Last week Adele's second album, 21, sold 257,000 copies in the UK, a sales figure that would look incredible as an opening sales week for any album by any global superstar. The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. The last female singer to spend that long at No.1 in the UK was Madonna in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.
For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility. But what does it say about the state of the music industry? Does Adele's success signal a return to the MOR(适合大众口味的音乐) musical depression, when the likes of James Blunt dominated the charts? Her success may well lead to a great many similar acts aiming for an MOR audience, but that's more the fault of an industry desperate to recreate any kind of success by creating poor copies until the world shouts "stop now".
What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, Adele's chain-smoking, girl-you'd-like-to-go-to-the-pub-with persona stands out. Even for a British act, her ordinariness goes against trend, with fellow Jessie J adopting a very American habit of over-emoting, talking about a "journey" and making the idea of being a pop star seem fairly difficult.
It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales. While the first single from 21, Rolling in the Deep, appealed to Radio 1 listeners and bloggers, the second single, Someone Like You, is so successful that silenced the grand O2 Arena during this year's Brit Awards. The press can write pages and pages in that there's enough of a connection of musicians – Rick Rubin worked on the album, there's a cover of the Cure, Mumford & Sons were an influence – while the gossip magazines have been excited by the fact that the album is one long break-up record, eager to find the ex.
In 1990, Madonna was a global superstar with a back catalogue of era-defining hits to her name. She was untouchable and, tellingly, unknowable. She was (and still is) a megastar, but a megastar of a different age. These days, we want to know a bit more about our artists; that they have relationship problems, walk their dog. Her selling point and appeal is precisely the fact that she exists at the point between everyday ordinariness and pop star.
For now, Adele's success should be celebrated, especially for becoming an unlikely global star on her own terms. The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR.
小题1:Adele’s achievement seems unbelievable for the reason that ____________.
A．the sales of her second album achieved an incredible success last week in the UK
B．her second album ranked first in a row with the incredible average sales per week
C．Madonna was the last female singer in the UK to stay at No. 1 as long as she did
D．she is such an ordinary singer with so fascinating a voice in the music industry小题2:According to the author, the success of Adele’s second album __________________.
A．to a large extent depends on her apparent talent for music
B．is because of her extraordinariness and the wonderful voice
C．lies in gift, timing and something beyond sex, age and trust
D．is largely due to the state of the music industry currently小题3:Compared with other female pop stars, what does the author think of Adele?
A．She stands out in a totally different way from Gaga and Beyonce.
B．She and Madonna are contemporary megastars in music.
C．Only she and Madonna spent that long at No.1 in the UK.
D．Jessie J and she both have an American habit of expressing themselves.小题4:What helped Adele successfully turned her gift of singing into sales?
A．Her musical talent.
B．The joint work of musicians in the album.
C．Her incredible voice.
D．Her universality and broad appeal.小题5:The author thinks that the current musical trend in the UK is _______________.
A．satisfying
B．disappointing
C．dangerous
D．desperate
小题1:B
小题2:C
小题3:A
小题4:D
小题5:B
题目分析：文章介绍Adele的音乐成就，和为什么她的音乐能这么受欢迎，同事作者表达对英国音乐领域的担心。
小题1:细节题：从第一段的句子：The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. 可知Adele的第二张唱片连续10周排在排行榜首位，这是令人难以置信的。选B
小题2:细节题：从第二段的句子：For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility.可知选C
小题3:细节题：从第三段的句子：What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, 可知作者认为她和Gaga 和 Beyonce.的方式是完全不一样的。选A
小题4:细节题：从第四段的句子：It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales.可知是因为她的大众欢迎度使她的歌唱天赋变成销售额。选D
小题5:细节题：从最后一段的句子：The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR.可知现在的英国的英国的音乐潮流是令人失望的。选B
点评：本文考查细节题为主，细节题可以在文章中直接找到与答案有关的信息或是其变体。搜查信息在阅读中非常重要它包括理解作者在叙述某事时使用的具体事实、数据、图表等细节信息。在一篇短文里大部分篇幅都属于这类围绕主体展开的细节。做这类题一般采用寻读法即先读题，然后带着问题快速阅读短文，找出与问题有关的词语或句子，再对相关部分进行分析对比，找出答案。