听播客学英语 43 翻滚吧

 　　Have you ever thought that the English are mad? Of course you have. And after today’s podcast, you will know that it is true.

　　But first we must meet the English verb “to tumble¹”. “Tumble” means, simply, to fall down. For example, if you are coming down some stairs and you trip, you might tumble to the bottom. You would fall, perhaps you would roll over, and two seconds later you would be on the ground at the bottom of the stairs, wondering whether you had broken any bones. We can use “tumble” in a figurative way too. We can talk about a stream tumbling² down the side of a mountain. Or if a supermarket reduces its prices, it might put notices in the window saying “Prices tumble throughout this store!”

　　Now for the story in today’s podcast. Last week, we read in the newspaper that an important sporting event will not take place this year. It is not a football match or a horse-race. It is much more important than that; it is the great Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling event.

　　Cooper’s Hill is not far from the town of Gloucester. It is a very steep hill, covered in grass and trees. Every year at the end of May there is a cheese rolling at Cooper’s Hill. About 15 competitors stand in a line at the top of the hill. Many of them wear batman suits or other fancy³ dress. A man with a big hat, called the Cheese Master, throws a 3 or 4 kilo cheese down the hill. The competitors run after the cheese. The rules say that if one of the competitors catches the cheese, he or she can keep it. In practice, no-one ever catches the cheese, because it goes too fast. And the competitors do not run after the cheese, because the hill is too steep. Instead, they fall, they roll, they slide on their bottoms – they tumble, in fact.

　　At the bottom of the hill, there is a line of stewards⁴. They catch the competitors before they can tumble all the way to the M5 motorway⁵. And there is a line of ambulances too, for those competitors who break their ankles on the way down.

　　There are several races, some for men and some for women, and for the really crazy there are some uphill races too (though, obviously⁶, the cheese cannot go uphill). After the races, those competitors who are not actually in hospital gather at a local pub⁷ to drink beer and tell stories of the heroic⁸ events of the day.

　　Obviously, for an important event like the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling, you could not use just any sort of cheese. The cheese is of a type called Double Gloucester. It is made locally by a lady called Diana Smart. She is 83 years old. The cheese rolling is an important part of her business. She is fed up that it has been cancelled this year.

　　So, why has it been cancelled? For hundreds of years, the only people who came to watch the cheese rolling were local people. But the event is now internationally famous, and lots of people want to come. Last year there were 15,000 spectators⁹, from many different countries. The police and organisers of the event are worried about the safety of the spectators, and about car-parking, and about the fact that there are no toilets, and other problems of having so many people. The organisers think that they can solve the problems for next year, so the Cheese Rolling should take place again in 2011.

　　My own proposal¹⁰ is that cheese rolling should become an Olympic Sport. Then it could be included in the London Olympic Games in 2012. We could build a super stadium on Coopers Hill, with room for 50,000 spectators, lots of toilets and a car park for thousands of cars. The stadium could have a roof in case it rains. But this year you will have to find a hill in your own country, and throw a cheese down it, and tumble after the cheese. Happy cheese rolling!

1 tumble   

vi.跌倒，摔下，翻滚，暴跌；n.跌(摔)倒

参考例句：

• Children tumble over each other in play.孩子们玩耍时相互连身翻滚。
• He took a tumble down the stairs.他摔下了楼梯。

2 tumbling   

n.摔跤，翻跟头，翻筋斗adj.歪斜状的v.倒塌( tumble的现在分词 )；翻滚；突然摔倒；恍然大悟

参考例句：

• His eyes were fastened on the boiling, tumbling waves. 他的眼睛凝视着汹涌的波涛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The earthquake sent buildings tumbling into one another like failing dominoes. 地震使大楼哗啦啦倒塌，就像正在倾倒的骨牌一般。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 fancy   

n.想像力，幻想；喜好，爱；adj.想像的，时髦的，华丽装饰的，奢侈的；技巧的；vt.想象，自认为，喜好

参考例句：

• He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to her.他似乎相当喜欢她。
• I have a fancy that it's going to rain.我想大概要下雨。

4 stewards   

（轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家

参考例句：

• The stewards all wore armbands. 乘务员都戴了臂章。
• The stewards will inspect the course to see if racing is possible. 那些干事将检视赛马场看是否适宜比赛。

5 motorway   

n.高速公路，快车道

参考例句：

• Our car had a breakdown on the motorway.我们的汽车在高速公路上抛锚了。
• A maniac driver sped 35 miles along the wrong side of a motorway at 110 mph.一个疯狂的司机以每小时110英里的速度在高速公路上逆行飙车35英里。

6 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

7 pub   

n.[英]旅馆，小店，酒馆

参考例句：

• He is the landlord of this pub.他是这家酒店的店主。
• They saw that four large men marched into the pub.他们看到四个彪形大汉走进了酒吧。

8 heroic   

adj.英雄的，英勇的，崇高的

参考例句：

• Many people have heard of the man's heroic deeds.许多人都已经听说了这个人的英雄事迹。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

9 spectators   

n.观众，旁观者( spectator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The policemen asked the spectators to stand well back. 警察要求旁观者靠后站。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 proposal   

n.提议，建议；求婚

参考例句：

• I feel that we ought to accept his proposal.我觉得我们应该接受他的建议。
• They could not gain over anyone to support their proposal.他们无法争取到支持他们建议的人。