Why has the UK stopped producing pop superstars英国难再造流行巨星之揭秘

彭向梅

1.hype（Para. 3） v. 夸张地宣传（某事物）

The meeting was hyped up in the media as an important event.

媒体大肆宣传这次会议是一项重要的活动。

2.subscription（Para. 6） n. 訂阅;捐款

The classic newspaper business is both a subscription service and advertising supported.

传统的新闻报刊业同时提供了订阅服务和广告服务。

3.self-contained（Para. 10） adj. 独立的;自足的;设备齐全的

He seems completely self-contained and he doesn't miss you when you're not there.

他似乎完全独立了，你不在的时候他也不想念你。

4.high-profile（Para. 11） adj. 高调的;备受瞩目的;知名度高的

He is a high-profile criminal defence lawyer.

他是一位备受关注的刑事辩护律师。

Three years ago British artists made up half the global top 10. Now the biggest new stars barely make a mark overseas. What is behind this sea change—and is there a way back？

Has the UK music business lost its powerful magic for creating pop superstars？ The UK music industry will celebrate the first National Album Day on Saturday， but top-selling new albums by British pop artists are dissatisfactory in 2018.

It's not that there is a scarcity of new music in the UK because the albums by Paul McCartney， Years & Years， Florence + the Machine， James Bay and hyped new artists Anne-Marie and Jorja Smith have all made it into the top five. But none of them have sold well enough to make the Official Charts Company's Top 10 releases of the year so far. Only two UK albums released in 2018 made the list： Staying at Tamara's by George Ezra and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by Arctic Monkeys.

Ed Sheeran is the most popular UK artist in Billboard's Artist 100 chart. He came in at No. 13. The next Briton is breakout R&B star Ella Mai at No. 21， followed by Dua Lipa at No. 56. However， there are no British albums in the Top 20 of the American album chart.

Industry experts suggest some reasons for the decline of the economy， from the dominance of streaming services to the end of traditional marketing strategies.

Since 2013， streaming services have overtaken CDs and downloads as the most popular way of consuming music， with subscription services rising from a 9.9% share of UK recorded music revenues to 48% in 2017.

Streaming services are song-focused rather than artist-focused， which makes it harder for artists working in album formats to break through， says Hannah Neaves， who leads marketing and artist development at Tap， a famous management company.

Before streaming's dominance， artists could quickly get success such as the singer Adele and Sheeran. But now，“You have to be prepared to spend three years getting to a position that previously would have taken you nine months，” says Neaves. “All the biggest playlists are American and it's very difficult to get British acts on them， which can make a great difference to your competition.”

Besides，hip-hop is the most popular style on both sides of the Atlantic， but the UK's music offering has not historically translated well overseas. Now despite the international nature of streaming， there is an increased demand for domestic music， because people could have a better understanding of their own music combined with their culture.

If there isn't good translation of music to help to convey cultural background， you can't get great success in other countries even if you develop well at home. The style is very self-contained， so when we are trying to sell someone overseas， it's very hard to compete with what already catching the attention.

The music industry is now in its key pre-Christmas fourth quarter， traditionally a time for high-profile releases. A “super-deluxe （超級豪华）” edition of Dua Lipa's first album arrives next week and new albums by leading acts. Jess Glynne， Muse， Mumford and Sons and Rita Ora could change the UK's declining fortunes.

Part 1 整体感知

本文是一篇说明文。几年前，英国的音乐在其他国家颇受欢迎，音乐专辑销量领先，但现在英国的音乐市场逐渐缩小，音乐产业日渐式微。虽然英国音乐界于周六（10月13日）庆祝首个全国唱片日，但流行歌手们的新专辑在2018年的销量却并不令人满意。并不是说英国缺少新音乐，而是，自2013年以来，流媒体服务已经取代了CD和下载成为最流行的音乐消费方式，加之英国的音乐在海外没有得到很好的翻译，所以销量在日益减少。希望在圣诞节前第四季度的关键时期，Jess Glynne， Muse等歌手发布的新专辑会改变英国音乐产业衰落的命运。

篇章结构梳理：

Part 2 语言学习

Ⅰ.热词积累（考纲内词汇，包括短语）

Ⅱ.词汇拓展

词缀dis-的用法

① 表示“不……”，用作否定意义

e.g. dis+n.

disorder 无秩序（dis+order顺序→没有顺序）

disproof 反证;反驳（dis+proof证实→不证实→反证）

disarm 解除武装（dis+arm武装→去掉武装）

dis+v.

dislike 不喜欢（dis+like喜爱→不喜爱）

disappear 消失（dis+appear出现→不出现→消失）

discover 发现（dis+cover遮盖→不遮盖→发现）

dis+adj.

dishonest 不诚实的（dis+honest诚实的→不诚实的）

② 表示“分开;分离”

dismiss 解散;开除（dis+miss怀念→开除）

discard 丢弃;抛弃（dis+card梳理→丢弃）

Ⅲ.难句分析

Now despite the international nature of streaming， there is an increased demand for domestic music， because people could have a better understanding of their own music combined with their culture.

翻译：__________________________________________________

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句，句子开头由despite 引导的介词短语，“尽管……”;there is an increased demand for domestic music，可颠倒语序，翻译成“对于国内音乐的需求增加了”;后面是because引导的原因状语从句，其中combined是现在分词作后置定语。

Part 3 视角拓展

1.What's the streaming according to the text？

______________________________________________

2.With the development of the streaming service， what influence does the technology have on the UK music business？ Can you offer more effective solutions？______________________________________________