听播客学英语 202 豪饮巡航

 　　In Britain, there are heavy taxes on alcoholic¹ drinks and on tobacco. But in France, the taxes on these things are lower. A European Union Regulation says that, when we travel to other EU countries, we may bring back with us anything that we have bought, provided² that we have paid tax on it in the country where we bought it, and provided it is for our own personal use. And a lot of British people take advantage of this law to buy beer, wine, spirits and cigarettes in France. Some of the big British supermarkets have opened shops in Calais in France to sell things to British travellers who are returning home. And a modern British institution has grown up – the Booze Cruise³.(“Booze” is a slang⁴ word for alcoholic drinks. And a “cruise” is a holiday on a ship.)

　　Here is how to do a booze cruise. Together with 3 or 4 friends you hire a van. It has to be a white van. No other colour will do. Somehow you all squeeze⁵ into the front seat, and set off for Dover (the ferry port on the south coast of England). Because you are late for the ferry, you drive at 20 mph over the speed limit and overtake⁶ other vehicles on the wrong side. You get to Dover and drive onto the ferry. Driving has made you thirsty, so you go to the bar to drink beer while the ship crosses the English Channel to Calais. In France, they drive on the right hand side of the road, not the left. But don’t worry about that – you aren’t going very far. You are going to a restaurant for lunch, actually. In the restaurant, the waiter brings the menu. It is all in French (well, it is France, after all!). You recognise only one word on the menu. You all order pizza, and a bottle or two of red wine. After lunch you drive to one of the big hypermarkets and load up several trollies with cases of beer or wine. You pay for them with your friend’s credit⁷ card, because you have forgotten to bring any euros with you. You load everything into the white van, and return to the ferry. If the customs officer at Dover stops you, you tell him that all 35 cases of wine and 25 cases of beer in the van are for your own personal use. Once back in England, you and your friends sing football songs all the way home along the motorway⁸.

　　So it was with horror⁹ that we read this week that the European Court of Justice was considering whether we actually needed to go to France to buy beer and wine cheaply. Instead, perhaps we could order it on the internet, and it could be delivered from France to our homes. This would have brought the fine tradition of the booze cruise to an end. No more white vans speeding down the motorway. No more day trips to Calais to buy wine for the Christmas party. Fortunately, the Court decided¹⁰ that you could not avoid British taxes by ordering things on the internet from France. So the booze cruise has been saved.

1 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

2 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

3 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

4 slang   

n.俚语，行话；vt.使用俚语，辱骂；vi.辱骂

参考例句：

• The phrase is labelled as slang in the dictionary.这个短语在这本字典里被注为俚语。
• Slang often goes in and out of fashion quickly.俚语往往很快风行起来又很快不再风行了。

5 squeeze   

vt.硬塞，硬挤；挤压；n.榨；经济困难；拮据

参考例句：

• This machine helps you to squeeze more juice out.这台机器能挤出更多的果汁。
• It was a tight squeeze in the crowded bus.公共汽车上载客太多，挤得很。

6 overtake   

v.追上，赶过，超过；袭击，压倒

参考例句：

• I had to walk very fast to overtake you.我不得不快走才能赶过你。
• No one could overtake him.没有人能超过他。

7 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

8 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。

9 horror   

n.惊骇，恐怖，惨事，极端厌恶

参考例句：

• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation.公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。
• The thought of working nights fills me with abject horror.一想到要夜间工作我就觉得惨兮兮的。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。