【轻松英文阅读】完美歌手

 Want to know which of your favorite singers has the best set of pipes? The people at the site concerthotels.com (an online booking site for hotels near concert venues) have done the research and created a really cool interactive¹ chart to show you just that. To create the chart, they examined the recordings² of over 100 top vocal³ artists. From the recordings, they found the highest and lowest notes that the artist successfully hit to determine their full vocal range.

 

So what was the verdict? Well, according to their findings, the singer with the greatest vocal range was Axl Rose of Guns and Roses. The next three on the list were Mariah Carey, Prince, Steven Tyler and James Brown, respectively.

 

The list of singers for the test was drawn⁴ from various sources. One of the main sources was a 2008 article in ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine titled, “The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” For more current singers they added the nominees⁵ for top male and female artists at the Billboard⁶ Music Awards 2014.

 

While the chart is informative⁷, it is by no means comprehensive as it is only limited to western pop music. Moreover, it only focuses on one aspect of a singer’s vocal talents. You may be surprised to find singers like Karen Carpenter and Smokey Robinson at bottom of their list. So it is important to remember that there are other factors that go into making a great voice, such as tone, expressiveness⁸ and the power of the voice to name a few.

 

 

1 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

2 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

6 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

7 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。

8 expressiveness   

n.富有表现力

参考例句：

• His painting rose to a fresh expressiveness and revealed a shrewder insight. 他的画富有一种新的表达力，显示出更敏锐的洞察力。
• The audiences are impressed by the expressiveness of the actors. 演员们的丰富表情给观众留下了深刻的印象。