VOA标准英语2013--Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Dec. 7

 

Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Dec. 7

We’re spotlighting¹ the five most popular songs on the Billboard² Magazine Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending December 7, 2013.

It all starts in fifth place, where Avicii dips a slot³ with “Wake Me Up!” The song features vocals⁴ from U.S. singer Aloe Blacc. 

Born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins, this 34-year-old Californian has kicked around the Los Angeles music scene for some time: he’s hosted a Sunday dance party since 2005,  and his song “I Need A Dollar” was the theme for the HBO TV series How To Make It In America. Aloe says “Wake Me Up” has supercharged his career. He’s currently⁵  shooting his role in the upcoming James Brown biopic, and his third album Lift Your Spirit hits the market next year on the Interscope label.

Up two slots to fourth place goes OneRepublic with “Counting Stars.” This is a historic⁶ success for Ryan Tedder⁷ and his band - their biggest Hot 100 success since  2007, when “Apologize” made it to number two. It also recently became OneRepublic’s first career chart-topper in the United Kingdom.

Still swinging in third place is Miley Cyrus with “Wrecking Ball.” Fellow pop star Joe Jonas just dropped a bombshell item about Miley. Speaking with New York  Magazine, Joe, a member of the Jonas Brothers, says he smoked marijuana for the first time with Miley and his ex-girlfriend Demi Lovato. All three once had to project  squeaky-clean images as Disney TV stars.

Our next acts have no such problems: Eminem and Rihanna hold in second place with “The Monster.” It’s already topped charts in nearly a dozen countries worldwide,  including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Lorde enters the Hot 100 record books, as “Royals” spends a ninth week at number one.  The New Zealand teenager is the fifth woman in Hot 100 history to reign⁸ for at  least nine weeks as a first-time headliner. She follows Debby Boone, Ashanti, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Ke$ha.

Can Lorde move into double digits⁹ at number one? We’ll find out next week.

1 spotlighting   

v.聚光照明( spotlight的现在分词 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

2 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

3 slot   

n.（口）位置，职位，狭长孔，狭槽

参考例句：

• Put a coin in the slot.将硬币放入投币口。
• He's been given a regular ten-minute slot on the radio.电台定期给他十分钟的节目广播时间。

4 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

5 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

6 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

7 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

8 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

9 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》