世界名人简介 第99期:玛丽·简·布莱姬

 Mary Jane Blige is a singer, rapper, songwriter and actress. She is widely known as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" for mixing the two musical genres¹ together. Blige has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and has won eight Grammy awards. She also has a World Music Legends Award, despite her young age. Her musical style has influenced many other female vocalists, including Alicia Keys and Ashanti.

玛丽·简·布莱姬是说唱歌手、唱作人兼女演员。因将两种音乐风格融会贯通，荣获“嘻哈灵魂乐女皇”称号。全球唱片销量超4000万张，获得八项格莱美奖。虽然年纪轻轻，但却获得全球传奇音乐奖。包括艾丽西亚·凯斯、Ashanti在内的许多女歌手受她影响。

Blige was born in 1971 in New York. She grew up listening to the new sounds of hip-hop and rap that were starting to come out of New York. She also loved her mother's collection of 60s and 70s soul records. She won a talent competition when she was seven and decided² she wanted to be a singer.

1971年，布莱姬出生于纽约。从小接受嘻哈说唱音乐，当时纽约也一度盛行。母亲有许多60-70年代灵魂乐专辑，布莱姬也格外喜爱。7岁那年，布莱姬获得选秀节目冠军，并决定从事演唱事业。

Blige improved her singing technique in the local church choir³. In 1988, she recorded an Anita Baker⁴ song at a recording⁵ booth in a local mall. Her mother's friend loved it and sent it to a recording company executive, who signed Blige instantly. She spent several years as a backup singer, before releasing her debut⁶ album in 1992.

通过当地教堂合唱团，布莱姬提高了演唱水平。1988年，在当地一家商场录音棚，布莱姬录制了一首安妮塔·贝克的歌曲。母亲好友格外喜爱，并寄给了唱片公司总裁，并很快与布莱姬签约。1992年，布莱姬发表首张个人专辑，在此之前，她做了多年幕后歌手。

Blige has recorded eight studio albums, including the highly successful ‘The Breakthrough’, for which she scooped⁷ many awards. She also branched out into acting⁸ and has appeared in television series, Broadway plays and movies. Blige is also actively⁹ involved in several charities and started the Foundation for the Advancement¹⁰ of Women Now, “to inspire women from all walks of life to reach their individual potential.”

布莱姬总共发布8张个人专辑，包括《The Breakthrough》，该专辑斩获多座奖项。她还涉足演艺圈，还曾出演电视剧、百老汇戏剧以及电影。并热衷慈善事业，发起“妇女进步”基金会，鼓励各行女性发挥自我潜能。

1.known as 以…而著称

例句：Liu Huan is known as a singer.

刘欢作为一个歌手而出名。

2.recording company 唱片公司

例句：The recording company had never been so pleased with any singer.

唱片公司从未对任何歌手这样满意过。

3.all walks of life 各行各业

例句：The delegation¹¹ met with people from all walks of life. 

代表团接触了各界人士。

4.start to 开始

例句：The cells will promptly¹² start to soak up moisture.

细胞会立即开始吸收水分。

1 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

4 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 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。

7 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

10 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。