时间:2018-11-29 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(十二月)


英语课

 



2012 a Banner Year for American Roots Musicians


Since American Roots music is difficult to define, it might be easier if you listen to some of the year’s best …like the Grammy-nominated “Hold On” by Alabama Shakes.


“Rolling Stone” Magazine named that Alabama Shakes tune 1 their top song of the year, beating other Top 10 tracks by Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Jack 2 White. Not bad for a band that 18 months ago had a hard time selling out 500-seat clubs. This year, they’ve opened for the Drive-By Truckers, Jack White and Robert Plant, and sold out shows in the U.S., Europe, the U.K., Australia and South America.


Alabama Shakes also earned three Grammy nominations 3: Best Rock Performance for “Hold On,” Best New Artist and their debut 4 album, “Boys & Girls” is up for Best Recording 5 Package. They didn’t even release their first full-length album until April of this year.


Another debut band with a banner year was The Lumineers. The Denver-based trio has two Grammy nominations: Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. Its self-titled debut came out in the spring and has stayed on the charts since then, going Gold and selling close to 520,000 copies to date. The official video for “Ho Hey” is a hit, too with more than 20 million views on YouTube so far.


No discussion of 2012 Roots music could be complete without a mention of 24-year-old John Fullbright. Unlike the two bands mentioned already, John’s critically-acclaimed and Grammy-nominated debut “From The Ground Up” was a totally independent release. This means he put it out himself, without the help of a record label, large or small, raising the money to record the album via the fan funding web site Kickstarter. The resulting record has landed atop many critics’ Top 10 lists, with the song “Gawd Above” singled out for special praise.


It wasn’t just the first timers who were releasing brilliant Folk, Americana and Bluegrass albums this year. There were new albums from Darrell Scott, Gretchen Peters, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and Bonnie Raitt, just to name five. On the bluegrass side, Special Consensus 6 gave us some fine new music, as did The Boxcars and the Steep Canyon 7 Rangers 8.


Mumford and Sons came back in a big way, earning six Grammy nominations for their second album, “Babel.” It sold 600,000 copies in its first week, proving the British band was no one-hit wonder. The boys also proved they weren’t too big to still have fun, showing up to lend their voices and picking prowess to a track on dobro wizard Jerry Douglas’ new album, “Traveler.” Jerry told me that when Paul Simon found out they’d gone into the studio to record this version of his song “The Boxer,” Paul wanted in on the fun. So he added a couple of guitar parts, some bells and vocals 9 to the mix. All in all, it was a great year for American Roots music.




1 tune
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
2 jack
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
3 nominations
n.提名,任命( nomination的名词复数 )
  • Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句
4 debut
n.首次演出,初次露面
  • That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里,他初次在百老汇登台,扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
  • The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。
5 recording
n.录音,记录
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
6 consensus
n.(意见等的)一致,一致同意,共识
  • Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
  • What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
7 canyon
n.峡谷,溪谷
  • The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
  • The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。
8 rangers
护林者( ranger的名词复数 ); 突击队员
  • Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗? 来自超越目标英语 第3册
  • Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者,所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
9 vocals
(乐曲中的)歌唱部份,声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )
  • Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外,也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
  • Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线,较懒惰的鼓,饮小提琴,棒的钢琴和无比的声音。
学英语单词
a gemini
Addtl
aligning microscope
appoximate continuity
Arderone
auxiliary firing
body search
bonibells
bubble dancer
bus duct work
bustiers
cancelled ballot ticket
chip shell
coalign
cotton gatherer
crest angle
cronje
cubango
cut-off interval
cycloses
depilators
dip coating process
distance correcting mechanism of range-finder
DMZ hosts
dryhanded
dryness-moistening and phlegm-resolving prescription
Fergusonite-trihydrate
filament emission
fine and microstructure of ocean
galactaric acid
good-times
granados
half-duplex
hyaline cell
hydroxyphenylarsonic acid
inferior carotid ganglia
integrated sounding system (iss)
interface description language
invisible runners
kakortokite
keep your eye on the ball
Koch's node
larch bark extract
line-sequential color-television
liquid breakdown
liquidation statement
long summer
machine-readable texts
maintenance team
matako
mazurek
mesoporous molecular sieve catalyst
monascus
multirelation
Nea Dimmata
night-creams
Nocardiophage
nomo-
nonerupted deciduous teeth
nonreconstructive inversion
nuplex
Ojo de Laguna
Ollantaitambo
operating losses
palilalias
parturiates
party-man
pashminas
payment of royalty
pendulous axis
phylosopher
pickled
population distribution
position modulation
prediction accuracy
purified helium product cooler
repaneled
ruddys
Runamycin
serve the turn
shatterindex
side draw tray
skew pupils
sputtering deposition
stereoscopic rangefinder
sulfatidate
Szabo
tampulbolon
tautomerizm
telc
tilting prevention device
Timpas
to keep your eyes peeled
unchampioned
Uniloy
universal-joint journal
vaccary
Vsign
water-sop
Whitworth standard screw thread
young Turks