John Mayer Speaks For His Generation

(CBS) In 2002, John Mayer descended on his public with a rush. He topped the charts with "Your Body Is a Wonderland" and "No Such Thing." Since then he has charmed the music industry with vibrant sales and audiences and

critics have embraced him. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/07/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main2442131.shtml

• Descend: To arrive or attack in a sudden or an overwhelming manner

• Vibrant: 亮麗的 bright and striking  • Embrace: 擁抱 to take or clasp in the arms; press to the boso

m; hug

Mayer has sold 8 million records and won three Grammys. This year he was nominated for five more. His style floats between lover-boy pop and guitar-driven rhythm-and-blues and he's wooed the hearts of young women, including pop-star Jessica Simpson, who he has been linked to recently. But at the age of 29, Mayer and his music are

growing up.

• Nominate: 提名 to propose for an honor, award, or the like.• guitar-driven rhythm-and-blues: 節奏藍調 , 飆吉他 • Woo: 追求 To court a woman

"The more I grow up inside the more frightened I get, actually," he told E! Entertainment news anchor and The Early Show special contributor Giuliana Depandi .

• Anchor: Radio and Television. a person who is the main broadcaster on a program of news, sports, etc., and who usually also serves as coordinator of all participating broadcasters during the program; anchorman or anchorwoman; anchorperson.

• Contributor: someone or something that helps to cause something to happen

"I have to live up to this music, and I can't go on stage anymore and just dilly-dally through it."

• live up to: 不辜負、實踐 Live or act in accordance with • go on stage: 粉墨登場• dilly-dally: To waste time, especially in indecision; dawdle or

vacillate

Even a star as big as Mayer gets a case of the nerves before he goes on stage, but he said that somewhere during the show, that fear goes away

and adrenaline kicks in.

• Adrenaline: 腎上腺素 ( 比喻興奮的意思 )

"People say you should go on stage and play every show like it's your last, and that's just a little too morbid to me, so I always like to play every show like there's a really nice cheese tray waiting for me — a cheese tray or a plate of

cookies," he said.

• Morbid: 可怕的 ; 病態的 gruesome; grisly.

Mayer's album "Continuum," nominated for album of the year, is one-part tribute to old-school blues and one-part torment over lost love. But like he name suggests, it is all Mayer — a

young voice in transition.

• Torment: 痛苦、苦惱 a state of great bodily or mental suffering; agony; misery.

The single, "Waiting on the World to Change," nominated for best male pop vocal performance, points starkly to the apathy of Mayer's own generation.

• Stark: 赤裸裸的 bluntly or sternly plain; not softened or glamorized

• Apathy: 冷漠 absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

"I think there's a lot of kids watching TV going 'That sucks, oh that totally sucks,' but then there's this other voice that goes, 'What are you gonna do about it?' and then you say back to it: 'Nothin'. What's on E!?' " he said. "There's more of a conversation coming out of 'Waiting on the World to Change' than a song called 'We Got to Change the World'…The world needs someone to stand between Bono and Paris Hilton. And I want to be somewhere right in the

middle."

Mayer struggles to stay grounded in a business that creates monsters every day.

"I got successful, I got happy, I got everything I've ever needed, at a very young age," he said. "Now it's about not losing it and not losing is so

much less exciting than trying to get it."

Now with five potential Grammys at his feet, Mayer said he is both excited and nervous for his performance.

"Being there is exciting, playing there is nerve wracking," Mayer said. "If I could just go and han

g out by the punch bowl, I would do that."

• punch bowl: a large bowl from which punch, lemonade, etc., is served, usually with a ladle.