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Allads

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: 

Our next two contestants¹ will play an especially challenging music-parody game. First up, Kirsten Lenthe - you're calling from Boston, where you're a resident director at Boston College. Welcome.

KIRSTEN LENTHE: Thank you.

EISENBERG: Your opponent is Owen Moorhead. And you're a park ranger² calling from Hyde Park, Texas. Welcome.

OWEN MOORHEAD: Oh, thanks for having me.

EISENBERG: So who is watching the park right now?

MOORHEAD: I don't think anybody's watching the park.

EISENBERG: What?

MOORHEAD: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: OK. Remember, Kirsten and Owen, the first of you who wins two of our games is going to move on to our final round at the end of the show. Let's get to your first game. Kirsten, what song did you slow dance to in middle school?

LENTHE: That would be the classic "Tiny Dancer." You couldn't go wrong there.

EISENBERG: (Laughter).

LENTHE: Middle school and high school - got them both.

EISENBERG: Wait a second. I know that it's a classic song. But that was a slow-dance song?

LENTHE: Yeah.

EISENBERG: Wow.

LENTHE: It was a great one.

EISENBERG: Yeah. (Singing) Tiny dancer...

JONATHAN COULTON: It literally³ says, hold me closer, tiny dancer. So it's got instructions in it right in there.

LENTHE: I know. You can't go wrong.

COULTON: Yeah.

EISENBERG: And would you think, in your mind, as whoever you were dancing with held you closer - would you go, I'm the tiny dancer?

(LAUGHTER)

LENTHE: That was what I was aiming for always.

EISENBERG: Very good. Owen, what song did you slow dance to in middle school?

MOORHEAD: I have to be honest with you. I didn't go to any dances in middle school or high school. I was too shy to invite anybody myself. And nobody invited me. So I just ended up doing other things.

EISENBERG: If you were to slow dance tomorrow, do you have a song in mind?

MOORHEAD: It would have to be "The Dance" by Garth Brooks⁴.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) I didn't see that one coming.

MOORHEAD: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: The classic one in my school was "Stairway To Heaven." That was a classic.

COULTON: Yeah. That's fine until you get to the fast section. And then nobody knows what to do.

EISENBERG: Well, you go apart for a little while. And you just, like, dance really furiously.

COULTON: And then you come...

EISENBERG: And then you come back together.

COULTON: All right. That's nice. That's a nice metaphor⁵.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) Yeah, exactly. For the rockiness of a relationship.

COULTON: That's right. That's how it is in real life.

EISENBERG: Your first game is a music-parody game. And it's also a word game called Allads. That's the word ballads⁷ with one letter missing. Jonathan Coulton, take it away.

COULTON: So in this game, I'm going to play a ballad⁶ for you. But we have changed the lyrics⁸ to reflect what would happen if we removed one letter from the song's title.

So, for example, if I sang the Cyndi Lauper song "Time After Time," but the lyrics were about "Project Runway" after Tim Gunn retires, you would answer time after Tim, dropping one letter from the song "Time After Time."

Puzzle guru Art Chung is standing⁹ by if you need any hints. Just buzz in to identify the song title with one letter removed. And the winner will be one step closer to moving onto the final round at the end of the show. Are you ready?

MOORHEAD: I'm ready.

LENTHE: I'm ready as I'm ever going to be.

COULTON: (Laughter) OK. Here we go.

(Singing) Did you ever know that you are my hairpiece, the curly brown locks that my wife digs? I don't look balder than an eagle, for you are...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Owen.

MOORHEAD: It's got to be the wind beneath my wig¹⁰.

ART CHUNG: That's right. We'll take that. The wind beneath my wigs¹¹.

EISENBERG: Nobody wants that.

COULTON: No. No, it's bad. You don't...

MOORHEAD: (Laughter).

COULTON: If the wind is getting under your wig, something terrible is about to happen.

(Singing) Greetings from the other side. We've got sinners who have died, too late to be sorry for everything. They come down to suffer eternal damnation.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Kirsten.

LENTHE: Hell?

COULTON: Hell is correct.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) One of our darker clues...

COULTON: It is...

EISENBERG: ...In the old lighthearted ASK ME ANOTHER.

COULTON: Definitely some darkness to it - I agree.

EISENBERG: (Laughter).

COULTON: Of course, that was from "Hello" from Adele.

EISENBERG: I think this was her first run at "Hello."

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: She's like, you know what? It's too dark. I'm going to lighten it up a little bit. All right. Here we go.

(Singing) Warm, hot - raise my thermostat¹². I believe that...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Owen.

MOORHEAD: My heat will go on.

COULTON: Yeah, that's right (laughter). OK. Here's another one.

(Singing) You and me - we used to rise together - everywhere together, climbing. I really feel I'm reaching the graph bend. I can't believe this could be a trend. It looks like as though you're on a cliff. And at the top, I don't want you to stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Owen.

MOORHEAD: "Don't Peak."

COULTON: That's right - "Don't Peak" from "Don't Speak" by No Doubt. All right, this is your last clue. (Singing) Guess it's true I'm not good at talking loud. But I still need to speak because there's a crowd. These folks never seem to hear word one. You can help if you'll please speak in unison¹³. Won't you...

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Kirsten.

LENTHE: "Say With Me."

COULTON: "Say With Me," you got it - "Stay With Me," of course.

EISENBERG: Yeah, I love that Tom Petty song.

COULTON: (Laughter). Zing. Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

CHUNG: They both did great at a very tough game, but congratulations to Owen. You're one step closer to the final round.

1 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

6 ballad   

n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲

参考例句：

• This poem has the distinctive flavour of a ballad.这首诗有民歌风味。
• This is a romantic ballad that is pure corn.这是一首极为伤感的浪漫小曲。

7 ballads   

民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴

参考例句：

• She belted out ballads and hillbilly songs one after another all evening. 她整晚一个接一个地大唱民谣和乡村小调。
• She taught him to read and even to sing two or three little ballads,accompanying him on her old piano. 她教他读书，还教他唱两三首民谣，弹着她的旧钢琴为他伴奏。

8 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

11 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白

12 thermostat   

n.恒温器

参考例句：

• The thermostat is connected by a link to the carburetor.恒温控制器是由一根连杆与汽化器相连的。
• The temperature is controlled by electronic thermostat with high accuracy.电子恒温器，准确性高。

13 unison   

n.步调一致，行动一致

参考例句：

• The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
• My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。