His amazing success has enabled him to help those in need
約翰?傳奇 斐然成就使他得以幫助貧困的人
From child prodigy to entertainment all-star, award-winning singer-songwriter John Legend makes success look easy. His background provides plenty of reasons for his musical abilities.
He was born John Stephens on December 28, 1978, into a very musical family, all active participants in the church. John's grandmother played the organ, his mother directed the church choir and his father and brother played the drums.
During John's boyhood, his dad worked in a factory, and John's mother taught him at home for a few years. His grandmother discovered the child's musical genius when he was 4 and began to give him piano lessons. By age 6, he was singing in the church choir. According to John, "I knew from a pretty early age that I wanted to keep [making music]."
In addition to his love of music, he had a tremendous desire to learn. He excelled at school, skipped two grades and entered high school at age 12. And at the age of 16, he graduated second in his class. Stephens received offers from Harvard and scholarships from Georgetown University. But he chose to study English at the University of Pennsylvania.
Info Cloud
preach to the choir: phrase. If you say that someone is preaching to the choir, you mean that they are presenting an argument or opinion to people who already agree with it.
Hello, everyone. And welcome to Info Cloud. Have you ever been inside a church?
Going to church on Sundays is a big part of American culture. And we have several English idioms that come from this experience.
I know one. It's preaching to the choir. That means you're sharing an opinion with people who already agree with you.
Let's talk about some of the words in this phrase. First of all, in church, there is a lot of singing.
Many churches have a choir or a group that sings during the worship service. They often stand on stage and may even wear matching robes.
Have you ever sung in a choir before, Rex? Yes, I have. Another important word in the phrase "preaching to the choir" is preach.
Usually a pastor in a church will share a message about the Bible called a sermon. The verb we use with this is preach, to preached a sermon.
We can use this word to describe someone speaking about something they are passionate about.
Maybe you are trying to convince others to follow your ideas.
But if you are trying to convince people who already agree with you, you are preaching to the choir.
Since the choir is already in the church listening to the sermon, they probably already agree with the message.
美國社會受到基督教信仰的影響，有許多流行用語都是跟教會有關，像是 preach to the choir，字面上的意思是: 對教會的詩班講一篇道。由於詩班是配合牧師，每個星期天在教會裡面幫忙唱詩歌，因此他們對牧師要講的信息已經聽過無數遍了。
因此，日常對話中 preach to the choir，指的是你對一群已經同意你立場的觀眾，鼓吹自己的主張，根本是多此一舉。We already know it’s important to wash your hands. You’re preaching to the choir. 我們已經知道洗手的重要性了，你不必再說了，我們都知道了。
Language Lab
participant n. 參與者
a person who is involved in an activity or event : a person who participates in an activity or event — often + in
- The tournament was a success, and many of the participants did really well.
錦標賽辦得很成功，很多參與者表現非常優異。
- The professor did an experiment, and most of the participants in the experiment were university students.
教授做了一個實驗，而參與實驗的人大部分都是大學學生。
participate v. 參與
to be involved with others in doing something : to take part in an activity or event with others
- Although Vince was sitting in the meeting room with all his coworkers, he didn’t want to participate in the discussion.
Vince雖然跟同事們一起坐在會議室裡，但是他卻不想參與討論。
participation n. 參與或參加的動作
The political candidate thanked his supporters’ participation at the political event.
那位候選人感謝他的支持者，在政治活動裡的參與。
choir n. 合唱團、在教堂裡的詩班
/ˈkwajɚ/
a group of singers especially in a church
- The children’s choir will be singing a special song on Mother’s Day.
兒童詩班將會在母親節當天表演一首特別的歌曲。
- Wendy has been busy with school work this semester and hasn’t had time to practice with the women’s choir.
Wendy 這個學期課業很重，所以沒有時間跟婦女合唱團練歌。
choirmaster n. 指揮合唱團
the director of a choir
- Adam is the choirmaster at his church, and he practices with the choir every Wednesday evening.
Adam 是他的教會詩班指揮，每個星期三傍晚會跟詩班一起練習。
- If you’re interested in joining the choir, you can talk to the choirmaster.
如果你有興趣加入合唱團，可以跟合唱團指揮談一下。
genius n. 天賦
a very smart or talented person : a person who has a level of talent or intelligence that is very rare or remarkable
- When Billy started showing signs of artistic genius, his parents sent him to an art academy.
Billy 開始展現藝術天賦時，他的父母就把他送進一所藝術學院。
- Charles may not have any talent or genius, but he does have a good learning attitude.
Charles 也許沒有任何才藝或者是天賦，但是他有很好的學習態度。
genius n. 天才
great natural ability : remarkable talent or intelligence
- This invention is amazing and is definitely the work of a genius.
這個發明太神奇了，而且絕對是一位天才的傑作。
- David might seem like a quiet ordinary guy, but he is an absolute genius if you let him work with math.
David 也許看起來只是一個安靜的普通人，但是如果讓他做數學計算，他可是一位天才。
tremendous adj. 巨大的、極大的
very large or great
- The tremendous anger of the people led to the protest in front of the city hall.
人們極大的憤怒引發了市政府前的示威。
- After exercising at the gym, Eddie had a tremendous appetite and ate five hamburgers.
Eddie 在健身房運動完之後，胃口大開，吃了五個漢堡。
tremendous adj. 特別好的 (用於讚美)
/trɪˈmɛndəs/
very good or excellent : wonderful
- The new secretary did a tremendous job organizing all the files.
新的秘書把檔案整理得特別好。
- Everyone was happy when they heard the tremendous news.
大家一聽到那個好消息就變得非常高興。
prodigy n.
/ˈprɑːdəʤi/
a young person who is unusually talented in some way
- child prodigies
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