英语听力精选进阶版 11234

 

Keep your English up to date 

Wannabe 

Professor David Crystal 

A very unusual feature of SOME languages, and of English in 

particular, is that you can have phrases that can be used as 

words: a phrase used as a word! 'Wannabe' is a good case in 

point. It's of course a colloquial¹ version² of "want to be" – 

wannabe: w - a- double n- a – b – e  -- sometimes with two e's 

at the end. If I say "he's a wannabe", what I mean is he's an 

admirer or a fan; somebody who wants to emulate³ a celebrity⁴ by 

copying that celebrity's dress or behaviour or something like this.  

It actually started back in the United States sometime in the 

1980s. I think it first became very popular when people wanted 

to be like Madonna the pop star. Certainly that's when I first 

heard it very very regularly and a 'wannabe' person is someone 

who wants to be as famous, or just get some reflected glory 

from the person, in this case Madonna, that they were admiring. 

It reflects the colloquial pronunciation.  

Notice, it's not a very polite expression. You can talk about other people as being 

wannabes, but you wouldn't say that you yourself were a wannabe, and if you say 

about somebody "he's a wannabe", you're really being a little bit sceptical about 

that person's state of mind I think, to some extent⁵. But it's a very popular term – 

you'll hear everybody use it these days. 

1 colloquial   

adj.口语的，会话的

参考例句：

• It's hard to understand the colloquial idioms of a foreign language.外语里的口头习语很难懂。
• They have little acquaintance with colloquial English. 他们对英语会话几乎一窍不通。

2 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

3 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

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 extent   

n.程度，范围，限度；广度，宽度，大小

参考例句：

• The new race track is nearly six miles in extent. 这条新跑道将近六英里长。
• What's the extent of the damage? 损坏的程度如何?