Madonna (1958 -)

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born on 16 August, 1958, in Michigan. She won a dance scholarship to Michigan University but dropped out and went to New York. Madonna performed in various dance troupes and bands, and was briefly a backing vocalist dancer to a French disco star.

Madonna's debut album, titled Madonna, was released in 1983, and although it sold three million copies it was her next album, Like a Virgin that made her famous. Her music continued to be a critical and commercial success and in the past twenty years, Madonna has sold more than 250 million records.

Madonna has been a very successful singer, but she is a woman of many talents. Her photo-book had a great commercial success. Madonna has also appeared in a variety of films including Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), In Bed with Madonna (1991) and Evita (1996). She has also written several children's stories. Up until recently Madonna ran the record company Maverick, which (after a dispute) she sold to Warner Music.

Exercise 2 Answer the following questions.

1. Who was Albert Einstein? 2. What did he discover? 3. What were his main works? 4 Who was Ernest Hemingway? 5.When was his first novel published? 6. Who was Martin Luther King? 7. When was he born? 8. What was he famous for? 9. Who is Madonna? 10. What talents does Madonna have?

Exercise 3 Translate and memorize the following expressions from the text.

The most famous scientists in the world, graduated from the Polytechnic Academy, a gravitational field, similar to, Photoelectric Law, the photoelectric effect, the Unified Field Theory, to confiscate the property, an outstanding person, to be badly wounded, to make a great influence on, the full civil rights for black people, strong limitation, civil rights, white customers, to be lolled, to win a dance scholarship, to drop out, to be a critical and commercial success, a debut album, a great commercial success.