新西兰英语 576 Tickets for Comedy show

 　　Tickets for “The Flight of the Conchords” went on sale today and sold out in a very short time.

　　“The Flight of the Conchords” is a comedy¹ show with songs written and performed by two young New Zealand men: Jemaine Clement² and Bret McKenzie. They became famous on US television. They are returning to New Zealand in June to give 10 shows in many cities.

　　The tickets went on sale today. First there was a chance to buy the best seats by queuing³ outside the ticket office before 8am. There were 300 seats available⁴ at this time and each person could buy only two tickets. Some people queued⁶ all night waiting for the ticket office to open. The organizer⁷ of the tour thought it was a good idea to go back to the old way of buying tickets. He said it was fun waiting with others in the queue⁵ and made it more exciting.

　　However, at midday⁸, the rest of the tickets went on sale online. They sold out in 25 minutes.

　　Bret McKenzie won an Oscar this year for his song “Man or Muppet” which he wrote and performed in the latest Muppets movie.

　　Although their kind of comedy is very different from the usual American comedy, they became popular in the US. Jemaine and Bret never laugh or even smile in their show. They play the part of losers. They do everything wrong. They can’t get a job, they are never successful. Even their songs are about their mistakes. New Zealanders find them very funny and surprisingly, a lot of Americans do too. They were also successful in the UK.

　　You can find them on Youtube if you are interested.

　　Vocabulary

　　go on sale – this is an idiom

　　sold out – no more left (an idiom)

　　queue – stand in line (British English); noun (a line of people waiting) and verb

　　play a part – act like another person

　　a loser – a person who is not successful (slang)

　　even their songs – also (emphasis – shows that everything in the show is about their mistakes)

1 comedy   

n.喜剧，趣事，趣闻

参考例句：

• We are going to see a comedy.我们要去看一部喜剧。
• That comedy was so funny.那出喜剧很好笑。

2 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

3 queuing   

n.排队技术

参考例句：

• Seeing people queuing for food was a novelty. 看到人们排队买食品是件新鲜事。 来自辞典例句
• A mob of journalists are queuing up at the gate to photograph him. 一群新闻记者在门口排起长队，等着给他拍照。 来自辞典例句

4 available   

adj.可用到的，可利用的，有用的，有空的，接受探访的

参考例句：

• My bicycle is not available,and it is being repaired.我的自行车现在不能用，因为正在修理。
• This book is not easily available.这本书可不好买。

5 queue   

n.队列；辫子；长队；vt.梳成辫子；vi. 排队

参考例句：

• To what window are you standing in a queue?你在排哪个窗口的队？
• I had to queue for quite a while.我不得不排一会儿队。

6 queued   

v.（人、车等）排队等候( queue的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）排队，列队等待

参考例句：

• I queued for two hours to get a ticket to see the football game. 我排了两个小时的队，就是为了买张足球赛的票。 来自辞典例句
• We queued up for half an hour to get into the cinema. 我们排队等了半个小时才进到电影院。 来自辞典例句

7 organizer   

n.组织者，编制者，创立者

参考例句：

• A good organizer pays attention to detail.善于组织者考虑问题无微不至。
• She was the organizer of the meeting.她是会议的组织者。

8 midday   

n.正午，中午；adj.正午的

参考例句：

• It is now past midday.现在已过中午了。
• I awoke to bright sunlight filling my room.It was already midday.我一醒来就看见屋里阳光灿烂，原来已是中午了。