From TV to the big screen and from Paris to Rome, the Olsen Twins are taking on the world one step at a time．
They＇ve just turned 18 and they＇ve made over 40 videos and sold 30 million books． Their dolls are the number two－selling dolls just behind Barbie． Their estimated worth is reported to be as high as ＄150 million each, and the Mary－Kate and Ashley empire grossed1 ＄1 billion last year．
With golden hair and shining smiles, Mary-Kate and Ashley are two stars who are hard to forget. Their long-time television dad, Bob Saget, credits the girls' green eyes as the key. “Their eyes were always what made people like them when they were young,” he said. “They have big, beautiful eyes.” Fans and onlookers can argue over their best features, but all can agree that the two are knockouts2.
The pair were born on June 17, 1986, in San Francisco. As far as the world is concerned, however, they were born a few months later with the debut3 of the TV show Full House. But their acting career, already more than 15 years, almost didn't happen. A family friend had to convince the girls' mother, Janice, to take the four-month-old twins to their first audition. When the producer picked up the girls and they did not cry, Mary-Kate and Ashley got their first job. The girls shared time as Michelle tanner4 on Full House from 1987 to 1995.
Having caught the attention of a huge television audience, it was natural for them to move on to bigger and better things. Mary-Kate and Ashley's movie career began with a 1992 made-for-TV Movie called To Grandmother＇s House We Go. Naturally, the Olsens played twins. With their movie careers now started, the girls set to work on a series of video films, such as The Adventures of Mary－Kate and Ashley. It's hard to imagine a busier pair of pre-teens5—these two released an amazing 15 movies between 1995 and 1997.
Their major motion picture debut finally came in 1995, with It takes Two. The film had Mary-Kate playing a tomboy6 while her sister played the role of a spoilt7 rich kid. Anyone who doubted the Olsens' abilities was quickly silenced: The film grossed over $75 million.
On average, Mary-Kate and Ashley can be seen on television 35 times a week, even today. Talk about popular!
Their new film called New York Minute. Mary-Kate and Ashley play the roles of mismatched8 sisters Roxy and Jane. Roxy is a bit wild and punkish9, while her withdrawn10 sister prefers to study, and comes off as a bookworm11. The girls must learn to understand and appreciate each other in order to accomplish their goals.
Mary-Kate and Ashley are super-skilled, so it wasn't a surprise when they decided to record an album. They did this in order to give acting a break, and to no one's surprise, a successful pop career was born. Their first album, called Brother 4 Sale, was recorded in 1995. All totaled12 the girls have sold more than 1.5 million records. Mary-Kate and Ashley were even on the cover of long-running magazine Rolling Stone, in September of 2003.
Recognizing an opportunity, toy companies began to cash in on13 the Olsens' image, producing dolls, books, and other things. Soon Mary-Kate and Ashley's products were being bought by lots of eager fans. To ensure that no unapproved items found their way into stores, the Olsens' parents and managers created the company Dualstar Entertainment. A side effect of this organization was that Mary-Kate and Ashley became the youngest producers ever, at age six.
Under Dualstar, Mary-Kate and Ashley's many talents truly began to blossom. After a series of success in film, television, and radio, it was natural for the Olsen twins to take on the video game industry. They released a handful of videogames. The girls also started a series of books, aimed at young girls, that stars14 the two as a pair of regular high-school students.
All told15, Mary-Kate and Ashley have appeared in over 40 movies, sold 29 million copies of their well-known series of books, have nine full length music albums and a hit16 cartoon show on the Disney Channel, all before leaving high school. In the year 2001, Dualstar Entertainment made $500 million in sales, and more than doubled that amount in 2002. For two years in a row17, the sisters have been ranked in Forbes Magazine's Celebrity 100 Power Rankings, which proves that Mary-Kate and Ashley are not just pretty faces.
Whether they are strolling down the red carpet or are just hanging out on the set of a movie, nobody can question Mary-Kate and Ashley's great fashion sense. The girls are often considered terrific dressers, being both daring and classy18 at the same time. In January of 2001, the Olsens began their own line of clothing, joining the ranks of fashion icons19 such as Jennifer Lopez. Now, young women can buy a huge variety of items, with everything from toothpaste to nail polish to perfume.
For the past several years, Mary-Kate and Ashley have been trying to step away from the “twin thing” off-screen and discover themselves as separate people. “We each have our own 'likes' and 'dislikes' like any sisters would,”says Ashley, “Probably the biggest difference would be that Mary-Kate likes to ride horses and I like to dance more.” From their haircuts to what they wear, the twins are branching out as individuals and showing off their very different personalities. However, as different as they may be, both Mary-Kate and Ashley are thankful to have each other. “We fight like any other sisters do, but in the end, we're best friends.”
Although going to college is definitely a plan for the future, people say on the Internet that the twins already accepted to several colleges on the east coast of the U.S.. However, the twins' publicist20 said that they are only juniors in high school still studying for their exams and haven't even applied to any colleges yet.
What are we looking to see from these teen icons? Who can tell, at the pace they're going? We can't wait to hear what colleges the twins will actually end up going to, and we know we'll be seeing more of them as the years go on. For now, all we have to say is keep on Doing what you do, girls!
从电视到电影大屏幕，从巴黎到罗马，奥尔森双胞胎姊妹一次攀登一大步。
姊妹俩年方18，录像带出了40多部，书也销了3000万册。以她们的形象做的布娃娃，销量仅次于芭比娃娃。媒体估计姊妹俩的身价是每人一亿五千万美元。去年玛丽-凯特和阿什莉帝国总共赚得10亿美元。
金黄的头发，灿烂的微笑，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉是两个过目难忘的明星。长期在电视上扮演她俩爸爸的鲍伯·萨吉特认为，她们迷人的关键，在于拥有一双天真稚嫩的眼睛。他说：“小时候，她们的眼睛又大又漂亮，就是招人喜欢。”追星族和旁观者对她们五官哪儿最漂亮可能意见不一，但一致认为她们是让人眼睛一亮的人物。
姊妹俩1986年6月17日生于旧金山。然而在世人眼里，她们却是在几个月后，伴随着电视节目《满堂彩》的首次亮相而呱呱坠地的。不过，她们虽然已有15年多的演艺生涯，最初却差一点失之交臂。当年，她们家的一位朋友费了好多口舌，才说服她们的妈妈贾妮斯把刚满四个月的双胞胎带去第一次试镜。制片人抱起她们时，她们居然没哭，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉因此获得了她们平生第一份工作。从1987年到1995年，姊妹俩在《满堂彩》节目中扮演制革姑娘米雪儿，出镜机会两人均等。
吸引了大量电视观众的注意力之后，姐妹俩接下来干点儿更大、更出彩的事儿，也就顺理成章了。玛丽-凯特和阿什莉的影视生涯始于1992年专为电影台制作的一部电影《去姥姥家》。当然了，她们俩就扮演双胞胎。影视生涯一旦开始，姊妹俩就着手拍摄一系列的电视片，如《玛丽-凯特和阿什莉历险记》。很难想象区区几岁的儿童忙得不可开交——从1995年到1997年，她俩发行了15部电影，让人瞠目！
她们出演的首部重要电影是1995年的《两个人》，玛丽-凯特在其中扮演一个顽皮的假小子，她妹妹则扮演一个惯坏了的富家小姐。对奥尔森姐妹的才华持怀疑态度的人一下子不吱声了：这部电影赚得7500多万美元。
平均起来，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉每周在电视上露面高达35次，即使现在也是如此。你说人气旺不旺！
在她们拍的新电影《纽约时刻》中，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉扮演一对反差鲜明的姐妹：罗克茜和简。罗克茜羁傲不驯，像个反叛少年，简则有点孤僻，爱学习，是个书呆子。姐妹俩必须学会相互理解和欣赏才能实现自己的目标。
玛丽-凯特和阿什莉有高超的演艺才能，所以她们决定录制唱片也不足为奇。原本只想稍做休整，但从此在流行歌坛一炮走红，也在意料之中。1995年她们录制了自己的首张专辑《Brother 4 Sale》。姊妹俩一共售出150多万张唱片，甚至还上过老牌音乐杂志《滚石》2003年9月号的封面。
玩具公司看准机会，利用奥尔森姊妹的形象，推出布娃娃、图书等产品。很快众多的追星族就开始迫不及待地购买姊妹俩的产品。为确保不让未经许可的产品进入市场，奥尔森姊妹的父母和她们的经纪人成立了“双星娱乐公司”。这个机构的附带结果就是，姊妹俩成了有史以来年龄最小的制作人，那一年她们才六岁。
在“双星”公司，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉的众多才艺真正得以全面开花。经历电影、电视、广播一连串成功之后，姊妹俩很自然地涉足电子游戏业。她们发行了好几种电子游戏，并开始出版一系列以少女为对象的图书，在书中她俩扮演一对普通的中学生。
玛丽-凯特和阿什莉一共在40多部电影中出过镜，知名的系列图书售出2900万册，发行过9张标准长度的音乐专辑，有一部走红的卡通片在迪斯尼频道播放过，这一切都是在她们中学毕业以前完成的。2001年，双星娱乐公司销售额为5亿美元，2002年又翻了一倍多。连续两年，姐妹俩出现在《福布斯》杂志的《一百名人影响力排行榜》上，这证明玛丽-凯特和阿什莉并不是徒有其表。
无论她俩是款步走过红地毯，还是在电影拍摄现场漫不经心地逗留，无人能怀疑她们对时尚的敏锐感受力。人们常常惊叹于她们的着装：既大胆超前又典雅体面。2001年1月，奥尔森姊妹开始设计自己的时装系列，跻身于珍妮弗·洛佩兹这类时尚偶像之列。如今，年轻女性可以买到俩姐妹设计的各种产品，从牙膏到指甲油到香水，应有尽有。
过去几年里，在银幕之外，玛丽-凯特和阿什莉一直试图突破“孪生姊妹”的模式，发掘各自独立的形象。阿什莉说：“和别的姐妹一样，我们也有各自的喜恶。大概最大的区别是，玛丽-凯特喜欢骑马，我则更喜欢跳舞一些。”从发型到着装，这对双胞胎正各具风格，展现出迥异的个性。但是，不同归不同，姐妹俩都因为拥有彼此而感到欣慰。“跟任何姐妹一样，我们也会闹别扭，但最后，我们还是最好的朋友。”
虽然上大学无疑是未来的安排，但网上有人说美国东海岸有几家大学已同意接收她们。不过，姊妹俩的宣传代理人说，她们还不过是中学三年级学生，得努力学习参加考试，还没有向任何大学申请过呢。
我们对这两位青春偶像的未来有何期待呢？以她们现在的发展势头，谁料得到呢？我们迫不及待地想知道姊妹俩最后上哪所大学，我们知道将来见到她们的时候会越来越多。就目前而言，我们能说的只是：勇往直前，姑娘们！
1. gross v． 总共赚得
2． knockout n． 引人注目的人（或物）
3． debut n． 首演，初次出场
4． tanner n． 制革工人
5． pre－teen n． 13岁不到的少年
6． tomboy n． 爱打闹的女孩，假小子
7． spoilt adj． 娇惯坏的
8． mismatch v． 配合不当，不协调
9． punkish adj． 有点像朋克少年
10． withdrawn adj． 不爱交际的
11． come off as a bookworm 书读得很好； come off 成功
12． all totaled 总共
13． cash in on 利用
14． star v． 在（电影等）其中做主演
15． all told 总共
16． hit adj． 轰动的，红极一时的
17． in a row 一连
18． both daring and classy 大胆又时髦 classy adj． 时髦的
19． icon n． 偶像
20. publicist n． 宣传代理人