节目资讯
刊物:名人特写
日期:2009-06-02
难易度:Low
关键字:contract, performance, dramatically, pursue, grump
(Music).
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Studio Classroom Worldwide.
My name is Steve.
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to study English with us.
We are on our second day of the article:
Bianca Ryan: Born to Sing.
Bianca is a very, very talented young woman from Philadelphia,
which is a large city located in the eastern part of the United States.
Now what’s Bianca’s talent?
Her talent is she can sing with power.
People are amazed and surprised when they hear this young teenager sing.
Today we’re going to see what Bianca has been up to since she first auditioned
for national talent program back in two thousand two.
But before we do, we need to preview a few key words.
The first word is contract.
The actor signed a contract, agreeing to be on the TV show for one year.
The second is performance, as in:
Jennifer gave a wonderful performance in her high school play.
OK.
Bianca is on the road to stardom.
Let’s see where that road leads.
Please open your magazines to page fourteen and follow as we begin the reading.
Bianca Ryan: Born to Sing.
America’s Got Talent.
In two thousand six, Bianca auditioned for a brand-new TV talent show called
America’s Got Talent.
The eleven-year-old won the contest, the one million dollar prize and a contract
with Sony Records.
The performance of her first song immediately became one of YouTube’s
most-watched videos.
And people from around the world began praising her.
Praise even came from American Idol’s normally grumpy judge, Simon Cowell.
”Bianca Ryan is [possibly] one of the best singers I have ever heard,” he said.
(Music).
Hi, Friends.
I’m Rachel.
And I’m Chip.
And I’m Esther. And today we’re on the second day of our article:
Bianca Ryan: Boarn to Sing.
Now yesterday we talked about how at age seven she began joining national
contests.
And by the time she was eight or nine, she was singing for professionals’ words.
She is a talented young lady who obviously isn’t afraid to get in front of a
large group of people and just sing her heart out.
And if you’re like a lot of Americans, you enjoy these talent shows that are on
TV now.
And one of the talent shows that she went on is called America’s Got Talent.
It was a new show when she auditioned for it.
And it’s very similar to the show that we talked about yesterday.
Uh, Star Search,
where you have several different performers who are performing,
uh, maybe singing and dancing or maybe both.
And they are judged on their performance.
So in two thousand and six - that’s only three years ago,
Bianca auditioned for a brand-new TV talent show... which we’ve been talking
about called America’s Got Talent.
Now remember this word ”auditioned”.
If you audition for something, you are trying out.
And we use this word when we talk about performance.
So auditioning for a play or for a TV drama or for a role in the movie.
Now I think one thing that sets the show apart from others,
at least when I saw,
is that anybody can go on the show if you are eight years old or if you’re
eighty years old as long as you have some sort of talent.
What’s amazing is that there were a lot of other people on the show who were
also very talented.
who were probably a lot older,
and who had much more time to work on their skills.
But Bianca, at an eleven year old age, at a very young age, won this contest.
And that is absolutely amazing.
And if you heard her performance, I think you would say yes, she deserves to win
because of her powerful voice,
even as an eleven year old.
At eleven years old, she was amazing the audience.
And not only did she win the contest, she also got a one million US dollar prize
and a contract with Sony Records.
Now Chip, if you get a contract with Sony Records, what does that mean?
Well, a contract is an official legal agreement between usually two people or
two groups of people.
So here basically, she signed a written legal agreement or a contract with Sony
Records.
So she made promises to Sony Records,
and Sony Records made promises to her.
And many singers really are looking for that contract.
There are so many uh, would-be singers out there who want the contract because
that means then they have...
they can work with a label and people can get to know them and their name gets
out.
And so this is a really big deal for a young girl. I... I think most of the time
people don’t get their contracts until they’re quite a bit older.
And especially Sony Records is one of the largest record companies in the world.
So for them to sign a contract with her at only age eleven, that is one amazing
feat.
It sure is.
Well, another thing we learned here is that she became kind of an overnight
sensation on the Internet.
And why is that, Chip?
Well, she became popular on the Internet because her first song, her...
or her first uh... the performance of her first song on television, on America’s
Got Talent became immediately popular on YouTube.
Now that word performance is one of our vocabulary words.
And a performance is when a person performs for an audience,
whether they do singing or dancing.
Usually it’s something up on a stage in front of an audience.
So the song that she sang became one of the most popular watch videos on
YouTube.
YouTube is a free online website where you can watch many, many videos.
And it became so popular that people around the world began praising her.
And people began to know about Bianca Ryan.
Exactly.
And someone else who came to know who she was was the American Idol judge, Simon
Cowell... Cowell.
And he’s normally a little bit grumpy.
Maybe if you’ve ever seen American Idol,
you’ve seen him criticize some of the people who are auditioning for that show.
But when he decides to praise someone, it’s usually pretty significant.
Right.
He... when... Yeah, when he praises somebody, it’s significant because usually
he’s very grumpy,
which means uh, maybe not happy or um, he kind of maybe comes off a little angry
at times.
And he said Bianca Ryan is - and we add ”possibly” - one of the best singers I
have ever heard.
So for this usually grumpy judge to say this, it means that she really is an
excellent singer.
Well, now let’s visit the Chat Room.
And then we’ll take a break and we’ll be back and we’ll finish our article.
Welcome to the Chat Room.
I’m Ken.
And I’m Doris.
Today we continue to look at the story of Bianca Ryan.
Our lesson tells us:
In two thousand six, Bianca auditioned for a brand-new TV talent show called
America’s Got Talent.
Doris, let’s talk about auditioning.
Can I audition for a sports team?
No, you don’t audition for a sports team.
You try out for a sports team.
Try out?
That’s right.
Auditions are for people involved in music and arts,
such as singing and playing a musical instrument, dancing and acting.
So if I want to join the school’s basketball team, I try out for it.
That’s right.
And you call the whole procedure a tryout.
I see.
(Chinese).
Doris, you mentioned acting.
If I auditioned for a part in a play, what would I have to do?
Well, you might do a monologue, which is a long speech.
I see.
(Chinese).
What about a screen test?
What’s that?
Well, a screen test is an audition for performing on film.
The performer is generally given a scene and instructed to perform in front of a
camera to see if he or she is suitable for a particular role.
The video is later evaluated by the production people.
(Chinese).
Well, it’s time for a short break.
But don’t go too far because Studio Classroom will be right back.