The story of Susan Boyle—like that of Paul Potts before her—is, except to the most jaded and curmudgeonly among us, completely irresistible.2 Fished, seemingly, from the bottom of the pond by Britains Got Talent, these two humble, working-class, physically ill-favored souls were suddenly found to be capable of creating things of astonishing beauty.3 People reacted as if vast quantities of treasure were discovered in the trunk of a broken-down Hyundai abandoned on their street.4 It was always there, but nobody had ever bothered to look. Thanks to that grouchy Simon Cowell (and YouTube), the two amateur singers each became overnight sensations, bringing lumps to the throats and surreptitious wiping of the eyes to millions, including the shows judges.5

Ugly duckling6 stories really do not get any better than this. And Britains Got Talent milked them for all they were worth, cutting away to eye rolls and snickering by the audience and judges before the two wow-inducing performances.7 But exactly how untutored and undiscovered were Potts, who went on to win 2007s competition and released his CD subsequently, and Boyle, who since her performance surfaced in 2009 had become a household name on at least two continents?8

Their life stories, as told in countless profiles, are oddly similar. Potts was raised in a scuzzy part of Bristol, England, were told, by a bus-driver dad and supermarket-cashier mom.9 Boyle was one of nine children whose father worked in a car factory and mother in a typing pool10. At school they were both bullied11. When he turned up in front of the judges, Potts was a dentally challenged mobile phone salesman, wearing a$50 suit from the supermarket chain Tescos. Boyle, with her gold dress, black hose, white shoes and hedgerow eyebrows,12 was unemployed and, yes, living alone with her cat, Pebbles. Nobody, the show made clear, had any idea they could sing. Well, not quite. Luciano Pavarotti13, for one, had an idea about Potts. While Potts hometown, Fishponds, is not an upscale14 neighborhood, he went to St. Marys Redcliffe, one of the best nonprivate schools in Bristol. After he graduated with honors from university, he went on a show hosted by Michael Barrymore15 and won enough money to take singing classes in Italy. There he performed for Pavarotti.

Upon Potts return to England, he worked his way through the amateur opera scene. According to the program for a 2003 Bath Opera production of Aida in which he appeared, he had already sung with that company several times and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.16 But that same year, he had a nasty bicycle accident. Health difficulties and medical bills took him away from opera and into his job selling phones.

Boyles story is similar but with fewer light notes17. Her hardscrabble18 town was Blackburn in Scotland. She also auditioned for a Barrymore TV show, but didnt make the cut.19 Yet she took singing lessons and recorded Cry Me a River for a charity CD in 1999, the same year she made a demo tape20. An observant Catholic,21 she often sang at church and on karaoke nights. So her talent was no surprise to her neighbors. “Everyone here knew she could sing,” Jackie Russell, manager of the local pub said.“We were always saying, ‘You should go in for talent competitions.“ What held Boyle back was caring for her aging parents. She entered Britains Got Talent, after her mother died, because she was approached by talent scouts22 from the show who asked her to enter.

Potts and Boyle are not, in short, two undiscovered singers who never got their shot23 at fame. Their stories are less telegenic than the one sold by Britains Got Talent,24 but much more common. Thousands of singers take their shot and fail, just as these two had.

But in a way, their true tales are more heartening25. Paul Potts and Susan Boyle each wanted to build a career on their talent, even tried to. He got stalled26; she got rejected. But the same things that barred them from entering showbiz — upbringing, luck, family duty and, in this TV-driven world, looks—are what delivered them eventually to fames main square.27 They had the exact qualities the reality industry knows how to package. As Cowell said to Boyle, in what may have been the most honest comment in the whole program, “I knew the minute you walked out on that stage we were going to hear something extraordinary.”

1. out of nowhere: 從不知名的狀態(tài)，從默默無聞的狀態(tài)。

2. Susan Boyle: 蘇珊·波伊爾，來自蘇格蘭，相貌平平，在電視選秀節(jié)目《英國達(dá)人》（Britains Got Talent）中，憑借一曲《我曾有夢》一鳴驚人；Paul Potts: 保羅·珀特斯（1971— ），原為一個(gè)手機(jī)推銷員，在《英國達(dá)人》中憑《公主徹夜未眠》而一曲成名；jaded: 缺乏熱情的，厭倦的；curmudgeonly: 小氣的，不和悅的。

3. fish: 捕魚，釣魚，此處用比喻義；physically ill-favored: 長相不好看的；soul: 人，人物。

4. 人們的反應(yīng)就如同在一輛因拋錨而被丟棄在路上的現(xiàn)代牌汽車上發(fā)現(xiàn)了大批寶藏。

5. grouchy: 不高興的，愛抱怨的；Simon Cowell: 西蒙·考威爾（1959—），英國著名音樂人，是《英國達(dá)人》的制片人；YouTube: 知名視頻娛樂網(wǎng)站；sensation: 造成轟動(dòng)的人或事；bringing lumps to the throats and surreptitious wiping of the eyes: 使聽眾喉嚨哽咽并偷偷擦眼淚，此處指二人的歌聲令聽眾感動(dòng)。

6. ugly duckling: 丑小鴨。

7. milk: 利用……而自肥，榨??；cut away: 切除，砍掉；eye roll: 翻白眼，表示不屑；snickering: 竊笑；wow-inducing: 形容令人大吃一驚的。

8. untutored: 未經(jīng)訓(xùn)練的；surface: 浮出水面，顯露；household: 家喻戶曉的。

9. skuzzy: 令人厭惡的，骯臟的；Bristol: 布里斯托爾（英國西部的港都）；supermarket-cashier: 超市收銀員。

10. typing pool:（大辦公室專門負(fù)責(zé)打字的）打字小組。

11. bully: 欺凌，欺負(fù)。

12. hose: 長統(tǒng)襪；hedgerow: 矮木樹籬，此處用比喻義。

13. Luciano Pavarotti: 帕瓦羅蒂（1935—2007），世界著名的意大利男高音歌唱家。

14. upscale: 高消費(fèi)的，高端的。

15. Michael Barrymore: 邁克·巴里摩爾，英國娛樂節(jié)目支持人。

16. Bath Opera: 巴斯歌劇團(tuán)，一個(gè)業(yè)余歌劇團(tuán)；Aida: 《阿依達(dá)》，著名歌??；Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: 英國皇家愛樂樂團(tuán)。

17. fewer light notes: 此處形容Boyle的經(jīng)歷更不輕松。

18. hardscrabble: 貧脊的，非常窮困的。

19. audition: 試聽，試鏡；make the cut: 達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

20. demo tape: 唱片樣本。

21. observant: 謹(jǐn)慎遵守的；Catholic: 天主教徒。

22. talent scout: 達(dá)人星探。

23. shot: 機(jī)會(huì)。

24. telegenic: 適于拍電視的（適于上電視鏡頭的）；sell: 推銷。

25. heartening: 振奮人心的。

26. stall: 拖延，擱置。

27. bar: 阻撓；showbiz: 娛樂性行業(yè)，娛樂界；upbringing: 教養(yǎng)。