英國超女蘇珊大媽屈居亞軍
Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle was dealt an unexpected blow when she lost out to a group of young street dancers in the final of the British talent show that made her a global star.
Despite winning praise from the audience and the judges in her final performance on live television, the 48-year-old graciously accepted second place, saying the "best people won" and wishing the winners "all the best".
Boyle enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame over the past two months after video footage of her audition piece for the show, "I Dreamed A Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables", was posted on video-sharing website YouTube.
It has had about 100 million hits, brought her celebrity fans including actress Demi Moore and rock star Jon Bon Jovi and seen her feted in the media from the United States to China, Japan and Australia.
Bookmakers made her the favourite to win, but after an unconvincing performance in the semi-final there were fears that the church volunteer, who lives alone with her cat outside Edinburgh, was suffering under the pressure.
However, in a live performance in the "Britain's Got Talent" final Saturday, Boyle proved the critics wrong and repeated her audition piece with gusto.
Judge Piers Morgan said it was the "greatest performance I've seen on the history of Britain's Got Talent -- you should win the competition, I loved it."
Boyle was up against nine other acts to win the show, which brings with it a cheque for 100,000 pounds (115,000 euros, 160,000 dollars) and the chance to perform for Queen Elizabeth II.
More than a million viewers cast their vote following the live performances, and in the end, Boyle lost out to a group of ten young dancers, named Diversity. Saxophonist Julian Smith came in third place.
After singing earlier in the evening, Boyle, wearing a grey-blue, long sequined dress, thanked all her fans.
"I want to thank people for all the support they've given me," she said.
Asked if it was worth all the media pressure, she replied emphatically: "Well worth it!... I really feel at home on stage, I'm among friends."
Boyle put in a shaky performance of "Memory" in the show's semi-finals, singing occasionally out of tune and out of time, and some fans on YouTube had questioned whether she could handle the weight of expectations.
The British media had also reported some erratic behaviour over the past week, including how she had lost her temper in the foyer of the London hotel where she was staying prompting police to intervene.
在“英國達人”決賽中，蘇格蘭歌壇神話蘇珊•波伊爾意外敗給了一個年輕的街舞組合。之前她曾憑藉該選秀節目在全球走紅。
儘管48歲的蘇珊大媽在現場直播的決賽中贏得了觀衆和評委的讚譽，但她仍欣然接受了亞軍的名次，稱“最棒的選手才能奪冠”，並祝冠軍“一切順利”。
波伊爾之前在海選中演唱了歌劇《悲慘世界》的選段《我曾有夢》。在這段視頻剪輯被上傳至視頻分享網站YouTube之後，波伊爾在過去兩個月間迅速躥紅。
這段視頻的點擊量約有1億次，包括女演員黛米•摩爾和搖滾歌星瓊•邦•喬維在內的諸多明星都成爲她的粉絲，美國、中國、日本和澳大利亞等國的媒體也對她大加追捧。
波伊爾是賭家投注的奪冠大熱，但她在半決賽中的表現並不盡如人意，因此大家開始有些擔心這位和她的貓咪一起生活在愛丁堡城外的教堂義工正承受着巨大的壓力。
但在上週六舉行的“英國達人”現場直播決賽中，波伊爾證明了批評人士的錯誤，並傾情重演了海選片斷。
評委皮爾斯•摩根稱，這是“我見過的‘英國達人’史上最棒的演出，你應該勝出，我喜歡你的演唱。”
波伊爾與其他九名選手同臺競爭，冠軍將贏得10萬英鎊（合11.5萬歐元或16萬美元）獎金，以及爲伊麗莎白女王獻唱的機會。
在現場直播決賽後，超過100萬名觀衆投票選出冠軍，最終波伊爾輸給了一個由十名年輕的舞者組成的“萬象”組合。薩克斯演奏者朱利安•史密斯獲季軍。
在晚間早些時候結束演唱後，身穿灰藍色亮片長裙的波伊爾對所有粉絲道謝。
她說：“我想謝謝大家對我的支持。”
在被問及是否值得承受這麼大的媒體壓力時，她強調說：“當然值得！我在舞臺上感覺非常自在，我正和朋友們在一起。”
在半決賽中，波伊爾演唱“回憶”時表現不佳，時而跑調時而跟不上節拍，YouTube網站上的一些粉絲開始擔心她能否承受住人們的厚望。
英國媒體還報道了她在過去一週的失態舉止，包括她在就住的倫敦酒店休息室裏發怒，最終警察趕來解圍。
Vocabulary:
meteoric：resembling a meteor in transient brilliance, suddenness of appearance, swiftness, etc（疾速的）
fete：to entertain at or honor with a fete（給予……巨大的榮譽）
sequin：to affix sequins to (a garment, for example）（將衣服飾以圓形小金屬片）
下一頁爲打敗蘇珊大媽的diversity
