From reluct ance t o recognit ion:The j ourney of a suona player

2024-03-06河南刘同功

疯狂英语·新策略 2024年1期

河南刘同功

曾经对演奏唢呐反感，如今让唢呐演奏“跨界”。她，经历了哪些不为人知的故事呢？

主题语境：中国民乐篇幅：353词建议用时：7分钟

1 As a child,Liu Wenwen hatedsuona,a“loud,highpitched”traditional Chinese musical instrument, an ancestral heritage of her family that was to become her career.

2 Her peers at primary school laughed at her, saying her whole family was engaged only in“weddings and funerals”.Liu felt ashamed.Despite her reluctance, she followed her parents into the trade at three years old.What would you expect otherwise from a child whose parents both playsuona, and who falls asleep and wakes up to the loud music day in day out?

3 Music takes root in Liu's DNA, but it takes time and hard work to become a successfulsuonaplayer.The instrument is so loud that it annoyed the neighbors when she practiced it at home.So her parents would wake her up at 4 am every day and take her to practice outside in a park.

4 While she followed her parents to playsuonaas a child,she only fell in love with the instrument at university.The firstsuonaplayer to study for a doctor's degree, Liu is also teaching at her alma mater(母校) in Shanghai.Liu said she is delighted to see thesuonamusic regaining popularity among young people, sometimes even combined with jazz,opera and other art forms.This is a reverse（逆转）from its decline in the 1990s.

5 In 2017, alongside award-winning composer Tan Dun, Liu performed at a concert in Sydney.For her debut on the international stage, she was playingHundreds of BirdsPaying Homage to Phoenix(《百鸟朝凤》), a masterpiece that often represents excellence insuonaperformance.

6 The audience was truly impressed.The Westerners were amazed by the loud, unfamiliar instrument and its exotic, colorful music.“It was a direct dialogue between a hillbilly Chinese instrument and a Western orchestra, loved by the musicians and audience alike,”she said.“I felt my hard work had paid off.I have trained for over 20 years,probably just to win cheers and applause for traditional Chinese music on the international stage.”

Reading Check

Detail1.Why was Liu laughed at by her peers at school?

A.She was from a poor family.

B.Her school performance was bad.

C.She could not playsuonawell.

D.Her family was doing special business.

Detail2.What was Liu's trouble while practicingsuonaat home?

A.She might disturb her neighbors.

B.She had no one to learn from.

C.She would wake up her parents.

D.She couldn't fix her mind on it.

Detail3.What happened to thesuonaart in the 1990s?

A.It was mixed with other art forms.

B.It lost popularity among the young.

C.It was rejected by the general public.

D.It was back on track of rapid development.

Inference4.Which words can best describe Liu Wenwen as a musician?

A.Talented and devoted.B.Modest and far-sighted.

C.Proud and experienced.D.Honest and open-minded.

Language Study

Ⅰ.Difficult sentence in the text

What would you expect otherwise from a child whose parents both playsuona, and who falls asleep and wakes up to the loud music day in day out?对于一个父母都演奏唢呐，并且日复一日在嘹亮的唢呐声中入睡又醒来的孩子，你会有什么期望呢？

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句。What would you expect otherwise from a child是主句，先行词child 后跟有两个分别用whose 和who 引导的定语从句，这两个定语从句由and连接。