The American Idol is based on the British original Pop Idol. This TV show broadcasted since 2002 is a talent search contest for youngers (age 16-24) that want to sing. It is hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Firstly after a country-wide search, those left audition1 before the three main judges—Simon Cowell (one of the judges from Pop Idol), Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. In Hollywood, the three judges narrow the initial field of several hundred down to a group of semifinalists2(about 30 people). They then compete, on air3, and viewers vote for their favorite contestants by calling or sending text messages. The lower scoring contestants get the boot4. The finals will last several weeks until the last remaining is declared the winner. The winner will also receive a $1 million recording contract from BMG.
EARLY BIRDS
Wannabe idols try to camp out almost a week before the first open auditions—even though producers shoo7 them away until two days before the actual date.
AMERICAN IDLE
To fight boredom in the audition line, contestants strum8 guitars, play football, and do homework. They also learn their songs.
LAPDOG9
Finalists often see a “fourth judge” wandering around: Paula Abdul's pet Chihuahua10. Although the pooch11 isn't allowed on the set during live broadcasts, she sits on Paula's lap during dress rehearsals12.
THINK FAST!
The first judges competitors sing for aren't Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson. The contestants are assigned to one of 12 judges, and they have only two to three minutes to impress them—without accompaniment13.
WHO'S WATCHING NOW?
On average 22 million people watch American Idol each week. And audiences voted more than 240 million times during each season.
DO-OVER14
After the first open auditions, about 10 to 15 percent of the competitors make it to round two. But some rejects travel to the next city to try again.
《美国偶像》源于英国原创《流行偶像》。该节目2002年首播，是针对喜欢唱歌的青少年（16-24岁）所举办的一场选秀赛，由瑞恩·西克瑞斯特主持。首先经过全国海选，过关的选手在三大评委——西蒙·考埃尔（曾任《流行偶像》评委）、宝拉·阿巴杜和兰迪·杰克逊面前试唱。在好莱坞经过三位评委的淘汰，初时的几百人只有30人左右能进入半决赛。接着胜出者在电视上现场PK，观众通过电话或手机短信投票选择他们的最爱。得票较低的选手会被PK出局。决赛持续数周，PK最后剩下的一名选手即为冠军。冠军还将获得BMG唱片公司100万美元的唱片合同。
早早赶到
这些未来的偶像们几乎在首次公开试音前一周就在外面搭起了帐篷——直到真正试唱日的前两天，组织者才不再驱赶他们。
美国闲人
为了打发在试音长龙中等待的无聊时光，选手们弹吉他，踢足球，甚至做家庭作业。他们还练起了自己的试唱歌曲。
宠物评委
参加决赛的选手们经常会看见“第四个评委”——宝拉·阿巴杜的宠物狗吉娃娃——在附近闲逛。尽管现场直播时舞台并不允许有狗存在，但是在彩排期间她总是坐在宝拉的膝盖上。
思维敏捷！
参赛选手们献唱时的第一组评委并不是西蒙·考埃尔、宝拉·阿巴杜和兰迪·杰克逊。他们被分别安排到12位评委之一面前试唱，只有2-3分钟的时间让评委评分——而且是清唱。
谁在观看？
平均每周有2200万人观看《美国偶像》。每个赛季观众投票逾2.4亿人次。
进入复赛
首轮公开试唱后，约有10％-15%的参赛选手晋级第二轮比赛，但是有些选手会弃权，不再到下个城市比赛。
1. audition v. 试音
2. semifinalist n. 半决赛选手
3. on air 此指电视现场直播
4. get the boot 遭解雇，淘汰
5. wannabe=want to be
6. belt out 拉开嗓门唱；热情演奏
7. shoo v. 发出嘘声赶走
8. strum v. 乱弹，乱奏
9. lapdog n. 供玩赏的小狗
10. chihuahua n. 吉娃娃（一种产于墨西哥的狗）
11. pooch n. 狗
12. dress rehearsal彩排 rehearsal n. 排演，演习
13. accompaniment n. 伴奏
14. do-over 重做
15. boy wonder 少年天才
16. hype [haip] n. 大肆宣传，大做广告
17. veteran n. 老手，富有经验的人
18. journey man 熟练工人
19. on hold 电话接通待对方接听的状态
20. decent adj. <口> 相当好的，像样的
21. choreographer n. 舞蹈指导
22. enabler n. 授权者
23. underdog n. 受压迫者，处于下风的人
24. bagging grocery n. 意为吃袋装零食 bag v. 把…装进袋里
25. evil genius n. 不保护人的神；给人不好影响的人
26. predictable adj. 可预测的
27. on the edge of one's seat= on the edge 紧张，兴奋
28. touch on 论及，涉及到
29. interactivity n. 互动
30. fabulous [?謖f?覸bjul?藜s] adj. 难以置信的