VOA慢速英语--音乐家邀请我们去他们的客厅

Musicians Invite Us to Their Living Rooms

The spreading coronavirus has canceled several touring performances from top musical artists. But some of these musicians have found a new place to sing: their living rooms.

John Legend, Bono, Pink and Keith Urban are among those who have all livestreamed performances from their homes.

"I mean, we don't normally¹ do concerts live from our house," Legend told The Associated Press. On Tuesday, he sang for nearly an hour in a show that was livestreamed on Facebook and Instagram.

"This is a cool way to connect with people and make them feel some kind of love..." he said.

The piano-playing musician took requests on social media as he sang from his living room just as he does at one of his concerts. Legend's performance was in support of the World Health Organization's (WHO) newly-launched online concert series "Together at Home."

Others have found creative ways to communicate with people.

Miley Cyrus started a daily Instagram live talk show, called "Bright Minded: Live with Miley", to lift people's spirits. Singer-actress Demi Lovato appeared on the show Tuesday.

Brandon Flowers of The Killers² tweeted a video of himself washing his hands while singing his song "Mr. Brightside."

Kevin O'Donnell is head of musical partnerships³ at Twitter. He said "It's really incredible⁴ to see artists coming together to figure out ways that they can bring...happiness to their fans given this crazy time that we're living in at the moment."

Death Cab⁵ for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and JoJo have also joined the music community by livestreaming directly on social media. So have Christine and the Queens, Yungblud, David Foster⁶ and Katharine McPhee.

John Legend is working on new music and may still release⁷ his songs in a few weeks while people are still inside their homes.

"I think we can get a lot of that out to people sooner rather than later," he said.

"We have to decide as a music community if we're going to let the fact that we can't go out and...promote it stop us from putting it out. And I...think we should put stuff⁸ out," he added.

Words in This Story

tour - n. to go from one place to another

livestream - n. a live presence⁹ on the internet

concert - n. a musical performance for many people

fan - n. someone who follows a musician or actor or writer

incredible - adj. unbelievable

figure - n. thinking or considering

promote - v. to seek publicity

1 normally   

adv.正常地，通常地

参考例句：

• I normally do all my shopping on Saturdays.我通常在星期六买东西。
• My pulse beats normally.我脉搏正常。

2 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

5 cab   

n.计程车，出租车，出租单马车；vi.乘出租马车

参考例句：

• The cab drove over his legs.马车从他腿上碾过。
• Shall we walk or take a cab?我们步行还是坐出租车？

6 foster   

vt.收养，培养，促进；adj.收养的，收养孩子的

参考例句：

• Nowadays young couple sometimes foster.现今年轻夫妇有时领养别人的孩子。
• The captain did his best to foster a sense of unity among the new recruits.队长尽力培养新成员之间的团结精神。

7 release   

vt.发布，发表，发行；释放，放开

参考例句：

• After my examination I had a feeling of release.考完试后我有如释重负之感。
• This medicine will give you release from pain.这药吃后会解除你的疼痛。

8 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

9 presence   

n.出席；到场；存在

参考例句：

• Her presence lent an air of respectability to the occasion.她的到场使那种场合增添了崇高的气氛。
• His presence is indicative of his willingness to help.他的出席表示他愿意帮忙。