英國“超女”蘇珊大媽晉級半決賽
Susan Boyle, the dowdy Scottish sPinster whose mighty singing voice has catapulted her to global fame thanks to YouTube, won through to the next round of talent show "Britain's Got Talent" Saturday.
A clip of Boyle, 47, singing "I Dreamed A Dream" from musical Les Miserables in the show's auditions has been watched some 60 million times on the video sharing website since April and her fans include actress Demi Moore.
As the "Britain's Got Talent" auditions round ended Saturday, Boyle was named among 40 acts who will go through to the live semi-finals from Sunday, when she will make her eagerly-awaited second appearance on the show.
When asked how she felt after the judges made their decision, Boyle said: "On top of the world, it's fantastic", punched the air and did a dance.
Speaking of the semi-finals, she added: "I really want to do my best, get out there and do my best, and anything can happen."
The grand finale takes place on Saturday May 30 and Boyle - nicknamed the "Hairy Angel" by the British press - is the bookmakers' hot favourite to win.
Boyle's rivals in Sunday's show will include Darth Jackson - a postal worker called Phil who dresses as "Star Wars" character Darth Vader and dances like Michael Jackson.
Also featuring alongside her is extreme street performer Nick Hell, whose act includes attaching a dustbin to his ears with chains and swinging it around, and Latvian belly dancer Julia Naidenko.
Boyle is a charity volunteer who says she has never been kissed and lives alone in Blackburn, near Edinburgh, with a cat called Pebbles.
She told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview this month: "I am not lonely. Everyone has been so nice. I've got millions of new friends now."
"Britain's Got Talent" invites members of the public to show off their hidden entertaining skills in front of a panel of three judges - impresario Simon Cowell, former newspaper editor Piers Morgan and actress Amanda Holden.
The winner of the show, screened on ITV channel, wins the right to perform at the Royal Variety Performance before Queen Elizabeth II later this year - plus a 100,000 pound ($160,000) cheque.
其貌不揚的英國單身大媽蘇珊•波伊爾於上週六在“英國達人”選秀比賽中成功晉級。此前，她的天籟之音被上傳至YouTube網站，並因此在全球一舉成名。
現年47歲的波伊爾曾在選秀節目中演唱歌劇《悲慘世界》的選段“我曾有夢”，自四月份以來，被上傳至視頻分享網站的該演出片斷已被點擊收看大約六千多萬次。女演員黛米•摩爾也是她的粉絲。
“英國達人”選秀比賽於上週六結束海選，波伊爾躋身前40強，她將和其他選手一道參加從上週日開始的現場直播半決賽，觀衆熱切盼望她在節目上再度亮相。
在被問及順利晉級後的感想時，波伊爾說：“就像身處世界之巔，感覺棒極了。” 她向空中揮了揮拳頭，還做了幾個舞蹈動作。
她在談到半決賽時還說：“我真想盡力做好，拿出我的最高水平去參賽，一切皆有可能。”
總決賽將於5月30日（本週六）舉行，被英國媒體暱稱爲“毛茸天使”的波伊爾是賭家投注的奪冠大熱。
在週日的比賽中，波伊爾的競爭對手將包括“達斯•傑克遜”，這位名叫菲爾的郵差因穿着類似於《星球大戰》中的達斯•維達，舞步酷似邁克爾•傑克遜而得名。
其他熱門選手還包括表演形式較爲極端的街頭藝人尼克•海爾，他在演出中用鏈子將一隻垃圾桶掛在耳朵上，然後將它來回擺動。另一位則是拉脫維亞肚皮舞女朱莉婭•奈登科。
波伊爾是位慈善志願者，她稱自己還未獻出初吻。她獨居在愛丁堡附近的布萊克本，與一隻名叫“鵝卵石”的貓咪爲伴。
她在本月接受採訪時告訴脫口秀主持人奧普拉•溫弗瑞：“我並不孤單，大家對我都很友好，現在我有了數百萬新朋友。”
“英國達人”的參賽者都是平民，他們在舞臺上展示未被髮掘的娛樂天分，三位評委分別是娛樂圈老闆西蒙•考威爾，前報社編輯皮爾斯•摩根，以及女演員阿曼達•霍爾登。
這檔選秀節目在英國獨立電視臺（ITV）播放，節目的最終勝出者將有機會在今年晚些時候參加英國皇家文藝匯演，英國女王伊麗莎白二世將親臨演出。贏家還將獲得10萬英鎊（合16萬美元）獎金。
Vocabulary:
dowdy：not stylish; drab; old-fashioned（過時的，邋遢的）
catapult：to move or spring up suddenly, quickly, or forcibly, as if by means of a catapult（拋射，快速移動）
grand finale：決賽，終場演奏，結局
