Question

As a solo artist, Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain) – the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敵意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

The first paragraph tells us that _____.

  A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

  B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

  C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

  D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

  A. she could adopt one    B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

  C. she felt it normal not to have children   D. she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

  A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

  B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

  C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

  D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

  A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

  A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is liked in Britain

  B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

  C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

  D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

Answer 1

【小題1】B

【小題2】C

【小題3】A

【小題4】D

【小題5】A

解析:

莎拉·布萊曼與劉歡的《我和你》使她在中國家喻戶曉。布萊曼在美國和世界其他國家也很有名氣，她的專輯和DVD唱片一度火爆。但她在自己的國家英國卻并不受歡迎，這讓布萊曼深感困惑。

【小題1】 細節(jié)理解題。從第一段我們可以了解到，莎拉·布萊曼的音樂特色是歌劇，流行音樂，和爵士樂的相互交融的綜合產(chǎn)物。

【小題2】細節(jié)理解題。第二段說After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different，布萊曼并沒有覺得沒有孩子有什么不正常的。

【小題3】 細節(jié)理解題。布萊曼從小就是一個有音樂天賦的孩子，她第一次登臺演出是在11歲，演出劇目《西頭》音樂劇。因此A項的敘述是不正確的。

【小題4】詞義理解題。spot意為“認出，發(fā)現(xiàn)”。1981年布萊曼被Webber發(fā)現(xiàn)，遇到了“伯樂”。

【小題5】作者意圖推斷題。文章最后一段援引了布萊曼的話，充滿了無奈。布萊曼并沒有說自己因為英國人不喜歡她而痛恨英國，但她也坦言她并不想念自己的家鄉(xiāng)，雖然只是惦念父母和家人。I just accept it for what it is說明布萊曼只有接受現(xiàn)實而已。