Wang Fei: 大家好，欢迎收听《都市掠影》节目，我是王飞。威风凛凛的高头大马还有英俊威武的骑士，这里就是伦敦著名的 Horse Guards Parade 皇家骑兵卫队阅兵场。每天这里的游人都是络绎不绝，今天我就带大家一起揭开皇家骑兵卫队的神秘面纱。
[Bugle sound and horse guards bellowing]
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Mr Westwood: Horse Guards (Parade) is still the official entrance to the royal residences, because beyond us, around St James’s Park, you’ll find Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and St James’s Palace.These are the royal residences, so this is still the official entrance, this is why it’s guarded, and has been guarded for 350 years.
House guards entering Horse Guards Parade
Wang Fei: 刚才说话的是 Martin Westwood from Household Cavalry Museum, 他是英国皇家骑兵卫队博物馆的部门主任。Westwood 先生解释说 Horse Guards Parade is still the official entrance to the royal residences. 皇家骑兵卫队阅兵场仍然是通向英国皇室居住区的大门。皇家骑兵卫队 Household Cavalry 已经镇守这座大门350多年了。每天上午在这里举行的换岗仪式让世界各地的游客都能目睹到骑兵卫队的风采。我们听一听游客们的感受。
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Girl: They look really well-groomed, and look like they’re well-trained!
Woman: They’re very well-behaved, it’s amazing how they stand still for so long, and they’re just very well-groomed.
The horses look really well-groomed, and look like they’re well-trained!
A visitor
Wang Fei: 她们说 they're very well-groomed. 这里的 well-groomed 是指马匹梳洗得非常干净漂亮。They're also well-trained and well-behaved. 这些高头骏马也都经过了严格的训练，非常听话。但是每个队列中只有一匹白马，其余的都是黑马。这是怎么回事呢？我们有请 Westwood 先生来解释一下。
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Mr Westwood: Currently there are I think 257 horses in the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. They’re all black horses apart from the trumpeter’s horse or the bugler’s horse. And that’s a battlefield convention from, I think the 18th, 19th century, when they were unarmed. And they were used for giving orders across the battlefield, and so therefore they were very distinctive with their grey horses. So there was a gentleman’s agreement that they wouldn’t be hurt.
The horseguard riding a grey horse is the trumpeter.
Wang Fei: I thought that they were white.
Mr Westwood: Well, they are white – we call them greys, though. That’s just a…
Wang Fei: Why?
Man: A British idiosyncrasy I think!
Wang Fei: 原来骑白马是军号手 trumpeter 或者 bugler. 军号手骑白马很容易和其他士兵区分，但是英文中称军号手的白马为 grey horses. 在18、19 世纪的战争中，交战双方有君子协议，gentleman's agreement, 战争中不许伤害军号手。除了马匹有不同的颜色以外，骑兵队成员的服装颜色也不同，我们听一听下面这位观众的疑惑。
There was a gentleman’s agreement that they (trumpeters riding grey horses) wouldn’t be hurt.
Martin Westwood, Household Cavalry Museum
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Woman: I think they’re from different regiments but I don’t know fully.
Girl: They’ve got different hats!
Woman: They’ve got different hats and different coats, yes. One set has got red coats and all very highly polished boots, and the other set has got blue coats and red collars.
Two horse guards from two regiments
Wang Fei: 这位观众发现 one group of horse guards wear red coats and the other group wear blue coats. And they also found the horse guards were wearing different hats. 下面我们请 Mr Westwood 让他来解释一下骑兵们为什么穿不同的服装？听的时候注意两个词：tunic 紧身的短上衣制服，plume 是指头盔上的羽毛、缨子。
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Mr Westwood: And the Household Cavalry is actually made up of two regiments, the Life Guards – they’re the ones with the red tunics and the white plumes - and the Blues and Royals, which are the ones with the very dark blue tunics and the red plumes. So they’re the two regiments that form the Household Cavalry.
Wang Fei: 原来穿 red tunic 红上衣制服，头盔上有白色缨子 white plume 的骑兵来自 Life Guards Regiment 皇家近卫骑兵团； 而穿 blue tunic 深蓝色上衣制服，头盔上有红色缨子 red plume 的骑兵来自 Blues and Royals Regiment 蓝军皇家骑兵团。他们每天在广场上举行换岗仪式，场面非常壮观。在节目的最后，我们听一下两个观众的感受。我们下次节目再会！
The Household Cavalry is actually made up of two regiments.
Martin Westwood, Household Cavalry Museum
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Teenager: It was really… really cool, and they’re really smart. You don’t see this every single day of your life, you can only see it, like, once a year or something like that.
Man: Yeah, it’s fantastic, there’s nothing like it. Absolutely brilliant! I mean, I’ve never seen this before. I’m 42 now, so I’ve never seen it and it is – it’s fantastic to watch. You know, I like the red uniforms, the blue uniforms, and it’s, you know, it’s so colourful to see.
发表于 2011-6-26 22:35
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