Horoscopes and astrology（在线收听） |
| BBC Learning English6 Minute EnglishHoroscopes and astrology（占星） Kate: Hello, I’m Kate Colin and this is 6 minute English. Today I'm joined by JackieDalton and we’re talking about horoscopes and astrology. This is the idea thatyou can find out what's going to happen to you based on what's going on in thesky and your star sign. Jackie: Yes, astrology is a practice which started many years ago and the idea is thateach person has a particular star sign which depends on when they were born. Kate: So you could be Taurus, Capricorn, Scorpio, Cancer or numerous others. Eachsign is said to have particular personality characteristics. So Jackie…what starsign are you? Jackie: I'm a Virgo which means I'm supposed to be practical, intelligent and a bit of aperfectionist! Kate: Sounds pretty accurate to me…. I'm Aquarius and I'm supposed to be friendlyindependent, but frequently late - mmm – not sure about the last one, I'malways on time! So here's my question for this week. How many different star signs are there inthe Zodiac? a) 10b) 5c) 12Jackie: answers Kate: Well, astrology and horoscopes are very popular here in the UK, even thoughthey are often taken with a pinch of salt. To take something with 'a pinch ofsalt', means that we don't believe something to be entirely accurate or true. Jackie: Horoscopes usually appear in daily newspapers and magazines and everymorning thousands of people read them to try to find out what's in the starsfor them that day. To say something is 'in the stars' means it's set to happen inthe future. Kate: My horoscope this morning said that money would come from an unexpectedsource, that I should be careful not to lose my temper and that I should wear alucky colour tonight…! Interesting. Next we're going to hear from a journalist（记着）, Jan Muir, who actually had to writethe horoscopes. Have a listen – did she always want to be a horoscope writer? Clip 1It was my very first job in journalism when I started for a newspaper group in Scotland, and Ithought I was going to be rushing round doing all sorts or exciting things, but in fact I wastold to sit down and write the horoscopes. Jackie: She said that it was her first job in journalism and she thought she'd bedoing exciting things. I don’t think she was expecting to be writinghoroscopes. Kate: So did she have any knowledge or interest in astrology? Clip 2Not at all at that time and then certainly after I'd been writing them for a few months, Ibelieved even less because I noticed then as I do now – I mean, we were given this formulawhere you had to write a positive, a negative and a maybe. Jackie: She said she didn’t have any interest and believed even less in astrology as timewent on. She was given a formula. A formula is a standard way of doingsomething, when it is always exactly the same. Her formula was ' a positive, anegative and a maybe' so she had to say something good, something bad andsomething else was possibly going to happen. Kate: So if this is the way that some horoscopes are written, why does she think thatthey are still so popular? In the next extract she uses the word 'endure'. Ifsomething 'endures' it means that they continue to exist despite overcomingdifficulty, in this case, people not believing in horoscopes. Clip 3Well I think that's one of the reasons they endure because when people read a newspaper or amagazine it's full of all sorts of information about the world at large, about politics, famineand film stars and all sorts of things and the one little bit in the newspaper refers to them, it'sall about them. Jackie: She said that horoscopes endure because they're actually about the people whoread the newspapers so they always want to know about themselves. Kate: Yes, it could be… but people are often sceptical about astrology andhoroscopes. To be sceptical is when you have doubts or don’t believe insomething. There are numerous associations and societies offering training inastrology and there is even university which teaches it at postgraduate level. We're going to hear from Dr Nicholas Campion who is in charge of a course inWales. What did he say when we asked him if he gets irritated（恼怒） or annoyedwhen people trivialise astrology? Trivialise means to make something out tobe unimportant or a bit of a joke. Clip 5No it doesn't annoy me actually, in fact I quite enjoy it! Because you've got in a tabloidnewspaper, probably on the same page as the cartoons, a piece of ancient wisdom, that’s pre-Christian – stretches back to ancient Babylon. So just from a cultural sense, I find thissurvival absolutely fascinating. I mean there is a direct lineage between the people writing thehoroscope columns and the priests 4000 years ago advising Babylonian Emperors. Jackie: Interestingly, he doesn't get annoyed at all. He said he enjoys seeing a piece of'ancient wisdom' in our daily newspaper. He's right in a way - whether we believein it or not, it is fascinating that astrology dates back thousands of years, yet herewe are, still talking about it and still reading our daily horoscopes. Kate: Let's have a look at the vocabulary we've come across today: We had 'to take something with a pinch of salt' which means that to believesomething to not be entirely accurate or truea formula - a standard way of doing something, when it is always exactly thesameendure – to continue to exist despite overcoming difficultyto be sceptical - to have trouble believing in somethingtrivialise - means to make something out to be unimportant or a bit of a jokeKate: And finally to my question – I asked you how many star signs are in the Zodiac? Jackie: I said 12. Kate: And you were correct - there are 12 signs in the Zodiac. Too many to list hereunfortunately because that's all we have time for. Until next time…Both: Goodbye!（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑） |
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