【英语听和读】皇家节日大厅

 Clement¹

Attlee:

I hope that this concert hall will long endure to give the opportunity for the

finest music, the greatest singers and players to be heard, and to give pleasure

and refreshment² of the soul to generations of Londoners yet unborn.

William: Hello, I’m William Kremer and that was Clement Attlee, who was the British

Prime Minister after the Second World War. The clip you just heard was

recorded on 12th October, 1949. Mr Attlee was making a speech at the start of

work on building a great concert hall – the Royal Festival Hall, which now

stands on the South bank of the River Thames. Today’s programme is all about

the Royal Festival Hall.

Mr Attlee’s speech was in quite formal English… he said that he hoped the hall

would long endure – that is, that it would exist for a long time – to give the

opportunity for the finest music, singers and players to be heard. He also used a

lovely phrase – ‘to give pleasure and refreshment of the soul’. Listen again.

Clement

Attlee:

I hope that this concert hall will long endure to give the opportunity for the

finest music, the greatest singers and players to be heard, and to give pleasure

and refreshment of the soul to generations of Londoners yet unborn.

William: Did you notice, listening to that clip, how differently British people spoke³ just

fifty years ago? It’s a way of speaking that one associates with the BBC! – but,

it sounds quite old-fashioned now.

STING

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The Royal Festival Hall took two years to build, finally opening in May 1951

as part of the Festival of Britain. The building brought a striking Modernist

style to the Thames. It was in service for over fifty years – and it became home

to four orchestras! Famous singers of many different styles sang there,

including Maria Callas, Louis Armstrong and Lou Reed.

But, in 2005, the hall closed once again for two years. Why? It was being

refurbished. ‘To refurbish’ – it means to improve a building or object and make

it like new. There’s a noun form too – ‘refurbishment’. The refurbishment of

the Royal Festival Hall took two years and cost ninety-one million pounds. It

finally opened its doors last week.

We’re going to hear now from Peter Mandelson. Mr Mandelson is currently the

European Union Commissioner⁴ for Trade. But his grandfather, Herbert

Morrison, had the original idea for the Festival of Britain and the Hall back in

the 1940’s. What does Peter Mandelson make of the refurbishment? In this clip,

Mr. Mandelson mentions a key development. Used as an adjective, ‘key’

means ‘most important’. This is quite a common word in modern, formal

English. What does Peter Mandelson see as the ‘key development’ in the

refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall?

Peter

Mandleson:

 

It’s been refurbished, repolished, buffed up, made more comfortable, the

carpeting brought back to life… but I think the key development is the

liberation of… liberation of space. There are parts of the original Festival Hall

which the public never went to – I don’t quite know what they were used for –

offices or workshops or whatever – but the whole effect is to bring more, more

light and spaciousness⁵ into the hall, with wonderful views of Westminster and

Thameside. 

Entertainment © BBC Learning English

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bbclearningenglish.com

William: He said the key development is the liberation, or freeing of… of what?

Peter

Mandleson:

 

It’s been refurbished, repolished, buffed up, made more comfortable, the

carpeting brought back to life… but I think the key development is the

liberation of… liberation of space. There are parts of the original Festival Hall

which the public never went to – I don’t quite know what they were used for –

offices or workshops or whatever – but the whole effect is to bring more, more

light and spaciousness into the hall, with wonderful views of Westminster and

Thameside.

William: He said the key development was the ‘liberation of space’. Parts of the original

hall which the public never went to have been opened and the whole effect is to

bring more light and spaciousness into the hall.

Well, I’ve not been across the Thames to the newly-refurbished Festival Hall,

but I have to say that I can’t wait to see it for myself. It sounds like it’s been

refurbished in such a way that it will continue to give pleasure and refreshment

of the soul… and my soul could certainly use a little refreshment! Goodbye. 

1 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

2 refreshment   

n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点

参考例句：

• He needs to stop fairly often for refreshment.他须时不时地停下来喘口气。
• A hot bath is a great refreshment after a day's work.在一天工作之后洗个热水澡真是舒畅。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 spaciousness   

n.宽敞

参考例句：

• A high ceiling gives a feeling of airness and spaciousness. 天花板高给人一种通风和宽敞的感觉。
• The tremendous spaciousness of it was glowing with rich gold. 苍茫辽阔的景色染上了一片瑰丽浓艳的金黄色。