Ashley's "World" tour

Ashley's "World" tour

Music has always had a big influence on my life.

I could remember being three or four and singing my little heart out into a 1)mustard bottle. Michael Bolton was big in my house back then and even though I was fairly young, thanks in great part to the endless repetition, I remembered the 2)chorus of most of his songs.

A 3)dentist appointment is where I expanded my taste in music. With extra time to spare before my dreaded 1 appointment, my grandmother 4)dragged me into a wine store in the same building. I was looking at a picture of woman on a tape cassette cover that was 5)draped around the neck of a red wine. The man who worked at the cash register noticed my fascination 2 with it and offered the tape to me for being such a good client. I could not wait for my appointment to be over with just so that I could 6)hop 3 into the car and listen to my first real tape. It was the song “Power of Love” by Celine Dion. My grandmother gave me a whole 7)lecture on how great Celine was, and she was one of the few from around here that actually made it in the business. I ran to my room, 8)popped my new tape into my Playskool tape recorder and listened to it over and over and over again. I drove my family crazy. It got to the point when my brother threatened to beat me! With that, Michael Bolton went into 9)retirement 4 and Celine Dion was all that mattered. I didn’t understand a word of what I was singing -- all I knew was that I loved to sing and no one could stop me.

As I grew older my taste grew more 10)eccentric. I loved everything from Frank Sinatra to The Spice Girls, although Celine tapes were still my favorite. After several warnings by my brother about singing and disturbing his concentration for his video games, I limited my singing to the shower. I decided 5 that the 11)shampoo bottles were my fans. My voice was 12)squeaky, and I’d occasionally get a bit of shampoo in my mouth and have to stop mid-song to spit it out, but still my audience loved me. I made my own little dream world out of that shower. When times were 13)rough, and I needed to go nuts and let go of all of my 14)frustrations, the shower was my 15)sanctuary 7.

As I grew older and a bit wiser (as wise as a teenager can get) I realized that my 16)imaginary fame couldn’t be spoken about outside the shower. I learned this lesson when I tried to describe to my friend what a freedom it was to sing my heart out. She laughed at me and said, “I pity anyone who has to hear that.” Those 17)thoughtless words were a blow to my 18)fragile 19)ego 8. That’s when I decided that my make-believe world had to take a little break. A 20)sabbatical. Within two weeks I missed my fans and I know they missed my talent.

With age, my voice grew as well. It transformed from squeaky to deep and unique. Singing made me happy, it made my fans happy. Why I let someone try to ruin that feeling is beyond me? I forgot about my “sabbatical” and started to sing again. By now I was in the middle of “Hero” by Mariah Carey and told myself to 21)ignore everyone else, this was my world.

Now at the age of fifteen, my voice has become somewhat nice. At least that’s what I’ve been told. I sing all the time now, not just in the shower. Sure, I get on people’s nerves every once in a while. Everyday, sometimes twice a day, I put in a CD and 22)blast it as loudly as possible and I sing. My neighbours often 23)compliment me for the show I put on from my bedroom window. I still get on my brother’s nerves while he tries to concentrate on his video games, I guess some people never grow up! I’m not the one to be throwing any stones though. I live in my own little 24)glasshouse.

My fans from the shower think it’s great that I’m 25)on tour. My fan base has grown drastically over the years, from the shower, to my room and beyond and I have an obligation to keep them all entertained, don’t I?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some very loyal shampoo bottles waiting for me in the “Shower 26)auditorium 9.” It is never wise to keep good fans waiting!

艾希里的澡堂歌星梦

音乐一直举足轻重地影响着我的生活。

记得刚三、四岁大时，我就对着一个芥末瓶子放声高歌。我家墙上挂有一张麦克尔·鲍顿的巨型海报，尽管我当时还年纪小，但因为唱了一遍又一遍，他的歌我能记个八九不离十。

有一次去看牙医，竟然提高了我的音乐品味。为了打发检查牙齿前那段痛苦的时间，祖母带我走进同一栋楼里一家卖酒的商店。我看见红酒瓶颈上挂着一张录音带盒面，上面印着一位女郎的肖像。收银员看到我这么好奇，慷慨地把磁带送给了我，以嘉奖我这名好顾客。检查刚一结束，我马上迫不及待地跳上车，开始聆听我拥有的第一盒真正的磁带。那是席琳·迪翁唱的《爱的力量》。祖母滔滔不绝地告诉我席琳·迪翁是何等优秀。她从这里走出去并把音乐做成功，那有多么罕见。我跑回房间，把新磁带放进“玩乐学校”牌录音机里听了一遍又一遍。这让我的家人很恼火，直至我的哥哥威胁要揍我一顿，我才罢休。就因为它，麦克尔·鲍顿退居二线，席琳·迪翁成了我的至爱，我并不懂自己唱的歌词是什么意思，但我就是爱唱歌，谁也挡不了。

随着年龄的增长，我喜欢的音乐更加独特了。尽管席琳·迪翁仍是最爱，但我也喜欢弗兰克·希兰瑞和辣妹的所有歌曲。哥哥三番五次地警告我，歌声让他没法集中精力打游戏，于是我只好把演唱场所缩小到洗澡间里。那些洗发水瓶子成了我的歌迷。我的嗓音比较扎耳，不时地嘴里会吞进一些洗发水，所以唱到半途还得停下来吐两口，但这并不会影响歌迷对我的爱戴。洗澡间成全了我的小小梦想。每当生活变得艰难坎坷，我需要放松，需要彻底释放心中不快时，洗澡间就成了我的避难所。

随着我成长和日渐聪明(青少年的聪明)，我明白到自己虚有的名气是不能在洗澡间外提到的。此教训来自我跟朋友描述放声歌唱是何等的惬意时，她却嘲笑道：“我好同情所有听到这句话的人。”那句轻率的话对于我脆弱的自尊心而言无异是一记重击。自那时起，我便决定要暂别虚拟舞台，放个短假。可没到两星期，我就想念起歌迷来，我知道他们也怀念我的歌声。

我的嗓音随着年龄的增长在发生变化，从原本刺耳变得低沉且有磁性了。唱歌带给我快乐，也带给我的歌迷快乐。我怎能让别人破坏了这种快乐的感觉呢？我终止了“休假”，重展歌喉。玛丽亚·凯利的《英雄》，我如今已能唱完一半；我告诉自己不管别人怎么想，这里就是我的世界。

等到15岁那年，我的声音变得悦耳动听起来。至少别人这样称赞过我。我不只在洗澡间里唱歌，随时随处都唱。当然了，我偶尔还会让人们感到不适应。每天，甚至每天两次，我用最大的声量播放CD，自己一边跟着唱。邻居经常称赞我在卧室窗户后做的表演。我仍然会干扰到哥哥不能全神贯注地打游戏。我想，有的人是永远不会长大的！尽管人们已不再朝我扔石块了。我就住在自己的小天地里。

我开巡回演唱会，这让我的澡堂歌迷们欣喜若狂。这些年来，我的歌迷人数急剧增加，从洗澡间到卧室甚至别的地方，四处都有我的歌迷。我完全有责任让他们高高兴兴的，不是吗？

请原谅，我得走了。忠实的洗发水瓶子们正在“洗澡大礼堂”等候着我呢。最好别让热情的歌迷们等久了!

注释:

1) mustard [5mQstEd] n. 芥末

2) chorus [5kC:rEs] n. 合唱

3) dentist [5dentist] n. 牙医

4) drag [drA^] v. 拉，拖

5) drape [dreip] v. 悬挂，装饰

6) hop [hRp] v. 单脚跳

7) lecture [5lektFE] n. 长篇大论的讲话

8) pop into 迅速地将某物放到某处

9) retirement [ri5taiEmEnt] n. 退休，引退

10) eccentric [ik5sentrik] a. 古怪的

11) shampoo [FAm5pu:] n. 洗发水

12) squeaky [5skwi:ki] a. 吱吱响的

13) rough [rQf] a. 困难的

14) frustration 6 [frQs5treiFEn] n. 沮丧

15) sanctuary [5sANktjuEri] a. 避难所

16) imaginary [i5mAdVinEri] a. 想象的

17) thoughtless [5WC:tlis] a. 欠考虑的

18) fragile [5frAdVail] a. 脆弱的

19) ego [5i:^EJ] n. 自我

20) sabbatical [sE5bAtik(E)l] a. 周期性休息的

21) ignore [i^5nC:] v. 忽视

22) blast [blB:st] v. 发出尖响的声音

23) compliment [5kCmplimEnt] n. 赞扬

24) glasshouse [5^lB:shaJs] n. 玻璃房，暖房

25) on tour 巡回演唱

26) auditorium [7C:di5tC:riEm] n. 礼堂