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In May, Chinese audiences were eagerly anticipating the return of their own beloved singing competition, Singer 2024, formerly known as I Am a Singer.
In early May, the pre-show promotion of Singer 2024 was already buzzing on Chinese social media after a list of featured singers appeared on Weibo, including big names such as American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars and Korean-New Zealand singer Rosé from Blackpink.
Although Singer previously had many foreign singers on the show, this international celebrity lineup still caused a stir.
On the day of the first episode, only two foreign singers were announced to appear on the show: young Moroccan-Canadian singer Faouzia and the Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter Chanté Moore. The other contestants were all Chinese singers who are already well-known among Chinese audiences. Because many people were unfamiliar with the two foreign singers, they joked that the winner of this season was already set in stone; surely it would be the famous Chinese singer Na Ying, known for her beautiful voice.
However, that first episode surprised everyone as the two foreign singers, Faouzia and Chanté Moore, showed outstanding vocal skills. This not only startled many viewers but also made the Chinese contestants uneasy. Several experienced Chinese singers apparently were so unnerved after watching Faouzia and Chanté Moore’s performance that their voices trembled when singing.
Since the show was broadcast live – without post-production editing or autotune – audiences got to hear the actual vocal capabilities and see performers’ genuine reactions. It seemed undeniable that the foreign contestants did much better in terms of vocals and stage presence than the Chinese ones. Some online commenters even said that the gap between Chinese and foreign singers’ levels was like “the difference between the Grammys and the Strawberry Musical Festival” [a local Chinese music festival].
*摘自What's on Weibo 5月17日报道In May, Chinese audiences were eagerly anticipating the return of their own beloved singing competition, Singer 2024, formerly known as I Am a Singer.今年五月，中国观众热切期盼他们喜爱的歌唱比赛《歌手2024》回归，这个节目前身为《我是歌手》。▼ beloved adj. 钟爱的，深受喜爱的
前缀be-的含义不少，它可以组成形容词表示「穿戴某物的人」（如bewigged「戴假发的」相当于be-加上wig「假发」）；它也可以出现在某些及物动词中，比如besiege「包围」、befriend「以朋友的态度对待」。
单词beloved用到的是be-的第三个用法——表示某个人或事物「进入了某种状态」，比如witch是「巫婆」，bewitched就变成了「被巫婆下咒的状态」，也就是「被迷住的」；同理，beloved相当于loved前加上前缀be-，字面意思即「进入了被爱的状态」，也就是「深受喜爱的」。
In early May, the pre-show promotion of Singer 2024 was already buzzing on Chinese social media after a list of featured singers appeared on Weibo, including big names such as American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars and Korean-New Zealand singer Rosé from Blackpink.五月初，《歌手2024》的参演歌手名单在微博上曝光，其中包括美国创作型歌手布鲁诺·马尔斯和Blackpink成员韩国新西兰双籍歌手朴彩英等大牌艺人，这波预热宣传已在中国社交媒体引起热议。post-「……之后」和pre-「……之前」这对互为反义的前缀在英语里很常见，和这俩组合而成的新词汇除了作名词、形容词，有时还可以作动词。在疫情相关的文章中，post-pandemic「疫情后的」和pre-Covid「疫情前的」经常在各类外刊中出现。这里的pre-show则是给show「节目」加上了前缀pre-，即「节目开始前的」，所以pre-show promotion就是「《歌手2024》节目开始前的营销」。feature的这个用法并不出奇，我们曾写过一篇讲解这一用法的推送，点击这里回顾。到了电影领域，feature就变成了「主演」。试想，如果一部电影「以某人为特色」，那是不是就意味着某人是这部片的主角？而《歌手》虽然不是电影，但也是一档秀，所以featured stars仍然可以理解为「参演明星」，或者「参加节目的明星（歌手）」。Poor attendance at the concert was put down to the lack of big names.Although Singer previously had many foreign singers on the show, this international celebrity lineup still caused a stir.虽然《歌手》系列节目中有过很多外国歌手，但这次的国际明星阵容还是引起了轰动。line作名词有「队列」的含义，相应的动词短语line up就是「排队」，比如：Cars lined up waiting to board the ship.把动词短语的动词和介词或副词部分组合在一起，往往就成了派生的名词（比如lift off「发射」的名词形式就是liftoff），所以lineup就是line up的名词形式，字面意思即「排好的队伍」。不过lineup的确切含义和「排好的队伍」还是略有不同，它指的是一套「阵容」，可以是职业体育球队的「阵容」（比如starting lineup「先发阵容」），也可以像本文一样指参加某个音乐演出的明星「阵容」。无论是作动词还是作名词，stir都有「搅动」的含义，抽象一下，如果情绪被「搅动」了，那是不是意味着情绪变得「激动」或者「愤怒」？所以stir作名词同样可以指「激动」或「愤怒」：Plans for the motorway caused quite a stir among locals.建造高速公路的计划在当地居民中激起了相当大的愤怒情绪。On the day of the first episode, only two foreign singers were announced to appear on the show: young Moroccan-Canadian singer Faouzia and the Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter Chanté Moore. The other contestants were all Chinese singers who are already well-known among Chinese audiences. Because many people were unfamiliar with the two foreign singers, they joked that the winner of this season was already set in stone; surely it would be the famous Chinese singer Na Ying, known for her beautiful voice.首期节目播出当天，只公布了两位外国歌手：年轻的摩洛哥裔加拿大歌手凡希亚·奥伊亚和曾获格莱美提名的美国创作型歌手香缇·莫。其他参赛者都是已经在中国观众中享有盛名的中国歌手。由于很多人对这两位外国歌手并不熟悉，有观众开玩笑说，这一季的冠军已经板上钉钉，肯定是以美丽嗓音著称的中国著名歌手那英。▼ episode n. （电视节目的）一期，一集可以用X-episode作形容词，表示「X集的」。比如，在「《繁花》大火」的相关报道中就出现过相关表达：The 30-episode period drama is adapted from a 2012 novel of the same name by Jin Yucheng.《繁花》这部30集的时代剧改编自金宇澄2012年创作的同名小说。▼ Grammy-nominated adj. 格莱美提名的由Grammy「格莱美」（美国音乐界的年度奖项）和nominated「被提名的」组成的合成词。把Grammy换成其它各种奖项，即可得到各种「被……提名的」相关的表达，比如Emmy-nominated「艾美奖提名的」、Oscar-nominated「奥斯卡提名的」以及Pulitzer-nominated「普利策奖提名的」等。后缀-ant是表示人物身份的常见后缀，比如inhabitant「居民」相当于inhabit「栖息」+-ant，servant「仆人」相当于serve「服侍」+-ant。同理，contest是「竞赛」，所以加上-ant后就成了contestant「竞争者」：The show features six contestants from different parts of the country.也作carved in stone。试想，不同于铅笔书写的字迹，也不同于在电脑上打字，刻在石头上的东西显然很难再更改，因此set/ carved in stone意味着「不可更改」。People should remember that our proposals aren't set in stone.
However, that first episode surprised everyone as the two foreign singers, Faouzia and Chanté Moore, showed outstanding vocal skills. This not only startled many viewers but also made the Chinese contestants uneasy. Several experienced Chinese singers apparently were so unnerved after watching Faouzia and Chanté Moore’s performance that their voices trembled when singing.然而，第一期节目却让出乎所有人意料，凡希亚和香缇·莫这两位外国歌手展示了出色的唱功。这不仅让许多观众大吃一惊，也让中国选手感到心神不定。几位经验丰富的中国歌手在观看了凡希亚和香缇·莫的表演后，显然感到非常不安，唱歌时声音都在颤抖。词根voc-来自拉丁语，意为「声音」，所以和voc-相关的词大都和「发声」有关。比如vocabulary「词汇」是需要读出来的，又或者advocate「支持，提倡」也需要「发声」才能实现。由此，我们应该就不难记忆vocal「发声的」的含义，在音乐语境下，vocal还可以理解为「歌唱的」，比如vocal style「演唱风格」或本文出现的vocal skill「演唱技巧」（也就是我们中文常说的「唱功」）。相比surprise，startle在让人惊讶之余，还侧重于让人感到「被吓了一跳」：A sudden sound in the doorway startled her.单说动词unnerve本身，其中的nerve可以理解为「勇气，气魄」，比如：It took a lot of nerve to take the company to court.所以unnerve相当于否定前缀un-加上nerve，即「失去了勇气」或「感到紧张；丧失了信心」，所以形容词unnerved就是「感到紧张的」。
Since the show was broadcast live – without post-production editing or autotune – audiences got to hear the actual vocal capabilities and see performers’ genuine reactions. It seemed undeniable that the foreign contestants did much better in terms of vocals and stage presence than the Chinese ones. Some online commenters even said that the gap between Chinese and foreign singers’ levels was like “the difference between the Grammys and the Strawberry Musical Festival” [a local Chinese music festival].由于节目是现场直播，没有经过后期剪辑或自动调音，观众可以听到选手的真实唱功，看到选手的真实反应。不可否认的是，外国选手在唱功和舞台表现力方面比中国选手要好得多。一些网友甚至评论说，中外歌手水平的差距就像「格莱美奖和草莓音乐节的差距」（草莓音乐节是一个中国本土音乐节）。▼ post-production adj. 后期制作的在前文的pre-词条我们讲解过，post-「……之后」和pre-「……之前」互为反义，这里的post- production就相当于post-「……之后」加上production。收音机出现前，只有乐器才需要tune「调音」，这个过程的本质是调整乐器发声的频率，否则演奏时就会跑调。因此，「跑调」的英文是out of tune。进入收音机时代后，用收音机收听广播这个过程和给乐器调音的过程大抵相同，需要用到调谐键来调试设备，找到不同的频道，「调谐键」同样和tune有关，英文是tuner。而autotune相当于给tune「调音」加上auto-「自动」（点击这里回顾相关单词），字面意思即「自动调谐」。实际上，它是一款音频处理软件，能够修正歌手歌唱过程中的跑调，使音轨达到「完美调谐」的状态。我们围绕deny「否认」来记忆undeniable。后缀-able表示「能力」，可与动词结合构成形容词「可……的」，比如avoidable「可以避免的」和acceptable「可以接受的」，所以形容词deniable就是「可否认的」。而前缀un-表示否定，比如unavoidable「不可避免的」是avoidable的反义词，unacceptable「不可接受的」是acceptable的反义词，所以undeniable就是deniable的反义词，即「不可否认的」。用法方面，undeniable既可以用作形容词，修饰某个名词（比如undeniable proof「铁证」），也可以和文中一样用作「it is undeniable that +从句」的结构，比如：It is undeniable that, in some instances, crowdsourcing can be hugely powerful.
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