No.298 SIM音読用英文

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Pop Superstar Michael Jackson Dead at 50
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The call went out to paramedics shortly after noon

that Michael Jackson had suffered apparent cardiac arrest.


Lieutenant Gregg Strenk of the Los Angeles Police Department

said the singer was pronounced dead

about two hours later

at the University of California, Los Angeles medical center.


"Currently, the L.A. County coroner's office is taking possession

of Mr. Jackson's body.


They will handle any other inquiries

into the type of death or anything that relates to that."


As news leaked out,

hundreds of fans converged on the medical center.


Others gathered on Hollywood Boulevard

at the singer's star on the Walk of Fame.


Michael Jackson was born in 1958,

the seventh of nine children,

and he first found fame

as a singer and dancer

in the family pop group The Jackson 5.


He outshone his siblings

and by age eight, was the star of the group,

thrilling audiences

with favorites like 'ABC.'"


In his later solo career,

Jackson became a superstar.


His 1982 album "Thriller,"

with its blockbuster hits "Beat It," ''Billie Jean" and "Thriller,"

was the biggest-selling album of all time.


That year, he first performed

his trademark moonwalk dance,

gliding backwards

while appearing to walk forward.


The singer pioneered the music video genre,

and arguably became the world's top musical performer.


But Jackson was plagued by controversy

as the years went by.


He had multiple plastic surgeries

and critics raised questions

about his close friendships with children.


Accused of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003,

he was acquitted of charges two years later.


His reputation in tatters,

he struggled with financial problems.


He was scheduled to begin

a series of 50 comeback concerts in London.


The first was set for July 13,

and they were to continue until next March.


Tickets for the shows, offered last March,

sold out in minutes.


Jackson was married twice.


In 1993, he married Lisa Marie Presley,

the only daughter of the late pop star Elvis Presley.


The couple divorced in 1996.


That year, he married Debbie Rowe

and they divorced three years later.


Jackson had three children,

two born to Debbie Rowe and one to a surrogate mother.


Mike O'Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles.