Waltz—nothing is more wonderful

華東政法大學(xué) 張 弛

華爾茲又名圓舞，這是因為華爾茲在整個舞蹈過程中，大部分都在不停地旋轉(zhuǎn)。華爾茲起源于歐洲，到了18世紀(jì)，華爾茲成為極流行的交際舞。華爾茲舞曲輕快，明朗而動人，舞步也是如此，讓人有飄飄欲仙的感覺，比其他舞步更有詩意，更溫文爾雅。這也是華爾茲能流行百年并成為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的主要原因。

Some dances gain more popularity than others because they can beperformedto different kinds of music and the steps changeaccordingly.One such dance is the waltz.

There is a basic form for the waltz，which you can see in this drawing of a dancing couple.The man places one arm around the woman's waist and she places heroppositehand on his shoulder.Then，they stretch their other arms out and clasp hands.If someone tries to teach you a formal kind of dancing，chances are your teacher will start with the waltz.Have you ever tried to dance like this?

There are lots of different kinds of waltzes，all performed to different types of waltz music.The music might be fast or slow but what they all have is a regular one-two-three，one-two-three rhythm.The traditional form is the oldschool waltz in which dancers turn all the time with a hopping（活躍的），springy（有彈性的）step.This waltz has a slow，smooth，gliding（流暢的）step.There's also the Mexican waltz，which moves much faster.

Formal dancing has even become a profession，with people entering competitions.Have you ever seen a formal dance competition?

Today，ballroom dancing is almost considered a competitive sport;professionals perform different dances，each with strict rules.Everything from where the dancers place their hands to how they move is judged.In the glide waltz， dancers are judged by how smoothly they move.“I can dance with a glass of water on my head，” is a well known sentence used by skilled dancers in the old days.In the past， some people learned how to dance by reading books， while others studied with a teacher called the“dancing master.”How do people learn to dance today?

Reading Check

1.When a couple are dancing，________.

A.the girl places one arm around the man's waist B.the man puts one hand on the girl's shoulder

C.they stand face to face with one of their hands held together

D.the man puts one arm around the girl's waist and the other on her shoulder

2.If one says “I can dance with a glass of water on my head，” we know that______ _.

A.he is a good dancer

B.he is a beginner

C.he is practicing dancing

D.he is tired of dancing

Language Study

Vocabulary

1.perform vt.表演

2.accordingly adv.相應(yīng)地；另一邊地

3.opposite adj.相對的

4.professional n.專業(yè)人員

5.smoothly adv.流暢地

Difficult sentence

The traditional form is the old school waltz ____________dancers turn all the time with a hopping，springy step.

傳統(tǒng)的形式是古老的華爾茲舞，舞者們總是以跳躍而富有活力的步伐旋轉(zhuǎn)。

【點石成金】所填的部分屬于“介詞+關(guān)系代詞”結(jié)構(gòu)，引導(dǎo)限制性定語從句，相當(dāng)于關(guān)系副詞where。