双语散文:Celine Dion 十年倾情

 　　Artist:Celine Dion

　　Albums: All The Way - A Decade of Song

　　Phil Spector, the genius producer behind such classic '60s hits as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " and "Be My Baby," devised a production strategy called Wall of Sound in which all the instruments on a record were put in the service of one massive sonic blanket. Celine Dion's records work on a similar principle. Her songs are slathered in huge timpani and heavy orchestral arrangements. But where Spector aimed to sonically approximate the messy emotions his singers were feeling, Dion and her legion of hack¹ music biz professionals (most notoriously, producer David Foster and songwriter Diane Warren) meticulously² fashion each bit of bombast³ merely so it fits unobtrusively and inoffensively into the background of our lives.

　　Not one of her albums has thus repaid close attention and, unfortunately, All the Way ... A Decade of Song, her long-awaited greatest hits-plus, is a lot more of the same. You'd think a greatest hits album would be the place to cherry-pick those moments that have reached out and touched you. For sure, the Irish pipes that open "My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from "Titanic")" pluck at the heartstrings as they conjure⁴ the memory of that doomed⁵ luxury liner. And "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a camp masterstroke. The way the piano tinkles⁶ outles out the theme or fun little touches like the drum crash after "thought you were history with the slamming of the door" make up in thrilling melodrama⁷ what the song lacks in rhythmic⁸ thrust.

　　But practically everywhere else, the dull background noise eventually annoys you in the foreground. Right off the bat, the well-tempered synthesizer intro to "The Power of Love" is literally⁹ unlistenable, hitting the ears only when she belts "Cuz I'm your lady... " The musical backdrop to "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is so vague that it barely registers as anything at all, much less a cover. Her reprehensible¹⁰ "duet" with Frank Sinatra's voice, "All the Way", doesn't kick in until Ol' Blue Eyes gets resurrected.

　　In every one of these examples, the focus is on Celine and her enormous voice. Because she's so in love with her pipes, she won't surrender any of the song's identity or shape. Ultimately, then, what you walk away with (or eject from the CD player) is self-absorbed schlock.

1 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

2 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

3 bombast   

n.高调，夸大之辞

参考例句：

• There was no bombast or conceit in his speech.他的演讲并没有夸大其词和自吹自擂。
• Yasha realized that Wolsky's bombast was unnecessary.雅夏看出沃尔斯基是在无中生有地吹嘘。

4 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

6 tinkles   

丁当声，铃铃声( tinkle的名词复数 )； 一次电话

参考例句：

• Small drips, tinkles, and bubbles are what birds like. ——小水滴、叮当响声和小泡沫才是鸟类所喜欢的。
• Tinkles: Is the puppy alive or not? 丁克斯：那只小狗还活着吗？

7 melodrama   

n.音乐剧；情节剧

参考例句：

• We really don't need all this ridiculous melodrama!别跟我们来这套荒唐的情节剧表演！
• White Haired Woman was a melodrama,but in certain spots it was deliberately funny.《白毛女》是一出悲剧性的歌剧，但也有不少插科打诨。

8 rhythmic   

adj.有节奏的，有韵律的

参考例句：

• Her breathing became more rhythmic.她的呼吸变得更有规律了。
• Good breathing is slow,rhythmic and deep.健康的呼吸方式缓慢深沉而有节奏。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 reprehensible   

adj.该受责备的

参考例句：

• Lying is not seen as being morally reprehensible in any strong way.人们并不把撒谎当作一件应该大加谴责的事儿。
• It was reprehensible of him to be so disloyal.他如此不忠，应受谴责。