Take Away English-Eurovision Song Contest 欧洲电视歌曲大赛

Mr Lordi searches for musical inspiration

Jaakko Laajava the Finnish Ambassador to Britain has admitted to having a taste for heavy metal music. Commenting on his country’s amazing victory in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday (20th May 2006), he told the BBC that there was “an element of heavy metal in me too”, and that he was “thrilled” and “encouraged” by his country’s first ever Eurovision Song Contest success.

The winning song, “Hard Rock Hallelujia” sung by the heavy metal band Lordi, featured performers dressed as monsters wearing grotesque¹ masks, and has appalled² some of Finland’s cultural elite³, with many feeling outraged⁴ that such an horrific act should be allowed to represent their country, potentially damaging it’s reputation.

However, the Finnish President, Mrs. Tarja Halonen quickly congratulated the band in a telegram after Lordi won, and they have now become national icons⁵. Culture Minister Tanja Karpela said Lordi's victory proved Finnish music could be successful abroad.

In the Finnish capital Helsinki, traffic ground to a halt, with police intervening to clear the jam, as hundreds of people celebrated⁶ in the streets, waving flags and singing Lordi's song.

One fan, Erkki Turunen, said Finland won "because it put on a genuine show". "This wasn't some sort of rubbish. This was really cool," he said.

In London there were celebrations amongst Finnish ex-patriots, one Eurovision fan, Dr. Jussi Kalkkinen said: "I hate heavy metal, but when we saw those guys, you just had to vote for them."

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat proclaimed: "It's official: Hell has frozen over. Finland has won."

The song was given the highest ever score in the Song Contest’s history and gained the maximum 12 points from voters in Britain who phone in with their scores.

Britain, which takes part in the contest every year only achieved 19th place out of a total of 24 other European countries. Critics suggest that the sentiments of the UK song, Teenage Life by Daz Simpson, would not have been understood outside the UK, whilst the performers’ costumes, school uniform, would have mystified most, as it is a mode of dress generally unknown on mainland Europe.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
Finnish 芬兰的 element 元素 grotesque 怪诞的；奇异的 outraged 使愤怒 reputation 名誉 icons 偶像 jam （交通）堵塞 proclaimed 宣布；宣告 contest 比赛；竞赛 costumes 戏装；演出服	heavy metal music 重金属乐 monsters 怪物 appalled 使惊骇 horrific 可怕的 telegram 电报 ground to a halt （交通）停顿 ex-patriots 移居外国者 phone in 热线电话（ 参与） sentiments 感伤；情绪 mystified 使神秘化；迷惑

 

1 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

2 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

4 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

5 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。