[00:05.20]Lesson 41 1 Dialogue
[00:11.44]Jackie and Yang Pei are both students in Australia.
[00:16.90]They talking about the coming weekend.
[00:21.26]What are you doing on Saturday evening?
[00:25.21]I'm going to hear John Denver.
[00:29.05]Who's he? Haven't you heard of him?
[00:33.44]He's a very famous singer.
[00:36.96]He's singing at the New Theatre on Saturday.
[00:41.40]What kind of music does he sing?
[00:45.35]American country music.He writes most of his songs himself.
[00:51.72]Is he good? Of course he is.He's very successful.
[00:57.47]He's made lots of records.
[01:01.44]They broadcase a programme of his music last month on the radio.
[01:07.08]Why don't you come on Saturday?
[01:10.74]I think you'd enjoy it. That's a good idea.
[01:16.02]You'd better hurry and buy a ticket then.It'll be very popular.
[01:21.76]3 Dialogue Jackie and Yang Pei meet the next day.
[01:29.31]Are you coming on Saturday?
[01:32.87]No,I'm afraid I'm not. Why not?
[01:38.32]When I got to the theatre I found that they had sold all the tickets.
[01:44.28]Bad luck!
[01:47.13]Lesson 42 Reading
[01:57.16]Read this passage to get a general idea.
[02:02.20]Is American country music about modern life?
[02:06.85]AMERICAN COUNTRY MUSIC
[02:10.93]During the 1990,American country music has become more and more popular.
[02:18.00]Song writers are no longer writing about the modern values of the USA--
[02:24.25]money,success or expensive things to buy.
[02:29.52]Instead they are writing once more about things that are common for everyone:
[02:36.19]feeling alones in the mdeern world,
[02:40.24]the value of having good friends and so on.
[02:44.70] In the 1950s,American music was about other things,
[02:50.87]for example,love--getting or losing a boyfriend or girlfriend.
[02:57.53]Money was also thought to be important.
[03:01.89] Then in the 1960s song writers turned to other subjects.
[03:08.66]During these years many young students were angry with society,
[03:14.72]so songs were often full of anger.
[03:19.08]Political leaders were not well thought of
[03:23.13]and those songs often made fun of them.
[03:27.28] Today country music has returned.
[03:31.36]It has become big business.
[03:35.30]It brings in between 200 and 400 million dollars a year.
[03:41.36]Once the home of American country music was Nashville,Tennessee.
[03:47.32]Now,however,the music has reachered all parts of the States,
[03:52.88]from Los Angeles in the west to New York in the east.
[03:58.65]Singers do not just come from the States but from all over the world.
[04:04.61]There are many famous singers from Britain,Canada and Australia.
[04:10.46]A lot of them appear on television too.
[04:14.82] The first country singers sang while playing the guitar.
[04:19.87]It was easy for them to carry a guitar on their travels.
[04:25.22]Now,however,a lot of electrical equipment is needed for larger theatres.
[04:31.70] Country music today remains much the same as before.
[04:36.74]One subject to which country music often returns is "the good old days".
[04:43.51]In "the good old days" people thought well of each other.
[04:48.78]People loved life in the open air.
[04:52.83]They beleved that the best things in life were free |