VOA慢速英语--美国四岁女孩一年内成为钢琴演奏家

At just four years of age, Brigitte Xie has already won a place to perform piano at New York City's Carnegie Hall. The young girl also can read music. She can even play a piece of classical¹ music from Beethoven. It is called "Sonatina in F Major."

Brigitte's feet hang above the floor when the small girl sits on the piano seat. Her hands move spiritedly across the piano keys.

She shyly looked down when her mother, Nicole Sun, asked if she likes piano and if it is fun. "Yeah, fun," Brigitte replied. The young girl wears her long brown hair tied back.

Brigitte's father, Tao Xie of Ridgefield, Connecticut, signed her up for online piano classes on Zoom² about a year ago. The video conferencing program become a popular way to attend all kinds of classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tao bought the lessons to give his daughter something to do after officials ordered people to stay at home. "At the beginning, I never expected that she's going to be a prodigy³ or anything," he said. But he was happily surprised that it happened.

Brigitte is the youngest winner of the well-respected Elite⁴ International Music Competition. That win earned her the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall. In November 2020, she was supposed to play there as part of a competition called the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition. But it got delayed⁵ to this November and now to November 2022 because of the ongoing⁶ COVID-19 crisis⁷.

Brigitte's mother gives credit⁸ to her piano teacher, Felicia Feng Zhang.

"Brigitte came to me when she was just two months after three years old," her teacher said. "From the lessons, I observed she has a curious mind and she loves to learn. We call that passion⁹."

She added¹⁰ that, during the lessons, the girl's "big eyes really, really watch me and how I demonstrate¹¹." She says Brigitte's concentration¹² level is really high and continues to improve. And, she follows directions very well.

Nicole Sun says her daughter may have more skill and interest in music than other children. But the most important thing is that they found Felicia. "Yeah, we are really lucky to have met her and have her as Brigitte's first piano teacher," she said.

Words in This Story

piano - n. a large musical instrument with a keyboard that you play by pressing black and white keys and that produces sound when small hammers inside the piano hit steel wires

shyly - adv. done in a way that shows you are nervous and uncomfortable about meeting and talking to people

prodigy - n. a young person who is unusually talented in some way

curious - adj. having a desire to learn or know more about something

1 classical   

adj.古典的；古典文学的；正统派的；古典主义的

参考例句：

• This classical poem is hard to understand.这首古诗很费解。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

2 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

3 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 delayed   

adj.延时的，定时的v.（使）耽搁，延误( delay的过去式和过去分词 )；推迟；使延期；使延迟

参考例句：

• Deliveries of mail could be delayed because of cost-cutting. 由于削减成本，邮件的递送可能会延迟。
• The most likely explanation is that his plane was delayed. 最可能的解释是他的飞机晚点了。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

8 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

9 passion   

n.热爱，强烈的感情，热情，耶稣的受难

参考例句：

• He had a passion for music.他酷爱音乐。
• In his passion,he tore the letter into pieces.在盛怒之下，他把那封信撕得粉碎。

10 added   

adj.更多的，附加的，额外的

参考例句：

• They have added a new scene at the beginning.在开头他们又增加了一场戏。
• The pop music added to our enjoyment of the film.片中的流行音乐使我们对这部电影更加喜爱。

11 demonstrate   

vt.论证，证明；示范；显示；vi.示威游行

参考例句：

• Let me demonstrate to you how this machine works.我给你演示一下这台机器的运转情况。
• How can I demonstrate to you that my story is true?我怎样才能向你证明我的话是真实的呢？

12 concentration   

n.集中；专注；浓度；浓缩

参考例句：

• She wrinkled her brows in concentration.她蹙额皱眉，陷入沉思。
• If smoke is going that way,then it means the concentration here should be decreasing.如果烟雾沿着这个方向飘，这意味着，这里的浓度应该是减少的。