In the age of reality television, success isn't the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create
fame, just like William Hung,21, a native of Hong Kong.
Hung recently has made an agreement with USbased entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse
Music Network. They'll publish a record, titledTheTrueIdolon April 6.
The idol is a civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version of
Ricky Martin'sSheBangson the television showAmericanIdol3, on January 27. The Fox TV singing
contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung, however, his act was so
bad that the judges cut him off in midact.
Hung's response?" I already did my best, so I have no regrets at all." That's good, because any
common person would have found plenty to regret:the offkey singing, the blue Hawaiian shirt worn with
pants pulled up too high, the terrible dancing and the hips jerking (摇摆) to a beat that did not belong to
the song, maybe not even to this planet. It was, by all accounts, bad.
However, it was this very bad act that sold well.
Mare Juris, president of Fuse, explained it this way:" Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our
favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom, completely offkey and completely unworried. That's what William did and immediately won the hearts of America."
Whateveritis, for the moment it's big. Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet
in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and technomusic
and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station.
So, what does Hung think of this?
"There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and
that I was great on the show, but some didn't have much respect for me and some were kind of mean."
Now he says he's not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour (魅力) or to accept it.
Returning to normal hasn't been easy.
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Something an idol behaves quite foolishly.
B. Hung's performance attracted the public eye.
C. How an unsuccessful person became famous.
D. Success sometimes does not require hard work.
2. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 7 refer to?
A. William Hung.
B. Hung's bad act.
C. Hung's website.
D. The public's opinion.
3. Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened to Hung?
a. The entertainment firms made an agreement with Hung.
b. The judges cut Hung off in midact in the singing contest.
c. Hung became popular among Americans.
d. Hung gave a terrible performance though he tried his best.
e. Three websites put Hung's funny performance on the Internet.
A. d, b, e, c, a
B. a, c, d, b, e
C. a, d, b, c, e
D. d, b, a, e, c
4. Why was Hung able to win the hearts of America?
A. His success was based on his own hard work.
B. He attracted people's attention in the contest.
C. He was goodlooking though he didn't sing well.
D. His character was completely different from other idols'

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