全新版大学英语听说教程第二册 Unit05

2-5-A

 

 

1. Most people like music. In fact, we are surrounded by it. It's on the radio and television and can be heard in stores and offices. However, not everyone likes the same kind of music.

2. The manager of the music shop was called Brian Epstein. Because so many people had asked for a record by the Beatles, Epstein decided¹ to go and listen to the group himself.

3. Firstly I would like to talk about classical music and its representative composers, then I will move on to jazz music, and finally I will focus on pop music in the last century.

4. We listen to exciting music and our hearts beat faster, our blood pressure rises, and our blood flows more quickly. In short, we're stimulated².

 

 

2-5-B

 

 

Background Music

Background music may seem harmless, but it can have a powerful effect on those who hear it. Recorded background music first found its way into factories, shops and restaurants in the USA. Very soon it spread to other parts of the world. Now it is becoming difficult to go shopping or eat a meal without listening to music.

To begin with, background music was intended simply to create a soothing³ atmosphere. Recently, however, it's becoming a big business. An American marketing⁴ expert has shown that music can boost⁵ sales or increase factory production by as much as a third.

But it has to be the light music. Lively music has no effect at all on sales. Slow music can increase receipts by 34%. This is probably because shoppers slow down and have more opportunity to spot items they would like to buy. Yet, slow music isn't always the answer. The expert found that in restaurants slow music meant customers took longer to eat their meals, which reduced overall sales. So restaurant owners might be well advised to play faster music to keep the customers moving -- unless, of course, the resulting indigestion leads to complaints.

 

 

2-5-C

Celine Dion

Celine Dion is the youngest of 14 children in a working-class family in Quebec, Canada. Her parents, who both loved music, encouraged her to develop her musical talent. At 12, Celine had composed the song "It Was Only a Dream". Her mother and brother helped her to make a recording⁶ of that song and sent it off to an address they found on an album of a popular French singer. The address was that of Rene Angelil, who became her first conquest, but there would be millions more.

Celine's rise from a teenage singer to a pop superstar has been steady, but not without difficulties. Record companies were at first less enthusiastic about investing in a teenager than Angelil, who mortgaged⁷ his own home to pay for her first album. But her first two albums won a great success. And by 1983 she became the first Canadian ever to have a gold record in France.

In 1990, Celine made her first English language record with Unison⁸ but her real breakthrough in America came when she was selected by Disney to sing the theme song of Beauty and the Beast. The song went to No. 1 on the chart and won both a Grammy and an Academy award. In 1996 she performed at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and in 1997, she recorded the theme song for Titanic⁹, and her name became synonymous with the enormously successful film.

Celine Dion's favorite theme is love. She sings the depth and the power of love in a great many of her hits such as "Love Can Move Mountains", "Because You Loved Me", "The Power of Love" and, of course, the theme song of Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On".

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

3 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

5 boost   

n.鼓励，激励，提高；v.鼓励，使增强信心

参考例句：

• This will be a great boost to the economy.这对于经济发展将是一个巨大的促进。
• These changes will help to boost share prices.这些变化将有助于提高股票价格。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 mortgaged   

v.抵押( mortgage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The house is mortgaged to the bank for twenty thousand dollars. 这房子以两万美元押给银行。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His business is failing; he's mortgaged all his assets to try to save it. 他的企业在亏损，他抵押了所有资产企图挽救它。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。