As a solo artist，Brightman
has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical
styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not
here（Britain）—the image of
her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber（he
much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.
The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album
Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up
trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says.
“But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side.
After a while not having children becomes the normal and perhaps that might
sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything
different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are
incredibly rich.”
Talking about growing up in a large family in
Berkhamsted （father a property developer who later
committed suicide）, she says: “I was gifted as a child, and
very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I
understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first
appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.
Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞）Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart
to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew
Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such
a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted
by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and
Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.
Brightman says she felt hostility（敌意） “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand
it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the UK, where I now live. I
just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you
appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession
can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”
1.The first paragraph tells us that ______.
A. Brightman is very popular around the world except
in America
B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera,
pop and jazz
C. the British people don’t like her for her style of
music
D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber
2.Brightman decided to give up having children because
______.
A. she could adopt one
B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without
children
C. she felt it normal not to have children
D. she was too busy
3.The following statements are true except ______.
A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5
B. Brightman disliked life on campus
C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young
D. the saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous
4. The underlined word in the fourth paragraph
probably means ______.
A. located B.
admired C. followed D.
found
5.What does the author try to say in the last
paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?
A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she isn’t
liked in Britain
B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own
country
C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred
to her homeland
D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in
Britain
m immediately when I saw him in the crowd.