Christina: Genie in a Bottle

Christina: Genie¹ in a Bottle

She started out a fresh-faced 1)cutie singing and dancing on “The Mickey Mouse Club”. Today she’s a sexy 2)siren who’s turned the music world upside down and so is her bank account. We’re talking a five-million-dollar home in the Hollywood Hills. A 3)lingerie drawer worth over ten 4)grand, luxurious³ hotel suites⁴ and a brand new $75,000 Range Rover to get her around town. You could argue, this 5)sassy 6)diva is living large and you’re about to see why it’s good to be Christina Aguilera.

Christina Maria Aguilera, diva, 7)vixen, chart-topper, born Thursday, December 18th, 1980 in 8)Staten Island, New York. A girl on the move from day one, says Entertainment Weekly’s Jessica Shaw. That made it tough to make friends. True. But Victoria Desilverio of Blender magazine says the future pop diva was 9)resilient even then, she just focused on her 10)budding singing career and her 11)plush fan club.

Singing got Christina through some very tough times, and then when she was only six her parents split up. So the mini diva moved with her mom and sister to Pennsylvania to live with their grandmother. Finally Christina had a stable loving home and the confidence to pursue her dreams. Guest practice paid off, because by 1991, 11-year-old Christina was 12)belting out the national 13)anthem⁵ at local sporting events. But her big break came one year later when she 14)aced an audition⁶ to join the cast of “The Mickey Mouse Club”. And by the time she 15)hung up her ears in 1994, Christina had pocketed about $78,000 enough of a financial cushion to return home and figure out her next career move.

That move came in 1998, her former boss needed a voice, Christina needed a 16)gig and the animated⁷ 17)flick⁸ Mulan brought Disney and the Diva together again. That’s huge, especially for a-16-year old. Hey a million ain’t bad for anybody at any age and she earned every penny of it. Absolutely, her self-titled debut⁹ album Christina Aguilera sold 250,000 copies in its first week of release, 18)solidifying the chart-topper as a musical heavyweight. 
  
Victoria (Senior Associate Editor of Blender): Within the year of the release of her debut she earned well over $15 million.

That was almost as satisfying as beating out favorite friendly rival Britney Spears for the Best New Artist award at the 2000 Grammy’s. Oh, do I hear a 19)cat fight?

Christina: Winning a Grammy was definitely an amazing thing for me.

Not only that but Lash¹¹ Fary of Distinctive¹² Assets says she got to take home a basket filled with thousands of dollars worth of free stuff. You got to love the 20)perks! Free gifts, a Grammy award and status as 21)bona fide pop diva at the ripe old age of 20. What’s left? Um try her next hit album in 2000, a tribute to her Latin roots Mi Reflejo, and a year of 22)back-to-back tours.

注释：
1) cutie [5kju:ti] n. 漂亮的女孩
2) siren [5saiErin] n. 歌声美妙的女歌手
3) lingerie [7lAnVE5ri:] n. 女内衣
4) grand [^rAnd] n. （非正式语）一千美元
5) sassy [5sAsi] a. 时髦的
6) diva [5di:vE] n. 歌剧中的首席女主角
7) vixen [5viksn] n. 泼妇
8) Staten Island 斯坦顿岛，又称瑞奇蒙（Richmond），纽约的一个行政区，位于曼哈顿西南。是纽约市人口最为稀少的恬静住宅区
9) resilient [ri5ziliEnt] a. 易从疾病、逆境等中恢复的
10) budding [5bQdiN] a. 初露头角的；发展中的
11) plush [plQF] a. 豪华的
12) belt out （俚语）声情并茂地演唱
13) anthem [5AnPEm] n. 圣歌，赞美诗
14) ace² [eis] v. （美国俚语）在……中取得好成绩
15) hung up her ears: hung up是“挂起”的意思，例如足球运动员hung up his boots，意思即不再踢球了。这里的ears指米老鼠的两只圆耳朵，意思是克里斯蒂娜不再演出 “米老鼠俱乐部”的电视节目
16) gig [^i^] n. 演出，表演
17) flick [flik] n. （俚语）电影
18) solidify¹⁰ [sE5lidifai] v. 使团结，巩固
19) cat fight是指人们印象里的女人打架，其方式一般是抓头发、用指甲刮等等。这里是幽默用法，特指克里斯蒂娜和布兰妮在演艺事业中的竞争关系
20) perk¹³ [pE:k] n. =perquisite额外收入，外快
21) bona fide [5bEunE7faid] a. 真正的，真实的
22) back-to-back 连续；接二连三

瓶中精灵克里斯蒂娜

    从最初在电视节目“米老鼠俱乐部”里表演歌舞的初出茅庐的甜美女孩，一跃而成为如今的性感歌后，她不仅将音乐圈闹了个天翻地覆，银行账户上的数额也一路飙升。在好莱坞山上她有一幢价值五百万美元的豪宅; 光是一件性感内衣就超过一万美元; 出门在外她住的是豪华酒店套房；还有一辆方便她出行的价值七万五千美元的全新“陆虎”座驾。你可能认为这个时尚前卫的女歌星太讲排场，不过你很快就会明白，能成为克里斯蒂娜·阿奎莱拉是一件多么好的事情。
    克里斯蒂娜·玛丽亚·阿奎莱拉于1980年12月18日星期四出生于纽约斯坦顿岛，是一名性格泼辣的流行歌手，在音乐排行榜上的成绩不俗。《娱乐周刊》的杰西卡·肖说，从一开始这个女孩就忙个不停。这使她很难结识朋友。确实如此，不过《Blender》杂志的维多利亚·狄赛瓦里奥说，这个未来的流行乐女歌星即便在那时也是适应力强，她一心扑在她初露峥嵘的演唱事业和奢华的歌迷俱乐部上。
    演唱事业曾帮助她度过一些非常艰难的岁月。在她只有六岁时，她父母离婚了。因此，小歌星和她妈妈、姐姐一起搬到宾夕法尼亚州和外祖母住在一起。最终，克里斯蒂娜有了一个安稳温馨的家，同时也给予了她追逐梦想的信心。她的努力获得了回报，在1991年，十一岁的克里斯蒂娜已经被选中在当地的不同体育赛事中高唱国歌。不过她事业的重大突破是在一年以后，克里斯蒂娜在“米老鼠俱乐部”演员选拔过程中脱颖而出。到1994年离开“米老鼠俱乐部”的时候，她已经赚了大约七万八千美元。有了足够的资金，她回到家里，为自己的事业做下一步的筹划。
    下一步动作是在1998年。她曾经合作过的迪斯尼公司老板需要一名演员来配音，克里斯蒂娜则正好需要一个机会，双方一拍即合——动画片《花木兰》使迪斯尼和克里斯蒂娜再次走到了一起。这不是一个小数目，尤其对于一个年仅十六岁的女孩来说。一百万美元的报酬对任何年龄的人来说都不是件坏事，而对于她来说，每一分钱都是靠自己的努力得来的。毫无疑问，她的首张同名专辑《克里斯蒂娜·阿奎莱拉》在发行的第一周就售出二十五万张，巩固了这位占据排行榜前列的歌手在乐坛的重量级地位。

维多利亚（《Blender》高级助理编辑）：她在首张专辑发行当年所挣的钱已远远超过一千五百万美元。

    这几乎跟另外一件事一样令人欣慰：2000年度格莱美奖评选中，她击败好友兼劲敌布兰妮·斯皮尔斯赢得最佳新人奖。哦，我听到她们的激烈争吵了吗？

克里斯蒂娜：获得格莱美奖对我来说绝对是一个惊喜。   

    不仅如此，“特色”精品店的拉什·费里还说，她得到了一大篮子价值数千美元的赠品。谁都会喜欢那些赠品！免费赠品、一座格莱美奖、正当二十岁芳华妙龄时就已成为名副其实的流行歌后，还有什么忘了说的？嗯，还有她2000年又一张风行一时的专辑，即向她自己的拉丁背景致意的《Mi Reflejo》；以及将持续一年的巡回演出。

1 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。

2 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

3 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

4 suites   

n.套( suite的名词复数 )；一套房间；一套家具；一套公寓

参考例句：

• First he called upon all the Foreign Ministers in their hotel suites. 他首先到所有外交部长住的旅馆套间去拜访。 来自辞典例句
• All four doors to the two reserved suites were open. 预定的两个套房的四扇门都敞开着。 来自辞典例句

5 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

6 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

7 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

8 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

9 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• 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。

10 solidify   

v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结

参考例句：

• Opinion on this question began to solidify.对这个问题的意见开始具体化了。
• Water will solidify into ice if you freeze it.水冷冻会结冰。

11 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

12 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

13 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。