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。