字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：The 'plastic' princess?  塑料公主？

 凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦：雅思聽力最好的課外教材：BBC
 康康精選雅思會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!

 建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。

 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/68.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
Hello, I’m Finn, welcome to 6 Minute English. With me in the studio today is Neil.
大家好，我是Finn。歡迎收聽本期BBC六分鐘英語。今天我的搭檔是Neil。
Hi there, Finn.
你好，Finn。
Hello Neil. Today we have a royal story about Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – or as she is still often known – Kate Middleton.
你好，Neil。今天我們要講述的是皇家故事，主角和劍橋公爵夫人凱薩琳，即眾所周知的凱特•米德爾頓有關。
Yes, Prince William’s wife has been in the news this week after a well-known British novelist compared her to a “shop-window mannequin with no personality of her own”.
沒錯，自英國一位著名小說家把她比作“毫無個性的櫥窗模特”後，威廉王子的妻子便出現在了本周新聞中。
Yes, now the novelist in question is a woman called Hilary Mantel. She has won a number of awards for her books set during the rule of Henry VIII - he’s an English king from the Tudor period.
是的，上述小說家是一個女人，叫做Hilary Mantel。她曾因以亨利八世（都鐸時期的一位英國國王）統治為時代背景的書籍而贏得了多項獎項。
The Tudor period – that’s the 16th Century, well from 1485-1603 to be precise!
所謂都鐸時期，即西元16世紀，具體來說是1485-1603年。
Very good, Neil, and as a history graduate I’m not surprised you knew that! But can you tell me, how many wives Henry VIII had? Was it: a) four b) five c) six?
很好Neil，不過你是一名歷史系畢業生，所以能知道那些我也不驚訝~~話說回來，你能告訴我亨利八世有多少位妻子嗎？是四位、五位還是六位呢？
Well I took my degree a long time ago but I can still remember, I’m pretty sure, the answer is ’c’ – six.
啊，那是很久前拿到的學位了。但我仍記得正確答案，我敢肯定是六位。
Ok, well let’s find out if you are right at the end of the programme. Going back to Hilary Mantel, her quotes are from a long speech she made - the London Review of Books Lecture - on the subject of royal women.
好的，節目最後我們會揭曉答案看你的回答是否正確。還是回到有關Hilary Mantel的話題。她剛剛那個比擬引自其在“倫敦書評”所做的長篇講座——論皇室貴婦。
We’re going to listen to three clips from the speech itself. In the first, just pay attention to the descriptive language you hear.
接下來我們要聽三個演講片段。在一個片段中，請注意你所聽到的描述性語言。
Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee, and built by craftsmen, with the perfect, plastic smile, and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished.
凱特•米德爾頓就像是經委員會設計、由工匠們建造的一樣，她微笑完美卻很虛偽，四肢也像是手工打磨過似的，泛著油漆般的光澤。
We hear a number of interesting phrases here: Kate is "designed by a committee” –which means designed by a group of people who all have an interest in the outcome.
我們剛剛聽到了很多有趣的短語。比如，凱特是由委員會設計的，即她是由一群均對結果感興趣的人設計的。
Yes, it’s a negative phrase. She is then "built by craftsmen” with the "perfect, plastic smile”.
沒錯，designed by a committee是個貶義詞。之後我們又聽到了“她是由工匠們建造的，微笑完美卻很虛偽”。
And it goes on to say that the "spindles of her limbs are hand-turned and gloss varnished”. A spindle is a thin, wooden rod – and so this is a description you would expect of a beautiful doll: lovingly hand-made and then covered in shiny, protective varnish.
接著Hilary Mantel提到凱特的四肢像手工打磨過一樣，泛著油漆般的光澤。spindle原指細長的木棒，所以這個詞常用來形容漂亮娃娃，比如說：這個洋娃娃經手工製作，外表塗著光亮的保護漆，可愛至極。
Indeed – the language used is quite imaginative, as we’d expect from an award-winning novelist, and it uses the vocabulary of craft or craftsmanship. It is what we might call an extended metaphor, we might say, – a long comparison.
恩，不愧是獲獎小說家。她的語言充滿了豐富的想像，所用詞彙也盡是手工業術語。這就是我們所謂的擴展隱喻，即長式對比。
But when the long comparison is to a doll – to an object – you can see why it has caused controversy.
但如果長式對比的物件是個物體，比如洋娃娃，那麼就會引起爭議了。
That’s right, which is the interesting point: by comparing Kate Middleton to an object, Hilary Mantel is really describing how she is portrayed by the media.
一點沒錯，這就是最有趣的地方。通過把凱特•米德爾頓比作某物體，Hilary Mantel其實是想寫出媒體對她的描述。
We call this process objectification – becoming an object.
我們把這一過程稱作物化，即把某東西客觀化。
Let’s listen to a bit more of the speech.
下面我們來聽聽第二個片段。
Machine-made, precision-made: so different from Diana, whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in every gesture.
凱特•米德爾頓猶如機器製造出來的一樣，精確無比。這和戴安娜完全不同，因為我們可以從她的每個動作中看出其尷尬表情與失控情緒。
Again we hear the language of manufacture – Kate is "precision-made”, "machine-made” – made according to precise plans, as if by machine.
剛剛我們又聽到了一些製造業語言。比如，凱特是precision-made，machine-made，即她是根據精確計畫製作的，就像機器製造的一樣。
Unlike Diana who was very human. She talks about Diana’s "emotional incontinence”. Incontinence is when you can’t control yourself when you need the toilet.
這和戴安娜完全不同，因為戴安娜很人性化。在這裡，Hilary Mantel提到了情緒失控。Incontinence原意指尿失禁。
So emotional incontinence is when you can’t stop your emotions from showing – they showed "in her every gesture” – in each gesture or movement of her body.
所以情緒失控是指控制不住自己的情緒。它們展現在her every gesture中，即她身體的每個動作都可以體現戴安娜的情緒。
Although Mantel says she may have had more personality, as we know, things ended badly for Diana:
儘管Mantel稱她可能更有個性，但我們都知道Diana的下場並不怎麼好。
We don’t cut off the heads of royal ladies these days but we do sacrifice them, and we did memorably drive one to destruction a scant generation ago.
在現今社會，我們不會砍下皇室貴婦的頭顱，但確實會犧牲她們作為懲罰。比如僅一代人以前，我們便摧毀了一位貴婦的生命。
Hilary Mantel suggests that the media and public drove Diana to destruction – the constant attention on her private life was what caused Diana’s death.
Hilary Mantel表示媒體及公眾把戴安娜推向了毀滅的邊緣。他們不斷關注她的私生活，直到最後把她逼死。
And this happened "a scant generation ago” - which means "barely a generation ago” – not long at all.
這件事就發生在a scant generation ago，即僅一代人以前，根本沒多久。
Now, as I’m sure many people will know Diana died in a car crash, but many royals in history died by one particular means – as Mantel says – they had their heads cut off.
我想大多數人都知道戴安娜死於車禍，但從歷史上來看，很多皇室成員均死于一種特定方式，即像Mantel所說的，斬首。
Which brings us back to the question at the beginning of the programme. I know that two of Henry VIII’s wives had their heads cut off, or were beheaded, but you asked how many he had in total.
啊，說到這我想起了節目最開始的問題。我知道亨利八世有兩位妻子遭到了砍頭，但你的問題是他總共有幾個妻子。
Yes, was it: a) four b) five c) six, Neil?
沒錯，是四個、五個還是六個呢？
And I said ‘c’ – six.
我選的是六個。
And you were absolutely right so well done there.
完全正確，回答不錯嘛~
My memory is good.
呵呵，我記憶力挺好吧~
Very good. Before we go, Neil, could you remind us of some of the words we learned today?
恩，很好。Neil，在我們走之前，你能帶我們回顧一下今天學到的單詞嗎？
Yes. We heard: shop-window mannequin, objectification, machine-made, emotional incontinence, gesture, scant, beheaded.
沒問題。今天我們聽到了：shop-window mannequin（櫥窗模特）、objectification（物化，客觀化）、machine-made（機器製造的）、emotional incontinence（情緒失控）、gesture（姿勢，動作）、scant（少量的，不足的）、beheaded（斬首的）。
Thanks Neil. Well, that’s it for today, let’s behead the programme. Please join us again soon for another 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.
謝謝你，Neil。好了，以上就是本期節目的內容。我們來給它斬首吧~~歡迎大家登錄bbclearningenglish收聽我們的節目。
Bye.
再見~