London’s Parks 伦敦公园

The script¹ of this programme 本节目台词

	Woman relaxing in a London Park

Neil: Hello, this is BBC Learning² English, I’m Neil.

Helen: 大家好，我是Helen。 欢迎收听BBC Learning English “On the Town”.

Neil: And today we’re talking about places to get away from all the noise and pollution of the big city – London’s parks and open spaces.

Helen: 我们现在就在伦敦市区的一个公园里， so are there many parks in London?

Neil: Well, even though London has a population of about seven million people there are over a hundred parks where you can go for a bit of peace and quiet and to get away from it all.

Helen: 听到了吗？伦敦虽然有7百万人口，可是这里的公园可不少，超过了一百多个呢。那为什么人们这么喜欢公园呢？

Insert 1

Man: I think it’s the contrast, really. I mean London, hasn’t it got the largest amount of green space for a capital or something?

Woman: The fact that, basically³, here isn’t like a tropical⁴ country and everything sort of comes to life in the spring and summer…makes it such a nice experience.

Man: It’s really nice to have a lot of greenery in a big city.

Helen: 我们听到有些人喜欢公园的原因是因为公园和周围的繁忙都市有一种明确的对比 contrast. So Neil, which of the parks is the most famous?

Neil: The Royal Parks. There are eight of them in total, but the two most famous are probably Regent’s Park and Hyde Park in central London.

Helen: Royal Parks, 就是皇家公园。那为什么像你说的这个Regent’s Park, 还有 Hyde Park 海德公园是皇家公园呢？

Neil: Hundreds of years ago they used to be the private grounds for the royal family to go hunting, but in the 1800s they were opened up for the general public.

Helen: 原来是几百年前这些地方都是皇室打猎 hunting 的地方，不过在1800年以后就开放了，老百姓也可以进皇家花园了， 那这些大的皇家花园里有些什么好玩的呢？

Neil: Well, Hyde Park’s got a little bit of everything. It’s 142 hectares in size, with over four thousand trees, a lake, a meadow⁵ and even horse rides. And in the summer there are pop and classical music concerts.

Helen: So there are lots of things to do in the park! Now first, hectare 这是一个面积单位，也就是一公顷. 海德公园有142公顷，那就是1.42平方公里。那里有树，有湖，还有大片开满野花的草地 meadow。 各项活动也很多，像骑马，音乐会等等。And how about Regent’s Park?

Neil: Well, Regent’s Park is even bigger than Hyde Park. It’s also the venue⁶ for Open-Air Theatre and the home of London Zoo.

Helen: Regent’s Park 比 Hyde Park 还要大。伦敦动物园 London Zoo 也在那里。 在很多公园里夏天比较流行的一项活动是 open-air theatre, 露天戏院, 到时候很多人会带上一份三明治，在傍晚时欣赏一出经典戏剧， now that’s what I call great entertainment.

Neil: Absolutely, open-air theatres are great fun, and sometimes they are free too. We also asked people some of the other things they like doing in London’s Parks.

Insert 2

Man: Drink coffee, watch the world go by, people watching.

Woman: I like to go and have a picnic, and I like to go and swim. And if I have friends who have dogs, then it’s nice just going for a long walk with the dogs.

Man: I like swimming when it’s sunny.

Helen: 有些人喜欢 watch the world go by, 这个短句的意思就是看着世界在你面前走过， 另一种说法是 people watching, 没有什么目的的观察周围的人。有些人也喜欢野餐 picnic 或者是溜狗 walk the dogs.

(You are listening to BBC Learning English)

Neil: So, the parks in Central London are pretty big, but they’re nothing in comparison⁷ to some of the parks a little further out of the city centre.

Helen: 那你说哪个是伦敦最大的公园呢？

Neil: The biggest park in London is Richmond Park. It’s almost a thousand hectares.

Helen: My goodness⁸, that’s huge!

Neil: It’s really more like the open countryside than a city park.

Helen: 这就是完全像一个自然的公园，像到了乡村一样。

Neil: There are quite a few parks like Richmond where the trees and grass are left to grow naturally.

Insert 3

Woman: I really like Holland Park, because it’s quite wild. I really like Hampstead Heath, because they have the ponds so you can go and swim, and it’s also massive⁹ as well. And I like Epping Forest, because it’s just that – it’s a forest.

Helen: 刚才这位女士提到了她喜欢的几个公园，像 Holland Park 吸引她的原因就是这里有野外的感觉，the park is wild. 还有一个地方叫做 Epping Forest, 那里有一片小森林， 在伦敦东北方向。

(You are listening to BBC Learning English)

Neil: Well, today we’ve heard about all the different types of parks there are in London and what you can do in them.

Helen: 那好吧，我们今天的节目就到这儿。

Neil: Join us next time for more “On the Town” from BBC Learning English.

Helen: 再见。 Bye bye.

 

1 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。

2 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

3 basically   

adv.基本上，从根本上说

参考例句：

• His heart is basically sound.他的心脏基本上健康。
• Basically I agree with your plan.我基本上同意你的计划。

4 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。

5 meadow   

n.草地，牧草地

参考例句：

• The children ran free across the meadow.孩子们在草地里自由地奔跑。
• The meadow is peopled with wild flowers.草地长满了野花。

6 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

7 comparison   

n.比较，对照；比拟，比喻

参考例句：

• They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
• This dress is really cheaper by comparison.比较起来，这件衣服确实便宜。

8 goodness   

n.善良，善行，美德

参考例句：

• Would you have the goodness to turn off the radio?劳驾，请你把收音机关上好不好？
• Thank goodness,we've found a cure for the disease.好了，这病有救了！

9 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。