2006年VOA标准英语-Mindi Abair Lives 'Life Less Ordinary'

By Doug Levine
Washington
19 June 2006
 
Offstage she's Mrs. Mindi Abair-Steele, but onstage fans still know her as jazz sax sensation¹ Mindi Abair. As we hear from VOA's Doug Levine, getting married was just one of several life-changing events that figured into Abair's latest album "Life Less Ordinary."

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Life's ups and downs are indeed the stuff² great records are made of. For Mindi, the past year has been mostly up. There's the new album, which has even surpassed³ Mindi's expectations. And, yes, there was her recent marriage to composer Jason Steele.

"Getting married changes a lot of aspects of your life," she said. "For some people it makes them happier and for some people it makes them sadder, angrier or something. For me, it's just been a really cool change of life. It's nice to come home to a great guy every night. He's been nothing but supportive."

 
Mindi Abair
  
Mindi Abair has always had lots of support, especially from her parents. Whether it was banging⁴ on the keys of a piano when she was four years old or working in her father's band, music was an around-the-clock endeavor⁵. When it came time to choose an instrument, Mindi decided⁶ on the one that brought her father success, the saxophone.

"My dad is a big fan of what I do," she said. "He's funny. I'll show demos and stuff as we're making a record so he'll give his two cents. Sometimes we'll take his two cents and sometimes we don't. So he'll call me from the car, he's done this a few times, [and say] 'You know, the CD is just really great. I can't stop listening to it.'" 

Life Less Ordinary  
  
"The songs on this CD just started coming out of me, and as I piled up a few of them I just realized each one is kind of a snapshot of a different area of my life," she continued. "So many different things happened this past year, from getting married, and [Hurricane] Katrina, that was 10 times as hard as anything we've been hit by. So I actually wrote a song called 'Rain' and I dedicated⁷ it to the victims of Hurricane Katrina."

For Mindi Abair, criss-crossing the country on a whirlwind tour, giving television and radio interviews day and night, and already at work on her next album, life at the moment is anything but ordinary.

1 sensation   

n.感觉，感知力，激动，轰动

参考例句：

• He lost all sensation in his legs through cramp.他的腿部因抽筋而失去知觉。
• Seeing him again after so many years was a strange sensation.那么多年以后又见到他，是一种不可思议的感觉。

2 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

3 surpassed   

v.超过( surpass的过去式和过去分词 )；优于；多于；非…所能办到

参考例句：

• This realization of our dreams surpassed even our wildest expectations. 我们梦想的实现甚至超越了我们最大胆的估计。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mao's fame surpassed well beyond the limits of China. 毛泽东的名声远远超越了中国国界。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 banging   

vt.猛击，猛撞（bang的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• The baby was banging the table with his spoon. 小宝宝用调羹敲打着桌子。
• Stop banging around, children, Father is trying to sleep. 孩子们，别到处乱敲！爸爸想睡觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 endeavor   

vt.／n.努力，尽力，尝试

参考例句：

• Thereupon,we knew,our endeavor was valuable.于是，我们知道，我们的努力是有价值的。
• We endeavor to make our customers satisfied.我们力图使顾客都满意。

6 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。

7 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。