4.insanity n. persistent mental disorder or derangement 精神病
5.personality n. the totality of qualities and traits, as of character or behavior, that are peculiar to a specific person 人格
6.conservatory n. a greenhouse, especially one in which plants are arranged aesthetically for display, as at a botanical garden 溫室（尤指植物園中將植物擺放得很美 觀以供觀賞的暖房)conservatory of music： a school of music or dramatic art 音樂學院
7.industrialist n. one who owns, directs, or has a substantial financial interest in an industrial enterprise 實業家
8.metropolitan adj. of, relating to, or characteristic of a major city 大城市的，大都市的，屬於或關於大都市的，具有大都市的特點的 Step One Listen to the news and decide whether they are true or false.
1.Today，we tell about one of the most famous popular singers of this century， Maria Callas.
2.Opera is a play that tells a story in music. It is one of the most complex of all art forms. Often there are many colorful crowd scenes.
3.Maria Callas was born in New York City in 1926. Her real name was Maria Kalogeropoulous. Her parents were Korean.
4.In 1943，when she was seventeen, Maria Callas was paid to sing in a major opera for the first time.
5.In 1950，Maria Callas performed for the first time at the famous Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy.
6.Maria Callas died of a hard attack in her home in Paris in 1977. She was fifty-three.
7.Many experts say Maria Callas influenced opera more than any other singer of the twentieth century.
Step Two Complete the following blanks with the exact words from the news.
1.Opera uses the huge ____of music to ____ feelings and to ____ emotions. Music can express emotions very forcefully. So most opera ____ base their works on very ____ stories of love and death.
2.In 1956，Callas was invited to ____ in Italy. This was the real beginning of her____ as an opera singer. She performed ____ parts in several of the most famous operas. In ____ she married an Italian ____, Giovanni Battista Meneghini. He was twenty years older. He became her adviser and manager.
3.In 1956，she____for the first time at the____Opera in New York. She sang the____ in the opera “ Norma” by Italian ____ Vincenzo Bellini. She was a great success. Norma，a ____ leader in the ancient city of Gaul，became one of her most famous parts.
4.During the years, Maria Callas often had____ with her voice. ____said some of her ____ were not her best. Sometimes she had to ____ performances. Her relations with the officials of major opera companies often were ____.
Notes ：
1.Athens n.雅典(希臘首都)
2.Milan n.米蘭（意大利北部城市）
3.“Aida” 《阿伊達》，意大利歌劇家威爾第的一部歌劇，四幕歌劇《阿伊達》創 作於1871年，同年12月在開羅劇場演出，是埃及總督帕哈為慶祝1869年竣工的蘇 伊士運河工程而邀請威爾第所作。劇情大致是：埃塞俄比亞國王阿莫那斯羅為救被 俘虜的女兒阿伊達而發兵埃及，而此時阿伊達隱姓埋名做了埃及公主安娜麗斯的女 仆。阿伊達的戀人青年侍衛長拉達梅斯奉命迎擊入侵者，並俘獲阿莫那斯羅為人質 凱旋。阿莫那斯羅利用女兒刺探埃及軍情，拉達梅斯在與阿伊達幽會時無意泄露機 密，被阿伊達的情敵公主安娜麗斯聽見。拉達梅斯被判死刑，後阿伊達為之殉情。
4.Gaul n. 高盧，或譯加利亞，西歐一古老地區，在萊茵河南部和西部，阿爾卑斯 山西部，比利牛斯山北部，基本相當於現代的法國和比利時。羅馬人把其疆域擴展到 包括北意大利，尤其是當朱利斯·凱撒在高盧一戰中征服此地區後（前58—前51 年)。
News Item 7 Memorial Day
Shelley Gollust Broadcast： May 27, 2002
Vocabulary：
1.memorial n. something, such as a monument or holiday, intended to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or an event 紀念物