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Unit 5
第五单元
Music
音乐
Reading
阅读
The Band That Wasn't
并非乐队的乐队
Have you ever wanted to be part of a band as a famous singer or musician?
你曾经想过要成为一个乐队里有名的歌手或音乐家吗？
Have you ever dreamed of playing in front of thousands of people at a concert,
你是否曾梦想过在音乐会上面对成千上万的观众演唱，
at which everyone is clapping and appreciating your music?
观众欣赏你的歌唱为你鼓掌吗？
Do you sing karaoke and pretend you are a famous singer like Song Zuying or Liu Huan?
你唱卡拉OK时是否假装自己就是宋祖英或刘欢一样著名的歌星？
To be honest, a lot of people attach great importance to becoming rich and famous.
说实在的，很多人把名和利看得很重。
But just how do people form a band?
那么，人们又是怎样一起组成乐队的呢？
Many musicians meet and form a band because they like to write and play their own music.
许多音乐家聚在一起组成乐队，是因为他们喜欢自己作曲，演奏自己的音乐。
They may start as a group of high-school students, for whom practicing their music in someone's house is the first step to fame.
他们开始可能是一组中学生，在某个人家里排练音乐是成名的第一步。
Sometimes they may play to passers-by in the street or subway so that they can earn some extra money for themselves or to pay for their instruments.
有时他们可能在街上或在地铁里为过路人演奏，这样他们可以为自己或自己要买的乐器多挣一些钱。
Later they may give performances in pubs or clubs, for which they are paid in cash.
后来，他们可能在酒吧或者俱乐部里演出，这样他们可以得到现金。
Of course they hope to make records in a studio and sell millions of copies to become millionaires!
当然，他们希望在录音棚里录音，然后卖掉上百万张碟，从而成为百万富翁。
However, there was one band hat started in a different way.
然而，也有一个用不同方式组建起来的乐队。
It was called the Monkees and began as a TV show.
这支乐队叫“门基乐队”，它开始时是以电视节目表演的形式出现的。
The musicians were to play jokes on each other as well as play music, most of which was based loosely on the Beatles.
组成乐队的音乐人演奏音乐，还彼此打趣逗笑。这些玩笑和音乐大多都在模仿“甲壳虫”乐队。
The TV organizers had planned to find four musicians who could act as well as sing.
电视制作人原计划想寻找四位会唱会表演的乐手。
They put an advertisement in a newspaper looking for rock musicians, but they could only find one who was good enough.
他们在报纸上登了一则广告，想招摇滚乐手，但他们只招到一个满意的。
They had to use actors for the other three members of the band.
乐队的其他三人只能用演员来代替。
As some of these actors could not sing well enough, they had to rely on other musicians to help them.
因为这些演员中有些人唱得不是很好，他们不得不依靠队里的其他人帮助。
So during the broadcasts they just pretended to sing.
所以在演出的时候他们只是假唱。
Anyhow their performances were humorous enough to be copied by other groups.
不管怎样，他们的表演非常幽默以至于其他的乐队也开始模仿。
They were so popular that their fans formed clubs in order to get more familiar with them.
他们非常走红使得歌迷们为了更加熟悉他们而成立了俱乐部。
Each week on TV, the Monkees would play and sing songs written by other musicians.
门基乐队每个星期都要在电视上演唱由别的音乐家创作的歌曲。
However, after a year or so in which they became more serious about their work,
然而，经过大约一年以后，门基乐队逐渐对自己的工作认真起来，
the Monkees started to play and sing their own songs like a real band.
他们开始像一支真正的乐队那样演唱自己创作的歌曲。
Then they produced their own records and started touring and playing their own music.
然后他们录制自己的唱片，并且开始巡回表演他们自己的音乐。
In the USA they became even more popular than the Beatles and sold even more records.
在美国，他们甚至比“甲壳虫”乐队还要受欢迎，出售的录音专辑还要多。
The band broke up about 1970, but happily the reunited in the mid-1980s.
“门基乐队”大约在1970年左右解散，但是令人高兴的是，到80年代中期他们再次聚首。
They produced a new record in 1996, with which they celebrated their former time as a real band.
在1996年，他们推出了一张新的专辑，以此来庆祝他们真正成为乐队以来的那段时光。
