St George's Day

　　BBC Learning English6 Minute EnglishSt George's Day6 Minute English ?

       Kate: Hello, this is 6 Minute English. I'm Kate Colin and today I'm joined by JackieDalton. Hello again Jackie.
　　Jackie: Hi Kate.
　　Kate: Today is the 23rd of April and is St George's Day. Saint George is the patronsaint of England and all over the country people are proudly celebrating beingEnglish.
　　Jackie: Yes, that's right. All kinds of things are happening; here in London, the mayorhas organised musical concerts, dancing and theatrical¹ events. Elsewhere in thecountry there'll be lots of historical activities and re-enactments such as swordfighting and archery.
　　Kate: Sounds like fun. As I said, St George is a patron saint – can you explain whatthis means?
　　Jackie: Well, a saint is a person who has received official honour for having lived inan extremely good or holy way. And a patron saint is believed to have givenspecial help to a particular place or activity or even to a particular person ortype of object, for example Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things.
　　Now interestingly, St George isn't patron saint of England but also of many other countries and cities including Lithuania, Portugal, Germany, Moscowand Venice.
　　Kate: Well, before we go any further, here's my question for this week. According tothe legend, which mythical² creature did Saint George kill?
　　a) a unicornb) a dragonc) a griffinJackie: AnswersKate: We'll check your answer in a few minutes.
　　St George's Day is great fun and an ideal opportunity for people to celebrate（庆祝） their nationality and being English. It reminds us that we are proud of ournational identity, where we come from and who we are. However it isimportant to make the distinction that Britain is made up of England, Walesand Scotland and each country has its own patron saint with its own special day.
　　St Andrew is patron saint for Scotland and Saint David is for Wales.
　　Jackie: Yes, and what's interesting is that Britain is an extremely diverse society which means there are many different cultures and nationalities living herewho all consider themselves to be all or at least, part British. Let's hear a bitmore about this in our first extract from the BBC's Mathew D'Aconna. He usesthe expression multiple identities. What does this mean Kate?
　　Kate: multiple identities refers to people from lots of different backgrounds.
　　Can you hear 2 reasons why Britain has such a variety of people living here?
　　Clip 1The United Kingdom has always been a map of multiple identities. How much truer that istoday in an era of mass immigration and labour mobility³. More and more of us are hybrids⁴.
　　Jackie: Mathew D'Aconna said we're living in an era of mass immigration andlabour mobility. This means many people have come into Britain to live andwork. Labour mobility means that people are moving around a lot to work.
　　Kate: And hybrids is a word we use to describe people, animals or plants which aremade up of a mixture of two different things. When people live in these multicultural⁵ societies, there are methods we use to define our national identity（身份）.
　　We're going to hear from a social psychologist Steve Reicher, talking abouttwo forms of identity, both Ethnic⁶ and Civil:
　　Clip 2An Ethnic definition is one based upon descent – 'why am I Scottish? I'm Scottish because Icome of Scottish parents who themselves were born of Scottish parents' so it's backwardlooking in that it roots our identity in the past. The Civic⁷ definition is much more about 'I amhere now, I am committed in the future to this country, I devote myself to this country'.
　　Jackie: Steve Reicher said that people often make a distinction between those twodifferent types of national identity. One is Ethnic and is based on looking intoour past and where our families are from. The other is Civic and is more aboutwhere we live now and where we chose to spend our lives in the foreseeablefuture.
　　Kate: So we've established we have a wide range of people from all over the worldliving in the UK. But how do they define themselves and refer to their nationalidentity? Have a listen to some people from the streets of London and see ifyou can hear the different ways in which they define themselves.
　　Clip 3- I'm from England so I'm English rather than British- I'm an Asian but British- I would say I'm Northern Irish- I'm a Muslim living in Britain- Definitely British, but definitely Irish- I suppose I see myself as British but I've got a lot of Jewish in me as well- Well I was born over here so you're classed English and British aren't you.
　　Jackie: Lots of very different answers there and most people seem to be a bit of a mix.
　　Interestingly many people consider themselves to be British and somethingelse….Britain really is a melting pot of cultures. A melting pot: this is anexpression we sometimes use to describe a society of people from lots ofdifferent backgrounds who all live together.
　　Kate: So let's go over some of the words and expressions we've come across today.
　　We had:
　　patron saints which are saints who are believed to give special help to aparticular place, activity, person or type of objectdiverse society – a place where people from many different cultures andnationalities livemultiple identities – refers to people from lots of different backgroundsmass immigration – the movement of many people coming into a country to liveand worklabour mobility – refers to people who move around a lot to workhybrids - a word we can use to describe people, animals or plants which are madeup of a mixture of two different thingsmelting pot – an expression we sometimes use to describe a society with peoplefrom lots of different backgroundsKate: And finally to the question I asked you earlier. I asked you which mythicalcreature is St George most famous for killing⁸?
　　Jackie: And I said…Kate: You were absolutely correct. According to the story, the brave St George killedthe dragon and managed to save the princess at the same time. That's all we havetime for. Have a good St George's Day and thanks for listening. Bye!（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

2 mythical   

adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的

参考例句：

• Undeniably,he is a man of mythical status.不可否认，他是一个神话般的人物。
• Their wealth is merely mythical.他们的财富完全是虚构的。

3 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

4 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

5 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。