New Year's Day Parade 伦敦庆元旦大游行
收听与下载
The script of this programme 本节目台词
Yang Li: Happy New Year and welcome to On the Town from BBC Learning English. I'm Lily. Have you ever heard about the New Year’s Day Parade in London?
今天我要为大家献上一份新年特别礼物，这就是伦敦庆元旦大游行现场报道。
Well, I am joining big crowds of people in Parliament Square where the three-hour parade has just started.
伦敦庆元旦大游行不仅规模宏大，场面壮观，而且有越来越多的外国表演队前来助兴。
So what is unique about the New Year's Day Parade in London? Dan Kirby is the Communications Director of the New Year's Day programme.
Well, it’s a most eclectic collection, most quintessentially British items you will ever see in one event.
Dan Kirby, Communications Director of the New Year's Day programme
Yang Li: 他说，伦敦大游行是一场令人大开眼界的活动，表演多姿多彩，而且最具英国特色。Eclectic 广博的；quintessential 就是典型的，完美的。
This year the parade celebrates its 21st anniversary of bringing extraordinary entertainment to thousands of people every year.
不过，元旦大游行这一传统又是如何开始的呢？ So Dan, how did the tradition of the London parade begin?
21 years ago London was a very boring, quiet place on New Year’s Day. The man who dreamed up the idea, Bob Bone and his wife, were in London with their children who had nothing to do. The shops were shut, museums were closed, the cinemas were shut and theatres were closed so they decided to do something about it. And the next year they had a small event and a few hundred people took part and a few hundred people watched it. 21 years on there are 10,000 performers from all over the world and we have probably 550,000 people on the street of London today. It’s absolutely huge. This event is being shown live on television by 500 stations all over the world.
Dan Kirby, Communications Director of the New Year's Day programme
Yang Li: 回顾一下，伦敦元旦游行活动是 1987 年开始的。发起人是 Bob Bone. He dreamed up the idea of a parade. Dream up 动词短语，就是构想出来的意思。想想吧，仅仅21年的时间，从几百人发展到10万表演者和55万观众的规模，真令人赞叹! 10,000 performers and 550,000 spectators on the streets!
Here are some of the spectators' comments. 让我们来听听观众的评论吧。
Woman: I think today’s parade is absolutely fantastic. We are really enjoying it.
Question: Which part do you like best?
Woman: I like the marching bands. You get the atmosphere when everybody is cheering and waving. It’s been lovely.
Woman: I enjoy seeing people being happy. The crowds and clowns and the parade is excellent this year.
Yang Li: These people talked about the bands 乐队 the crowds 人群 and the clowns 小丑。
另外，英国人在形容喜庆活动的时候，经常使用像 fantastic, terrific, great and excellent 这些形容词都表示，特别精彩，盖帽，超级好的意思。
听说这次有20多个国家的表演队前来助兴，but all performers from other countries have to travel a long distance and have to pay their own way to come to London, so why don't they celebrate the New Year in their own country instead? Here’s the answer from Dan:
The fame of the parade has spread to many continents. So they heard about the parade and they wanted to be here. There is no better place than London to celebrate the New Year.
Dan Kirby, Communications Director of the New Year's Day programme
Yang Li: 敦大游行名传四海，许多对英国感兴趣的人就组织起来了。注意他用了一个非常有用的句型 there is no better place than London to celebrate the New Year. It’s another way of saying London is the best place to celebrate the New Year.
Is London the best place to celebrate the New Year? Well I’ll leave you with some foreign visitors’ comments.
他们分别来自希腊 Greece, 芬兰 Finland, 拉脱维亚 Latvia, 和德国 Germany.
Good luck with the listening 我是杨莉，祝大家新年愉快！我们下次节目再会。
