喜欢流行乐的Ernie和酷爱嘻哈乐的Beth打算组个乐队。

P: Today they’re discussing what kind of music their band should play.

Beth: Ernie, I’m really excited about starting this band together. We’re going to be the two coolest students on campus.

Ernie: I know! It’s gonna be great. But what kind of music do you think we should play?

Beth: That’s a good question. You know I love hip hop, so maybe we can play some Vanilla Ice songs.

Ernie: Hmm … Vanilla Ice? I know his most famous song, “Ice Ice Baby,” but I don’t know his other songs.

Beth: That’s OK. You can buy his songs on iTunes and listen to them.

P: Winnie, what does Beth think will happen if she and Ernie start a band?

她说,组了乐队,他们就变成学校最酷的两个人! 不过,说实话,我可不这么觉得。

他们要唱”Vanilla Ice”的歌,他的歌早就过时了!

P: Well, Vanilla Ice was a popular rapper in the 1990s. I’m sure he still has fans today, like Beth.

E: Well, I’ve never downloaded music before. How does it work?

B: You haven’t? If you’ve never tried it I can show you how.

E: Alright. But why is downloading music better than buying CDs at the store?

B: Downloading music is really fast and convenient, and you can preview all the songs before you buy them.

P: So Winnie, why does Beth like downloading music?

她说从网上下载歌曲又快又方便,还可以在购买前”preview,”“试听”一下。不过,Ernie居然说他从来没下载过音乐。天啊,难道他一直住在火星上么?

P: Yeah, even old people know how to download music these days. Let’s see if Ernie can catch up.

E: That sounds pretty good. But isn’t downloading music illegal?

B: Not if you pay for it. For example, if you download from iTunes and pay with your credit card, it’s legal.

E: OK, I’m going to get iTunes and download some Vanilla Ice songs.

B: Awesome. You’ll see that they are really catchy.

Professor, 他们说这些歌很catchy, 这是什么意思呢?

P: You can say a song is “catchy” if it’s fun and easy to listen to, and you want to hear it all the time.

哦,就是“好听,上口”的意思。

P: Exactly. Sometimes a “catchy” song can get “stuck in your head.”

不过, 我觉得Vanilla Ice的歌可没有这种魔力。

B: Now that we know what kind of music we will play, we have to decide what each of us will do.

E: Well, I love hip hop dancing, so I should probably dance. Do you know how to rap?

B: Oh yeah! I’m a great rapper. And I know all the Vanilla Ice lyrics by heart.

E: Excellent. I’ll start practicing my dance moves.

俩人一唱一跳,跟真的似的! 可我对他们实在没信心。

P: Well, you never know, maybe they will be really good and surprise you. But Winnie, do you know what song lyrics are?

当然知道, lyrics就是歌词。不过, to “know the lyrics by heart”是什么意思呢?

P: That means you have memorized them.

Oh, 原来to know something by heart就是“记住”、“熟练于心”的意思。

B: But Ernie, we’re still missing something. We need someone to play the music!

E: Oh right … you know, my friend Eric is a DJ. Maybe he would like to play with us.

B: Hmm … does he have a good ear for hip hop music?

E: Well, I don’t know, but we can find out. We can talk to him and ask if he wants to join our group.

P: Well Winnie, can you guess what it means to “have an ear” for a kind of music?

Sure,这就是说对某种音乐有天生的感觉和才华。唉,真希望Eric能让这两个人清醒点,帮他们选几首好歌。

P: Let’s hope so. Tune in next time to find out!

这次的美语三级跳就播送到这里。