【雅思课外精读】阿尔巴尼亚有嘻哈

　　Balkan balladeers巴尔干芭蕾舞演员

　　What do Dua Lipa,Rita Ora and Ava Max have in common?杜阿·利帕、丽塔·奥拉和艾娃·马克斯有什么共同点？

　　Pop stars with Albanian roots conquer the world具有阿尔巴尼亚血统的流行歌星征服世界

　　1.UNTIL RECENTLY the most famous ethnic Albanians were Mother Teresa(a nun who cared for orphans and lepers in India)and Enver Hoxha(a homicidal despot).Now to the saint and the sinner must be added the singers.

　　直到最近，阿尔巴尼亚最出名的人还是致力于照顾印度孤儿和麻风病人的特蕾莎修女和杀戮成性的暴君恩维尔·霍查。

　　2.They are everywhere.Dua Lipa has 55m monthly listeners on Spotify,a music-streaming platform.Bebe Rexha has 24m.Rita Ora has had five British number one singles and has been a judge on“the X Factor”.Era Istrefi sang at the football World Cup in 2018.Njomza Vitia,a singer-songwriter,and Labinot Gashi,a rapper,have global followings.Ava Max’s sexy single“Sweet but Psycho”is universally considered more fun than Hoxha’s literary offering,“Albania Challenges Khrushchev Revisionism”.

　　他们无处不在。Dua Lipa在音乐流媒体平台Spotify上每月有5500万听众，Bebe Rexha有2400万。Rita Ora有五首英国冠军单曲，还担任过“the X Factor”的评委。Era Istrefi在献唱2018年世界杯足球赛。创作歌手Njomza Vitia和说唱歌手Labinot Gashi在全球都有粉丝。Ava Max的性感单曲《甜美而狂野》被普遍认为比霍查的作品《阿尔巴尼亚挑战赫鲁晓夫修正主义》更有趣。

　　3.All these megastars of Albanian heritage except Ms Istrefi grew up in the diaspora.Ms Lipa,Ms Max,Ms Rexha and Ms Vitia were born,respectively,in London,Milwaukee,Brooklyn and near Stuttgart.Only Ms Max has roots in Albania itself;the rest are of Kosovar descent,save Ms Rexha,whose family come from North Macedonia.

　　除了Era Istrefi，所有这些拥有阿尔巴尼亚血统的超级巨星都是在离散中长大的。Lipa、Max、Rexha和Vitia分别出生在伦敦、密尔沃基、布鲁克林和斯图加特附近。只有Max是阿尔巴尼亚人;其余的人都是科索沃后裔，除了Rexha，她的家族来自马其顿北部。

　　4.Throughout history,says Dukagjin Lipa,Ms Lipa’s father,Albanians have been squashed,but the success of this generation of musicians shows that“given the chance,we excel.”The stars of the diaspora often perform back home,wrapping themselves in Kosovar or Albanian flags.

　　Lipa的父亲Dukagjin Lipa说，纵观历史，阿尔巴尼亚人一直被压迫，但这一代音乐家的成功表明“只要有机会，我们就能成功。”这些散居海外的明星经常身穿国旗回国演出。

　　5.Besa Luci,editor of Kosovo 2.0,a magazine,says they clearly feel a need to represent the nation and in return earn an outpouring of love.“My heart bleeds Albanian blood,”said Ms Rexha on a visit to Albania.In July Ms Lipa courted controversy by tweeting a map associated with extreme Albanian nationalists showing a vast Greater Albania.She later said her post had been“misinterpreted”.

　　《科索沃2.0》杂志的编辑Besa Luci说，他们感到有必要代表这个国家，作为回报，他们获得了人们的喜爱。“我的心里流着阿尔巴尼亚的血，”Rexha在访问阿尔巴尼亚时说。7月，Lipa在推特上发布了一张有着阿尔巴尼亚极端民族主义者意味的地图，这张地图提及大阿尔巴尼亚，这引发了争议。她后来表示，她的帖子被“误读”了。

　　6.The parents of the stars who grew up abroad left the Balkans in the turbulent early 1990s.But it was not always a story of refugee rags to riches.The Ora and Lipa families were part of Kosovo’s elite.Both girls attended a top performing-arts school in London.

　　这些明星的父母在动荡的20世纪90年代初离开了巴尔干半岛。但他们走的并不都是难民致富之路。奥拉和利帕家族都是科索沃的精英。这两个女孩都就读于伦敦一所的表演艺术学校。

　　7.The pop stars,along with a clutch of Albanian footballers in top teams across Europe,play an“incredibly important role”in helping to change Albanians’image from one of conflict,says Petrit Selimi,a former foreign minister of Kosovo.In 2016 an unusually demure Ms Ora performed in Rome to celebrate Mother Teresa’s canonization.

　　科索沃前外交部长佩特里特•塞利米表示，这些流行歌星和欧洲顶级球队中的一群阿尔巴尼亚足球运动员在帮助阿尔巴尼亚人改变冲突形象方面发挥了“极其重要的作用”。2016年，为了庆祝特蕾莎修女被封为圣徒，奥拉在罗马进行了一场异常庄重的表演。