Operatunity

　　1　Operatunity is a TV talent show for amateur opera singers. The winners get the chance to sing with the English National Opera. When two housewives, Denise Leigh and Jane Gilchrist won in 2002, their lives changed forever. As they sang Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Coliseum(音乐厅)in Rome, they were transformed from working mothers into opera celebrities(名人).

　　Operatunity是面向业余歌剧歌手的电视才艺比赛。获奖者有机会和英国国家歌剧院一起演唱。当Denise Leigh和Jane Gilchrist这两位家庭主妇在2002年获奖之后，她们的生活因此永远改变。

　　2　“I live in the village I was born in,” says Denise, who is blind. “Lots of my neighbours are family, and my life is all about my three children.” Jane, who worked as a cleaner and a shop assistant, was in a similar situation. She says, “All I had to look forward to was seeing my four children grow up, and I love that, but... you think ‘there must be more to life’. Winning Operatunity has opened up avenues I never knew existed. ”

　　“我生活在我出生的城市”Denise说道，她是个盲人。“我的很多邻居都是家人，我的整个生活也是关于我的三个孩子”。Jane，是一位清洁工和店员，情形跟Denise类似。Jane说道，“我所期待的就是看着我的四个孩子长大，我喜欢这样，但是…你还是会想‘生活应该还有更多东西’”。赢得Operatunity这个比赛为我开启了之前从来不知道的道路。

　　3　“This last year has been amazing,” Denise continues. “Last month was Paris, before that we were recording at Abbey Road, in London, and recently we had our album launch at the Royal Opera House.” “We’ve been treated like princesses,” laughs Jane. “…champagne, chocolates, five-star hotels…”

　　“去年一年很不可思议”，Denise继续说道。“上个月在巴黎，在这之前是在伦敦的阿比大街录音，最近我们的专辑在英国皇家歌剧院发行。” “我们受到公主般的待遇”，Jane笑着说道。“……香槟，巧克力，五星级酒店……”。

　　4　But it wasn’t all so easy. For Denise, the worst part was waiting at the beginning. “After I’d sent in my application form I worried for a month. Then I had to wait ten days after my first audition(试唱). That was awful. ”Even when they won the competition they were allowed to tell their close family but they weren’t allowed to tell anyone else until later. Denise and Jane also found the travelling difficult. They couldn’t take their children with them while they were away singing so they had to organise childcare. However, there’s been no problem with the physical side of singing: “We didn’t have to worry about that as we’ve had lots of help and wonderful voice training,” says Jane. They also had to learn to deal with the media. “The kids loved the fact that they could stay up and watch us on TV, but I just couldn’t understand why some newspapers were more interested in the fact I divorced at 21, rather than the fact I had just sung at the Coliseum,” says Denise.

　　但是这并不容易。对Denise来说，最糟糕的部分是开始的等待。“我把申请表寄出去之后，我担心了一个月”。然后第一次试唱之后，我等了十天。等待的感觉很糟糕。”即使是当她们赢得了比赛，他们只允许告诉家人，直到后来才能告诉其他人。Denise和Jane还觉得旅行很难。她们出去唱歌的时候不能带着孩子，所以她们还得找儿童托管。然而，她们唱歌时身体没有问题。“我们不用担心身体，因为我们得到了很多帮助以及很棒的嗓音训练”。Jane说道。她们还得学习如何应对媒体。“孩子们很高兴她们可以熬夜，在电视上看我们，但是我只是很不理解问什么有些报纸对我21岁离婚这件事比我在大剧场唱歌还要感兴趣”，Denise说道。

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（实习编辑：高奕飞）