Take Away English-Ballroom Dancing 交际舞

Strictly2 Come Dancing" width="203" src="/upimg/allimg/080118/1455230.jpg" />

Famous former British athlete Colin Jackson learns to dance

Ballroom¹ dancing in the UK used to be seen as something rather unfashionable that old people might do. For the past five years though, the popularity of ballroom dancing has soared thanks to a reality TV show.

Strictly Come Dancing is one of the BBC's big TV shows. Millions of people tune³ in every Saturday night to watch the show which airs from September right up to Christmas.

In the show a number of professional ballroom dancers each partner up with a celebrity⁴. Every week they have to learn a different ballroom dance and perform it live on TV on the Saturday night.

Four judges, all of whom have a background in professional dance, give the celebrities⁵ scores and comments about their dances. It is then up to the public to call in and vote for their favourite couple. The two least favourite then have to dance again and the judges decide who stays in the competition and who leaves.

The show demonstrates how glamorous⁶ ballroom dancing is. The celebrities get to wear colourful dresses and sequinned suits to dance in, and it looks like a lot of fun.

The TV programme also shows what good exercise it can be to ballroom dance and what hard work is involved in learning the dances and performing them properly.

Dance schools around the country have seen a boost in the number of people wanting to learn how to dance. And it's not only older people who are interested. Lots of children and young people in their 20s are keen to learn.

The format⁷ for the show has been copied in lots of countries around the world. In America, the show is called Dancing with the Stars and at the moment Mel B from the Spice Girls is doing very well in the show. In the British show there are famous TV presenters⁸, former sportsmen and even rock star Rod Stewart's wife, photographer Penny Lancaster, is taking part.

So you can forget your usual exercise – why not learn a foxtrot, a tango or a jive or for the less energetic, a waltz perhaps. It's the trendy thing to do!

GLOSSARY 词汇表

unfashionable 不时髦 tune in 收看 partner up 结为舞伴 judges 裁判 up to 由…决定 sequinned 镶光片的 keen 积极的 former 前(任) tango 探戈舞 waltz 华尔兹

soared 骤然上升 airs 播出 live 现场 scores 比分 glamorous 华丽的 a boost 促进 format （程序）方式 foxtrot 狐步 jive 捷舞 trendy 时髦的

  

1 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

2 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

5 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

6 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 presenters   

n.节目主持人，演播员( presenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each week presenters would put the case for their favourite candidate. 每个星期主持人推出他们最喜欢的候选人。 来自互联网
• Karaoke was set up to allowed presenters to sing on the stage. 宴会设有歌唱舞台，可让出席者大演唱功。 来自互联网