Why has the UK stopped producing pop superstars英國(guó)難再造流行巨星之揭秘

彭向梅

1.hype（Para. 3） v. 夸張地宣傳（某事物）

The meeting was hyped up in the media as an important event.

媒體大肆宣傳這次會(huì)議是一項(xiàng)重要的活動(dòng)。

2.subscription（Para. 6） n. 訂閱;捐款

The classic newspaper business is both a subscription service and advertising supported.

傳統(tǒng)的新聞報(bào)刊業(yè)同時(shí)提供了訂閱服務(wù)和廣告服務(wù)。

3.self-contained（Para. 10） adj. 獨(dú)立的;自足的;設(shè)備齊全的

He seems completely self-contained and he doesn't miss you when you're not there.

他似乎完全獨(dú)立了，你不在的時(shí)候他也不想念你。

4.high-profile（Para. 11） adj. 高調(diào)的;備受矚目的;知名度高的

He is a high-profile criminal defence lawyer.

他是一位備受關(guān)注的刑事辯護(hù)律師。

Three years ago British artists made up half the global top 10. Now the biggest new stars barely make a mark overseas. What is behind this sea change—and is there a way back？

Has the UK music business lost its powerful magic for creating pop superstars？ The UK music industry will celebrate the first National Album Day on Saturday， but top-selling new albums by British pop artists are dissatisfactory in 2018.

It's not that there is a scarcity of new music in the UK because the albums by Paul McCartney， Years & Years， Florence + the Machine， James Bay and hyped new artists Anne-Marie and Jorja Smith have all made it into the top five. But none of them have sold well enough to make the Official Charts Company's Top 10 releases of the year so far. Only two UK albums released in 2018 made the list： Staying at Tamara's by George Ezra and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys.

Ed Sheeran is the most popular UK artist in Billboard's Artist 100 chart. He came in at No. 13. The next Briton is breakout R&B star Ella Mai at No. 21， followed by Dua Lipa at No. 56. However， there are no British albums in the Top 20 of the American album chart.

Industry experts suggest some reasons for the decline of the economy， from the dominance of streaming services to the end of traditional marketing strategies.

Since 2013， streaming services have overtaken CDs and downloads as the most popular way of consuming music， with subscription services rising from a 9.9% share of UK recorded music revenues to 48% in 2017.

Streaming services are song-focused rather than artist-focused， which makes it harder for artists working in album formats to break through， says Hannah Neaves， who leads marketing and artist development at Tap， a famous management company.

Before streaming's dominance， artists could quickly get success such as the singer Adele and Sheeran. But now，“You have to be prepared to spend three years getting to a position that previously would have taken you nine months，” says Neaves. “All the biggest playlists are American and it's very difficult to get British acts on them， which can make a great difference to your competition.”

Besides，hip-hop is the most popular style on both sides of the Atlantic， but the UK's music offering has not historically translated well overseas. Now despite the international nature of streaming， there is an increased demand for domestic music， because people could have a better understanding of their own music combined with their culture.

If there isn't good translation of music to help to convey cultural background， you can't get great success in other countries even if you develop well at home. The style is very self-contained， so when we are trying to sell someone overseas， it's very hard to compete with what already catching the attention.

The music industry is now in its key pre-Christmas fourth quarter， traditionally a time for high-profile releases. A “super-deluxe （超級(jí)豪華）” edition of Dua Lipa's first album arrives next week and new albums by leading acts. Jess Glynne， Muse， Mumford and Sons and Rita Ora could change the UK's declining fortunes.

Part 1 整體感知

本文是一篇說(shuō)明文。幾年前，英國(guó)的音樂(lè)在其他國(guó)家頗受歡迎，音樂(lè)專輯銷量領(lǐng)先，但現(xiàn)在英國(guó)的音樂(lè)市場(chǎng)逐漸縮小，音樂(lè)產(chǎn)業(yè)日漸式微。雖然英國(guó)音樂(lè)界于周六（10月13日）慶祝首個(gè)全國(guó)唱片日，但流行歌手們的新專輯在2018年的銷量卻并不令人滿意。并不是說(shuō)英國(guó)缺少新音樂(lè)，而是，自2013年以來(lái)，流媒體服務(wù)已經(jīng)取代了CD和下載成為最流行的音樂(lè)消費(fèi)方式，加之英國(guó)的音樂(lè)在海外沒(méi)有得到很好的翻譯，所以銷量在日益減少。希望在圣誕節(jié)前第四季度的關(guān)鍵時(shí)期，Jess Glynne， Muse等歌手發(fā)布的新專輯會(huì)改變英國(guó)音樂(lè)產(chǎn)業(yè)衰落的命運(yùn)。

篇章結(jié)構(gòu)梳理：

Part 2 語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)

Ⅰ.熱詞積累（考綱內(nèi)詞匯，包括短語(yǔ)）

Ⅱ.詞匯拓展

詞綴dis-的用法

① 表示“不……”，用作否定意義

e.g. dis+n.

disorder 無(wú)秩序（dis+order順序→沒(méi)有順序）

disproof 反證;反駁（dis+proof證實(shí)→不證實(shí)→反證）

disarm 解除武裝（dis+arm武裝→去掉武裝）

dis+v.

dislike 不喜歡（dis+like喜愛(ài)→不喜愛(ài)）

disappear 消失（dis+appear出現(xiàn)→不出現(xiàn)→消失）

discover 發(fā)現(xiàn)（dis+cover遮蓋→不遮蓋→發(fā)現(xiàn)）

dis+adj.

dishonest 不誠(chéng)實(shí)的（dis+honest誠(chéng)實(shí)的→不誠(chéng)實(shí)的）

② 表示“分開(kāi);分離”

dismiss 解散;開(kāi)除（dis+miss懷念→開(kāi)除）

discard 丟棄;拋棄（dis+card梳理→丟棄）

Ⅲ.難句分析

Now despite the international nature of streaming， there is an increased demand for domestic music， because people could have a better understanding of their own music combined with their culture.

翻譯：__________________________________________________

【點(diǎn)石成金】本句是一個(gè)復(fù)合句，句子開(kāi)頭由despite 引導(dǎo)的介詞短語(yǔ)，“盡管……”;there is an increased demand for domestic music，可顛倒語(yǔ)序，翻譯成“對(duì)于國(guó)內(nèi)音樂(lè)的需求增加了”;后面是because引導(dǎo)的原因狀語(yǔ)從句，其中combined是現(xiàn)在分詞作后置定語(yǔ)。

Part 3 視角拓展

1.What's the streaming according to the text？

______________________________________________

2.With the development of the streaming service， what influence does the technology have on the UK music business？ Can you offer more effective solutions？______________________________________________