10、The Beeb bbc--apain in the Ass Worth Having

 

²⁾CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, even FOX, which is a name not a set of ³⁾initials. No matter they’re all there, all day and all night, but in much of the world, just one set of initials really matters ---- BBC, known the world over as the Beeb, and listened to the world over more than any other network in the world.

＂This is London.＂ For millions around the world, that signature tune¹ and these five beeps, say Britain as much as ⁴⁾Big Ben or ⁵⁾Buckingham Palace. But the British Broadcasting Corporation doesn’t always mean the Queen’s English. Its ⁶⁾World Service transmits in 43 languages, on 43 separate services, to more than a 150 million people around the globe. From the streets of ⁷⁾Amman, to the markets of ⁸⁾Mogadishu, to the cafés of ⁹⁾Kandahar.

In many countries, the BBC has even more listeners than the local radio stations. And there’s no place where it’s more popular than in Afghanistan, where an estimated 80 percent of the population tunes² in. That’s why in this country where many pray five times a day, the BBC has become known as the sixth prayer.

The headquarters of the BBC, the heart of this beast with 43 tongues, is a ¹⁰⁾quintessentially English building called ＂Bush House＂ in central London. It is so vast, its corridors so ¹¹⁾convoluted that it takes a new employee an average of two years to find his way around by sight and by sound.

The World Service can be important to western leaders, too. Last fall, ¹²⁾Dick Cheny called the Afghan section of the World Service asking to be interviewed and he was. When British Prime Minister Tony Blair put in his call, reporter Negita Kastradie pulled a ¹³⁾Mike Wallace on him.

Negita Kastradie (BBC Reporter): I said to him that Afghanistan was used as a battle ground during the cold war and that it was ¹⁴⁾dumped. How can people trust you this time?

Interviewer: You gave the Prime Minister a hard time.

Kastradie: I don’t know, I hope so.

Kastradie, who was born in Afghanistan has had her own share of hard times. After she fled Kabul in 1991, her mother, her little brother and her sister were killed in the war. She barely spoke³ a word of English when she first arrived at Bush House 10 years ago, now she’s a World Service star, interviewing a new Afghan leader ¹⁵⁾Hamid Karzai in Tokyo. But when the BBC interviewed Karzai’s predecessor⁴, the Taliban’s leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, it got scooped⁶. He had already called the Voice of America in Washington. But the State Department stepped in and blocked the Omar interview from being broadcast, because US officials said, it would give a platform to the enemy.

Terrace Setton (BBC Reporter): Can you imagine how ¹⁶⁾demoralizing it is for someone who gets this amazing world scoop⁵ and then isn’t allowed to go on air?

Interviewer: It could never happen at the BBC?

Setton: No, it would never happen at the BBC. My goodness! If we would have gotten that kind of interview that early in the war with... it would have been plastered right across the BBC.

And that it turns out is the most remarkable⁷ thing about the Beeb. While it is totally funded by the British government, it has never permitted the government to influence its broadcasting, not even during the Second World War. Not even by Winston Churchill, who tried often and unsuccessfully to get the Beeb to play down British defeats.

John Tuson (Director of Section): If we don’t broadcast the truth about the times when we lose, when the victories come, when the tide turns they won’t believe us either. So you’ve got to be ¹⁷⁾consistent.

Interviewer: Churchill called you ＂the enemy within＂.

Tuson: It’s quite easy to fall over into that sort of trap for being a bit holier than thou. That’s why we, like Churchill and others regarded us as a pain in the ass⁸ and then they recover and recognize that it is a pain in the ass worth having in the long run. CE

 

 

 

10、痛并且骄傲着

 

CBS、NBC、ABC、CNN、MSNBC，甚至还有FOX，这些可都是名称，而不仅仅是一连串的单词首写字母组合。尽管一天二十四小时它们都在不间断地广播，但在许多国家，只有一组名字意义非凡，那就是BBC，世界各国称之为“Beeb”，比其他广播电台更受欢迎。

“这里是伦敦。”对于全球数百万的听众来说，这标志性音乐和五声信号已像大本钟和白金汉宫一样成为英国的著名标志。但英国广播公司并不只用正统英式英语，而是通过四十三个独立的广播频道用四十三种语言向全球一亿五千万听众广播，从安曼的街头到摩加迪沙的市场，再到坎大哈的咖啡馆都能听到。

在许多国家，BBC甚至拥有比当地电台更多的听众。BBC在阿富汗最受欢迎，大约百分之八十的阿富汗国民都在收听它的节目。在这个人们每天祈祷五次的国家，听BBC成为他们的第六次祈祷。

BBC总部位于伦敦中心，是一座称作“布什大厦”的典型英国建筑。它像一只有着四十三条舌头的巨兽，说着四十三种语言。大厦是如此庞大，走廊是如此错综复杂，如果光靠眼耳来识辨，一名新雇员平均需要花两年时间来熟悉方向。

BBC国际广播电台对于西方领导人来说也是十分重要的。去年秋季，迪克·切尼打电话给国际广播电台阿富汗新闻部要求安排采访，结果如愿以偿。而当英国首相托尼·布莱尔在接受采访时，记者奈吉塔·卡斯塔蒂显得咄咄逼人。

奈吉塔·卡斯塔蒂(BBC记者)∶我问他，在冷战时期，阿富汗惨遭战争的蹂躏，成为一片废墟。这次世人又如何能相信英国？

记者：那可难住首相了。

卡斯塔蒂：我不知道，我希望如此。

    出生在阿富汗的卡斯塔蒂也经历了许多磨难。1991年她逃出喀布尔，母亲、弟弟和妹妹都在战争中丧生。十年前她刚来到布什大厦时，一句英语都不会说。而现在，她成了BBC的明星，在日本东京采访阿富汗新领导人哈米德·卡尔扎伊。但BBC采访卡尔扎伊前一任总统--塔立班的领导人毛拉·穆罕默德·奥马尔却被别人抢先了，他已先联络了华盛顿的美国之音。可美国国务院进行了干预，阻止播放奥马尔的访谈。因为美国官方称，这会为敌人提供讲坛。

特丽斯·塞顿(BBC记者)∶你能想象这有多令人泄气吗？得到这么轰动的新闻，却不允许上广播。

记者：这种事情从来不会在BBC发生？

塞顿：不会，从来不会。我的天啊，如果我们早一点做这样的访谈，在战争早期就做访谈，现在整个BBC就都会沸腾起来。

    这正是BBC最难能可贵的一点。BBC是完全由英国政府出资建立的，但从不允许政府干涉广播内容，甚至在二战期间也不允许。即使丘吉尔也没办法让BBC做到低调处理英国战败的消息。

约翰·图森(BBC部门经理)∶如果我们不广播战败的消息，等时局变化、取得胜利后，就没有人会相信我们了。所以，我们必须保持一致。

记者：丘吉尔称你们是“内部敌人”。

图森：很容易就会掉进一个自命清高的陷阱里。我认为，这也是为什么丘吉尔还有别人会认为我们是令人讨厌的家伙，但是，等他们清醒过来，就会发现，从长远来看，容忍这样的讨厌是值得的。 CE

 

 

 

1)  pain in the ass: 也作pain in the neck, pain in the arse，（俚语）意令人讨厌（或惹人生气）的人或事。

2)  CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System, 美国哥伦比亚广播公司。NBC, National Broadcasting Company, 美国全国广播公司。ABC, American Broadcasting Company，美国广播公司。CNN, Cable News Network，美国有线电视新闻网。MSNBC，美国最大的新闻网站。FOX，美国福克斯广播公司。BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation，英国广播公司。

3)  initial [i5niFEl] n.（词）首字母

4)  Big Ben: 大本钟（亦译大笨钟），1858年由查尔斯·巴里(Charles Barry)爵士设计建造，是英国最大的钟塔。

5)  Buckingham Palace: 白金汉宫，是英国的王宫。

6)  World Service: 全称是BBC World Service，英国广播公司国际广播电台。

7)  Amman [5B:mB:n] n. 安曼，约旦首都。

8)  Mogadishu [mBgE5diFiEu] n. 摩加迪沙，索马里首都。

9)  Kandahar [kQndE5hB] n. 坎大哈，阿富汗南部的一座城市。

10)  quintessentially [kwinti5senFEli] adv. 精细地；最完美地

11)  convolute [5kCnvElu:t] v.（使）盘绕，（使）缠绕

12)  Dick Cheney: 迪克·切尼，美国副总统。

13)  Mike Wallace: 麦克·华莱士。美国“六十分钟时事杂志”节目的创办者之一。华莱士曾采访过许多重量级人物，以思维敏捷、尖锐犀利而著称。

14)  dump [dQmp] v. 倾倒，扔垃圾等

15)  Hamid Karzai: 哈米德·卡尔扎伊，阿富汗临时新政府的领导人。

16)  demoralize [di5mCrElaiz] v. 使泄气，使（人）情绪低落

17)  consistent [kEn5sistEnt] a. 一贯的，和谐的

 

 

 

 

 

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

5 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

6 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。