Vicki: Hello and welcome to On the Town from BBC Learning English. I’m Vicki.
Oliver: 大家好,我是 Oliver.《城市掠影》是一个为您介绍英国城市的节目,这个星期我们要带您去看看遍布在伦敦各条商业街上漂亮的圣诞装饰。让我们一起感受一下节日的气氛吧。
Vicki: Christmas decorations – we’ll be talking to a designer who has created some of London’s street decorations.
Oliver: 另外,我们还要聊一聊人们是怎么让圣诞灯饰变得更加绿色环保的。
Vicki: Every year, London’s shopping streets are decorated for Christmas, and the Oxford Street lights are switched on in a big ceremony with pop stars and other celebrities.
Oliver: 在亮灯仪式上为圣诞灯饰亮灯的通常都是名人 celebrities. 牛津街是伦敦最著名的商业街之一,而牛津街上的圣诞灯饰通常也是最漂亮的。
Vicki: This year, the mile-long Oxford Street lights have a theme connected to the Disney movie 'Enchanted'.
Regent Street in London is famous for its Christmas decorations
Oliver: 在长达一英里的牛津街上,挂满了圣诞灯饰,今年的灯饰主题是和一部迪斯尼电影有关,电影的名字叫做 《魔法情缘》。
Vicki: Last year, some politicians complained that the Christmas lights were not eco-friendly because they use so much energy.
Oliver: 去年有些政客抱怨圣诞灯饰不环保,因为太浪费电了。
Vicki: So this year, the lights are using LED bulbs which are more eco-friendly, or ‘greener’.
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Oliver: Greenest – 字面上讲就是最绿的,实际的就是最不妨害生态环境的。
Vicki: Energy efficient. In the programme today we’ve heard about the Oxford Street Christmas lights.
Oliver: 实际上,今年伦敦其它很多街道的圣诞灯饰也相当漂亮,甚至比牛津街的还有意思呢。
Vicki: In Regent Street this year, the lights are quite unusual – they are contemporary 3D light clusters, made up of several sphere shapes.
Oliver: Contemporary 现代的,3D 3D, spheres 圆球型。
Vicki: The lights constantly change colour.
Oliver: 他们可以不断地变换颜色。
Vicki: You can see a picture of the Regent Street lights on our website - www.bbcchina.com.cn . The lights are quite attractive and very unusual, but some people think they are not very Christmassy.
Oliver: Christmassy 我喜欢这个词, 这个词儿的意思是有圣诞气氛的。
Vicki: In other parts of London, the decorations are not just based around lights.
Oliver: 我们特别采访了专门做圣诞装饰设计的 Paul Dart, 他象我们介绍了他为伦敦南部 Lewisham 地区的购物中心所做的圣诞装饰和他的设计思路。
Vicki: He describes the decorations as ‘period’.
Oliver: Period 的意思就是时期,在这里的意思就是说他作品的风格是在表现过去。 Paul 的作品呈现出上个世纪五六十年代的感觉。
What we’ve used are actually period decorations from the 50s and 60s, to try and introduce almost like a party atmosphere in Lewisham.
Paul Dart, designer
Vicki: The decorations there are old-fashioned ones made of shiny foil.
Oliver: Foil 闪亮的金属片儿。
Vicki: He wanted to introduce a party atmosphere. Paul also designed the decorations in Carnaby Street in central London. He told us about them. Listen out for the phrase ‘paper chains’.
Oliver: Paper chains 是孩子们喜欢做的一种手工装饰物。就是用胶水把彩色纸条纸条粘成圆环,并且连成长条。我们在中国说拉花。
Vicki: Here’s Paul.
This is a very ironic, very modernist, very young idea of Christmas decorations. I wanted to invoke the childishness of Christmas. The thing that we remember doing in nursery school – of making paper chains and hanging them up – and then by making them large and huge, we’re also going into realm of it being a giant sculpture – a piece of art.
Paul Dart, designer
Vicki: So these decorations are huge, giant, colourful paper chains, hanging across the street. He describes them as ironic and modernist.
Oliver: Ironic 本身的意思是讽刺,在这里的意思是设计师是故意做成这个样子的。 Modernist 现代主义的。
Vicki: In designing these decorations, Paul wanted to invoke the childishness of Christmas.
Oliver: Invoke 借用,借鉴。他希望借用有点儿孩子气的感觉来设计他的圣诞装饰。
Vicki: He says it reminds people of when they made decorations at nursery school.
Oliver: Nursery school 幼儿园。
Vicki: But by making them huge, they’re going into the realm of sculpture and art.
Oliver: Going into the realm of 步入了什么样的领域,sculpture 雕塑,还有艺术 art.
Vicki: Before we go, let’s remember some of the words and phrases we’ve heard in this programme. Eco-friendly or greenest.
Oliver: 环保的。
Vicki: Contemporary.
Oliver: 现代的。
Vicki: Period.
Oliver: 过去的、老式的。
Vicki: Modernist.
Oliver: 现代主义的。
Vicki: Childishness.
Oliver: 幼稚地、孩子气的。
Vicki: Traditional.
Oliver: 传统的。
Vicki: Anyway, that’s all about the Christmas decorations for now, we’re off to finish our Christmas shopping.
Oliver: 谢谢收听,下次再见。
Vicki: Bye!