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“He Bangs” – The Strange Tale of William Hung 怦「男」心动:孔庆翔其人其事

課文朗讀

課文中英文講解

繁體中文譯本

On January 27, 2004, an unlikely star was born. That night, the American TV talent show American Idol broadcast a Chinese-American college student named William Hung performing Ricky Martin’s song “She Bangs.” William’s singing was shaky and accented, his dancing awkward, his crooked teeth and plain appearance far from attractive.American Idol judge Simon Cowell interrupted William, saying, “You can’t sing, you can’t dance, so what do you want me to say?” William graciously replied. “I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all.” Although Cowell congratulated Hung for his attitude, he wasn’t invited back to the show.

2004年一月二十七号，一位不可能的明星诞生了。那天晚上，美国电视台一个新秀才艺节目《美国偶像》，拨出一位名叫孔庆翔的华裔美籍大学生的演出，他演唱瑞奇马丁的歌〈怦然心动〉。他唱歌五音不全又带着口音、跳起舞来笨手笨脚、满口歪牙、长向平平，完全没有魅力可言。《美国偶像》的评审西蒙科尔打断他的表演说:「你既不会唱，又不会跳，你到底要我说甚么?」。孔庆翔亲切地回答:「我已经尽了力，一点都不后悔。」。虽然柯尔很赞赏孔庆翔的态度，但是孔庆翔并没有受邀参加复赛。

If not for the Internet, this would have been the end of William Hung’s showbiz career. A fan website, http://williamhung.net, was quickly established and received over four million hits within its first week. By late February, an online petition to get him back onAmerican Idol had collected 100,000 signatures. William Hung’s fame had spread like wildfire.

要不是有因特网，这可能就是孔庆翔演艺事业的终点了。他的一个歌迷网站http://williamhung.net很快便架设起来，而且在第一个礼拜内点阅次数就超过了四百万次。到了二月底，一份要求让孔庆祥重回《美国偶像》的网络请愿书已收集了十万个签名联署。孔庆翔的名气就像野火蔓延开来。

After performing his infamous version of “She Bangs” on February 18 at a college volleyball game, William was offered US$25,000 and a recording contract. His first album was released in April and soon rose to third in sales on Amazon.com

二月十八号，在一个大学排球比赛的场合，孔庆翔表演他那「笑」名昭彰版的〈怦然心动〉。之后，有人要付他两万五千美元签约出唱片。他的第一张专辑于四月发行，并很快地就爬升上亚马逊网站的销售排行季军。

Many have had difficulty understanding William’s success. Is the public impressed by his attitude or making fun of him? In other words, is William Hung a clown or victory for the average guy?

很多人对孔庆翔的成名难以理解。社会大众是被他的态度感动，还是在取笑他呢?换句话说，孔庆翔是个小丑，还是一般人眼中的英雄?

Vocabulary

awkward [ˋɔkwɚd] adj. 笨拙的；不熟练的

graciously [ˋgreʃəslɪ] adv. 亲切地；和蔼地

congratulate [kənˋgrætʃə͵let] v. 祝贺；恭禧

signature [ˋsɪgnətʃɚ] n. 签名，签署

infamous [ˋɪnfəməs] adj. 声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的

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shaky [ˋʃekɪ] adj. 震动的,摇晃的

accented [ˋæksəntɪd] adj. 带有浓重口音的

crooked [ˋkrʊkɪd] adj. 弯曲的，歪扭的

showbiz [ˋʃobɪz] n.【口】娱乐性行业；娱乐界

petition [pəˋtɪʃən] n. 请愿；请求

volleyball [ˋvɑlɪ͵bɔl] n. 排球

clown[klaʊn] n.（马戏团等的）小丑，丑角

Reading Questions

1. What was William’s attitude when Simon Cowell told him that he couldn’t sing or dance?

A. Polite

B. Angry

C. Bored

D. Nervous

2. According to the article, what was responsible for William’s fame after his performance on American Idol?

A. The Internet and fan website

B. A second performance on American Idol

C. His relationship with Ricky Martin

D. His hard work to improve his singing

3. What can we say about William’s first album?

A. It will be released in April

B. It was the third best selling album on Amazon.com.

C. It sold over 4 million copies in its first week.

D. It is hard to understand the words in the songs on the album.

課文中英文講解

To some, the William Hung story seemed like a cruel joke. ___1___, his fame seemed to be fueled by the public laughing at William, not laughing with him. Others suspected a ___2___ motivation: North America was laughing at his Cantonese-accented singing. Still others suggested that William’s fame on both sides of the Pacific pointed to a contrast of attitudes: ___3___ appreciation of sincerity contrasted with Western tendency towards irony. Yet the greatest irony ___4___ is that William is American Idol’s greatest success – no previous winner has come even close to William’s fame.

对有些人而言，孔庆翔的故事似乎是一个残酷的笑话。也就是说，他的名声之所以能被炒热，似乎是因为大众「讥笑」他，并不是与他「同乐」。也有一些人怀疑，这其中有种族歧视的动机存在。北美人讥笑孔庆翔唱歌时有广东腔。更有一些人暗示孔庆祥红跨太平洋两岸这个现象指出了两种鲜明比对的态度—亚洲人对诚恳的欣赏，对照于西方人爱讽刺的倾向。然而其中最大的讽刺莫过于，孔庆翔乃是《美国偶像》有史以来最大的成功—之前的优胜者无人能及孔庆翔的名气。

In his many TV appearances, William has always ___5___said that he really would like to become a pop star, but he views his newfound stardom as a learning experience. The media and the public seem to have been charmed by his natural confidence and remarkable sincerity.

孔庆翔上过很多次电视，他总是谦虚地表示非常想当个流行音乐的明星，但是他把他最近的星运当成一种学习经验。他天生的自信和极大的诚恳，似乎深深地吸引媒体以及社会大众。

Despite the old saying about everyone getting their fifteen minutes of fame, William Hung has actually remained on the path to ___6___. Towards the end of 2004 he released a Christmas album and co-starred in a Hong Kong comedy Where’s Mama’s Boy? In the___7___, he parodied his performance of “She Bangs” with a Cantonese song called “Shao Bing” (Chinese pancakes). William also put his fame to good use by auctioning off his CDs and posters___8___money for tsunami relief around Asia.

尽管有句俗话说，人人都有机会出名十五分钟，但孔庆翔确实还持续迈向他的明星之路。到2004年底为止，他已经出了一张圣诞节专辑，也在一部香港喜剧片《花街欢乐坊》里参与演出。在这部电影里，他用一首叫做"Shao Bing"〈烧饼〉的广东歌来模仿演唱"She Bangs"〈怦然心动〉。孔庆翔也善用他的知名度，借着义卖自己的CD和海报，为亚洲海啸募款救灾。

Indeed, it seems like just about everyone is a bit confused about why William Hung is famous, but almost everyone seems to agree that he somehow deserves his success. Maybe the lesson to be learned is that___9___the public love to laugh at a fool, they also love to see the underdog succeed.

的确，似乎大家都有点疑惑为什么孔庆翔会成名，但是大家也都一致认为，他多少应获得这个成就。也许这个故事带给我们的启示是，尽管社会大众喜欢讥笑一个傻瓜，但他们也乐意见到这只落水狗能成功。

－By Iain Ferguson

Vocabulary

fuel [ˋfjʊəl] v. 激起；刺激

motivation [͵motəˋveʃən] n. 动机

contrast [ˋkɑn͵træst] n. 对比，对照

irony [ˋaɪrənɪ] n. 冷嘲；讽刺

despite [dɪˋspaɪt] prep. 尽管，任凭

deserve [dɪˋzɝv] v. 应得﹐应受到〔奖赏或惩罚〕

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Cantonese [͵kæntəˋniz] adj. 广州（或广东）人的

sincerity [sɪnˋsɛrətɪ] n. 真实；诚心诚意

stardom [ˋstɑrdəm] n. 明星的地位

saying [ˋseɪŋ] n. 格言，警句，谚语

parody [ˋpærədɪ] v. 拙劣地模仿

pancake [ˋpæn͵kek] n. 薄煎饼，薄烤饼

auction [ˋɔkʃən] v. 拍卖

underdog [ˋʌndɚˋdɔg] n. 竞争失败的人；处于劣势的一方

Reference

She Bangsby William Hung

She Bangsby Ricky Martin

Answer