the book based on their words. David Beckham did this with his book ‘My Side’.

Not everyone likes to read fiction regularly but they might like to read about the lives of stars. Autobiographies are helping to get more British people reading books. About 100 million autobiographies are sold in Britain every year. More stars depend on them for extra income and as more of these books appear in the shops, more people are sure to keep buying them.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
best-selling
畅销
autobiographies
自传
traditionally
传统上
reality TV shows
真人秀
in the public eye
受公众瞩目的
from day to day
每天(的), 天天(的)
the British public
英国公众
employ
雇佣
based on
以…为基础, 根据
depend on
依靠, 依赖
 a handful
一把
childhood
童年
celebrity
明星, 名人
as a result
结果, 导致
nowadays
现在, 当今
reveal
揭示, 暴露
keen
渴望的, 热切的
life stories
生活经历
fiction
虚构小说
extra income
额外收入