书城外语流行文化篇(老外最想和你聊的101个英语话题)
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第93章 Trendy Lifestyle 潮流生活(5)

Huang: I am an immigrant…and I used to drive this used car with a lot of bumper stickers that impossible to peel it off…and one of them said…if you don’t speak English…go home…and I didn’t know this for two years…黄:我是个移民,我曾经开着这辆贴了很多贴纸撕都撕不下来的二手车开了很久。其中一张贴纸写的是……如果你不会说英语,滚回家吧……我两年以后才知道写的是这个。

XI: I tried really hard to become a US citizen, and I had to take this America history lessons…西:我曾经很努力地想成为美国公民,为此我不得不去上美国历史课。

Huang: I have a family now, but I used to be really scared of marriage… I was like…wow…50% of all marriages end up lasting for ever…黄:我现在成家了,不过我曾经很害怕结婚,我那时在想,哇哦,有一半的婚姻竟然以长相厮守到永远作为结局……XI: I just had my first child last year… and aah…I was really amazed by it…you know…I was at the delivery room…holding on my son…thinking to myself…wow…he was just born…and he is already a US citizen…so I said to him…ah…do you even know who’s Benjamin Franklin…西:去年我刚有了第一个孩子,我真的很惊喜,我在产房,抱着我的儿子,脑子里想,哇哦,他才刚出生,就已经是美国公民了……所以我对他说……喂,你已经知道本杰明?富兰克林是谁了吗……Huang: Now I have a sign on my car…it says…ah…baby on board…this sign is basically a threat…it just says I have a screaming baby and a nagging wife…and I am not afraid of dying anymore…黄:现在我的车上有个标记,写的是车里有个孩子,这个标记基本上就是一个威胁——意思是,我有一个哭闹的孩子和一个唠叨的老婆——我再也不怕死了……Pop Music

流行音乐

流行音乐(Popular music)是属于一种有着广泛听众且极具吸引力的音乐,相较于艺术音乐站和传统音乐。流行音乐是一个不分年龄人人共享的音乐,以“雅俗共赏”通称。按通常说法,所谓流行音乐,是指那些结构短小、内容通俗、形式活泼、情感真挚,并被广大群众所喜爱,广泛传唱或欣赏,流行一时的甚至流传后世的器乐曲和歌曲。

Realize Pop Music

认识流行音乐

1流行音乐的特点

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of “popular”) is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes。 Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as a genre is particularly associated with the rock and roll and later rock style。

Musicologists often identify the following characteristics as typical of the pop music genre:

An aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideologyAn emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal “artistic” qualitiesAn emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performanceA tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developmentsMuch pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or rhythmsThe main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure。 Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse。 The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment。 The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships — although there are notable exceptions。

Harmony in pop music is often “that of classical European tonality, only more simple-minded。” Cliche’s include the barbershop harmony and blues scale-influenced harmony。 The influence of the circle-of-fifths paradigm has declined since the mid-1950s。

2欧美流行音乐的几种风格的表达方式

(1)Tin Pan Alley叮砰巷歌曲

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century。

(2)Jazz爵士乐

Jazz is a musical tradition and style of music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions。

(3)Country Music乡村音乐

Country music (or Country and Western) is a blend of traditional and popular musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States and the Canadian Maritimes that evolved rapidly beginning in the 1920s。

(4)Hip Hop嘻哈

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American communities during the late 1970s in New York City。

(5)Rap说唱乐

Rapping refers to “spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics”。

(6)Rock Music摇滚乐

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States。

(7)Latin Music拉丁音乐

Latin music has long influenced American popular music, jazz, rhythm and blues, and even country music。

欧美流行音乐有各种各样的风格,如爵士乐,乡村音乐,说唱,摇滚等,对中国流行音乐的影响由来已久。从二十世纪二三十年代欧美流行音乐在上海的传播,到五六十年代对港台的影响;从七八十年代港台音乐在内地的传播,到中国流行音乐不断融合欧美流行音乐的发展历程,无一不说明欧美流行音乐对中国流行音乐的影响之深广。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

Since the mid-1950s, pop music has been identified as the style of music accessible to the widest audience。 This means the music that sells the most copies, draws the largest concert audiences and is played most often on the radio。

自从20世纪50年代中期以来,流行音乐就被定义为拥有最广泛大众的音乐类型。由此,这种音乐唱片卖得最多,音乐会上人数最多,在收音机中也最常播放。

Pop music has been and continues to be a melting pot that borrows and assimilates elements and ideas from a wide range of other musical styles。

流行音乐曾经而且将来也会一直像一座熔炉一般,从各种音乐类型中借鉴并吸收其中的音乐元素和观念。

Rock, R&B, country, disco, punk, and hip hop are all specific genres of music that have influenced and been incorporated into pop music over the past 50 years。

在过去50年中,摇滚、节奏蓝调、乡村音乐、迪斯科、朋克和嘻哈音乐等各种音乐流派都曾对流行音乐产生过影响,最终在流行音乐中被贯穿融合起来。

Music videos and big live shows are often used to get pop stars more exposure in the media。

流行歌星通常通过音乐录像和大型现场表演在媒体中曝光。

Artists may have stage shows and well-rehearsed dance routines to go along with their music。

艺术家可能会举办舞台剧,根据音乐精心编排舞蹈动作。

Many pop tunes are used in dance clubs and sports clubs。

舞厅和健身房中也播放很多流行乐曲。

Pop music’s accessibility and wide appeal means the genre is highly-prized among record companies, radio stations and music television channels。

流行音乐的大众接受度和巨大的吸引力使它成为唱片公司、电台和电视音乐频道的佳宠。

This is thanks to pop’s ability to sell lots of records and get high ratings。

这要归功于它的流行力,能热卖唱片,有高收视率和高收听率。