听播客学英语 131 艾米来到伯明翰

 　　Today, Listen to English visits the world of British pop music.

　　I started by doing some research. “Who is Amy Winehouse?” I asked my children. There was silence. The children sighed and rolled their eyes. It is very embarrassing¹ for them to have a parent who asks them silly questions about pop music – questions like “Who is Amy Winehouse?”. Parents are allowed to like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but they are not allowed to know anything that happened later than about 1990. That is for the younger generation. Parents should keep out.

　　So I asked them again, “Who is Amy Winehouse?” And they explained that she is a singer, and that she had a gig in Birmingham last week and the gig had been a shambles². And, please, will I not talk about it in front of their friends.

　　And in case you do not understand what this means, a gig means a concert or performance, and a shambles means something which is chaotic³ and disorganised. Amy Winehouse had a concert in Birmingham last week and it was a disaster.

　　It happened like this. Amy Winehouse is 24 years old. She comes from Enfield in north London. She sings jazzy songs very well. And she is now regarded as one of the big figures in the British pop music scene.

　　But she does not go home in the evening to watch TV and drink a mug of cocoa, like good girls should. The newspapers report that she has a lifestyle in which alcohol⁴ and illegal drugs play an important part. Earlier this year she got married to a man called Blake Fielder-Civil. Mr Fielder-Civil has had a bit of trouble with the police. He has been arrested for causing serious injury to someone in a fight and for trying to bribe⁵ witnesses. He is at present enjoying a short rest in Pentonville Prison in London.

　　Last week, Amy visited her husband in prison, and this was obviously⁶ an upsetting experience for her. She then travelled to Birmingham for the opening concert of her UK tour. She arrived very late. She sang several songs so badly that the audience started to boo. She broke down in tears. She dropped the microphone⁷. She walked off the stage in the middle of a song, leaving the backing group to carry on without her. She shouted abuse⁸ at the audience. She told them that they were stupid to buy tickets for the concert. She told them, “Just wait until my husband gets out of prison”. (What is he going to do – come to Birmingham and beat us all up?) The audience booed some more. Many people left long before the end of the concert. It was, in a word, a shambles. I wish I had been there.

　　Everyone in Birmingham knows someone who knows someone who was at the gig. And in places where people discuss these matters seriously, such as our local hairdressing salon⁹, you hear three different points of view.

　　it was a disgrace¹⁰ and people who bought tickets for the concert should get their money back.

　　poor Amy. She is such a great singer. It is good that she still came to Birmingham at all, when she was obviously so upset about her husband being in prison. It is good that she could show her fans how upset she was. Everyone knows that Amy is a bit, well, unreliable, because of her little problems with alcohol and so on. People knew this before they bought tickets for the concert so of course they should not get their money back.

　　and other people don’t care, because they have more important things to worry about.

　　What do you think?

1 embarrassing   

adj.使人尴尬的，令人为难的v.（使）窘迫，（使）局促不安( embarrass的现在分词)

参考例句：

• His jokes didn't even raise a smile, which was embarrassing. 听了他讲的笑话，都没人笑一下，真是太尴尬了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was in the embarrassing position of having completely forgotten her name. 当时我完全忘记了她的名字，很是尴尬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 shambles   

n.混乱之处；废墟

参考例句：

• My room is a shambles.我房间里乱七八糟。
• The fighting reduced the city to a shambles.这场战斗使这座城市成了一片废墟。

3 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

4 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

5 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

6 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

7 microphone   

n.扩音器，麦克风，话筒

参考例句：

• He gave a tap at the microphone before speaking.他在讲话前先轻叩了一下扩音器。
• She behaved naturally before the microphone.她在话筒前表现自然。

8 abuse   

vt.滥用；辱骂；诋毁；n.滥用；恶习；弊端

参考例句：

• You can't make personal abuse on her.你不可对她进行人身攻击。
• She screamed abuse at me.她尖声责备我。

9 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

10 disgrace   

n.耻辱，不光彩，丢脸的人（或事）；vt.使丢脸

参考例句：

• You will bring disgrace on yourself by doing this.你这样做会给自己带来耻辱。
• He is a disgrace to our school.他是我们学校的耻辱。