Iceland Calling

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesIceland CallingAmber: Hello, I’m Amber¹ and you’re listening tobbclearningenglish.comIn People and Places today, we meet an artist, KatiePaterson, who’s in a very unusual place – a lagoon² – that’s a small lake or a partly enclosed area of sea water – inIceland. And how do we hear from her? Well, via her mobilephone! Katie’s mobile number is ‘in lights’ as part of hercurrent artwork, or exhibit, in the Slade School of Fine Artin London.
　　If you dial Katie’s mobile, you’ll hear amazing sounds –the sound of icebergs³ passing by and the sound of a glaciercracking and melting. This is because you’ll be connecteddirectly to the Icelandic lagoon where Katie sits with anunderwater microphone!
　　The BBC presenter⁵ Kirsty Lang rang Katie’s mobile to findout more.
　　Katie explains her mobile number is displayed in ‘quite astark, empty white room’ at the Slade art school. ‘Stark⁶’
　　is a wonderful adjective to describe a place which is soempty and without ornament⁷ that you don’t really want to gothere. And she uses the word ‘besides’ to mean ‘as well as’ when she explains that in addition to her mobile number,there are some postcards at her Slade exhibit giving outinformation about her special Icelandic place. Notice too,that expression, to give out information (‘information that’s given out’), which is very common in English.
　　As you listen, try to catch one of the ways Katie describesher artwork inIceland. She says it’s a description of …?
　　Yeah, at the Slade itself, I’ve got quite a stark, empty,white room with a white neontelephone number on the wall. Besides the neon telephonenumber, I’ve got some small postcards which explain a bitabout the work, but that’s the only information that’sgiven out -people themselves can phone up.
　　(So when people ring up, they are going to be able to hearthe sound of a glacier⁴ literallydying?)Yeah, yeah, effectively, I mean, it is a description of deathreally, it’s a kind of live meltdownof the glacier.
　　Amber: Sounds remarkable⁹, doesn’t it? Did you catch Katie’
　　s descriptions of the Icelandic part of her artwork? She saysit’s ‘a description of death really’, ‘a kind of livemeltdown of the glacier’. You can use the adjective ‘live’
　　to describe anything that is broadcast as it happens – forexample, ‘Tonight’s concert is live from Paris’. And thepresenter asks if people can hear ‘the sound of a glacierliterally dying’ – ‘literally⁸’ is a useful adverb toemphasise another word or phrase, in this case ‘dying’ –‘the sound of a glacier literally dying’. Listen again.
　　Katie PatersonYeah, at the Slade itself, I’ve got quite a stark, empty,white room with a white neon telephone number on the wall.
　　Besides the neon telephone number, I’ve got some smallpostcards which explain a bit about the work, but that’s theonly information that’s given out - people themselves canphone up.
　　(So when people ring up, they are going to be able to hearthe sound of a glacier literally dying?)Yeah, yeah, effectively, I mean, it is a description of deathreally, it’s a kind of live meltdown of the glacier.
　　Amber: Next, Katie was asked what she is trying to say withthis work of art. As you listen, try to decide if she ismaking a political point about global warming, for example,or if she is more concerned with making people think aboutother ideas.
　　I wouldn’t say I’m trying to be too didactic and notovertly political, either. I think it’s moreto do with the vanishing away of the world, and there’s aJapanese concept I’m quite interested in which is thetransience of the world and a gentle sadness at its passing,but Iwouldn’t really say that I’m an environmentalist myself,particularly, or an activist¹⁰. It’s quite a quiet work andwouldn’t want anyone to think it’s a piece of propaganda.
　　Amber: So Katie doesn’t want us to think she’s made a‘piece of propaganda’ or that she’s being ‘overtly’ –that’s openly and intentionally¹¹ – political. It’s a‘quite a quiet work’, she says, and she’s interested in ‘a gentle sadness’ for the thingswe lose in life, or the things that are transient, that don’
　　t last. She says she’s not really ‘an environmentalist’,someone who works to protect the environment,or an ‘activist’, someone who takes vigorous action inpursuit of political beliefs.
　　Katie PatersonI wouldn’t say I’m trying to be too didactic and notovertly political, either. I think it’s more to do with thevanishing away of the world, and there’s a Japanese conceptI’m quite interested in which is the transience of the worldand a gentle sadness at its passing, but I wouldn’t reallysay that I’m an environmentalist myself, particularly, or anactivist. It’s quite a quiet work and wouldn’t want anyoneto think it’s a piece of propaganda.
　　Amber: More stories of people and places – with languageexplanations – next time, at bbclearningenglish.com

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。

3 icebergs   

n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The drift of the icebergs in the sea endangers the ships. 海上冰山的漂流危及船只的安全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The icebergs towered above them. 冰山高耸于他们上方。 来自辞典例句

4 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

5 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

6 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

7 ornament   

v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• The flowers were put on the table for ornament.花放在桌子上做装饰用。
• She wears a crystal ornament on her chest.她的前胸戴了一个水晶饰品。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。