Blenheim Palace
Sun Chen: 嘿，你好吗？这里是都市掠影来自 BBC Learning English. 我是孙晨。
Helen: And I’m Helen. Today we’re taking you to a huge and stunning palace about two hours north-west of London. It’s called Blenheim Palace.
Sun Chen: 今天要和我们一起去参观的，是这座宫殿的档案馆总监 John Forster.
Helen: First John told us why the house was built. It was due to a battle that happened over 300 years ago.
Sun Chen: 这座宫殿是为了纪念英法战争期间一场激烈的战斗而修建的。
The huge palace was built in the 18th century for the first Duke of Marlborough in 1704. He inflicted a huge defeat, unexpected defeat on the armies of France. Queen Anne wanted to give him a gift, but she also wanted the future to remember the victory. So she built him this house, this palace, to live in and the dukes still live here to this day, on the left where I’m gesturing. The whole house is built on such a splendid, dramatic scale, that it stands as a monument and that’s what it’s about.
John Forster, Blenheim Palace Education Officer
Helen: So the palace was built for the first duke of Marlborough. His name was John Churchill.
Sun Chen: Marlborough 公爵一世，是英国历史上最伟大的战士。正是他，在1704年，率领英国军队打败了法国军队。
Helen: He inflicted a huge unexpected defeat on the army of France.
Sun Chen: Inflict 就是强加于人，没有料到的失败就是 unexpected defeat. 这场大战之后，整个欧洲的政治版图，都发生了巨变。
Helen: And as a way of saying thank you, the Queen of that time, Queen Anne, gave the first duke of Marlborough the money to build this palace to live in.
Blenheim Palace
Sun Chen: 这座宫殿，就是当时的女王奖励这位公爵勇猛战绩的一份礼物。
Helen: The Queen also wanted the nation to remember this victory. So the palace is built on such a splendid (华丽的) and dramatic (有戏剧性的) scale. It’s like a monument.
Sun Chen: 一座纪念碑 a monument, 非常宏伟。巴拉海姆宫的建筑特点，是典型的巴洛克风格。这里有巨大的庭院，和宽阔的草 坪。
Helen: That’s the other feature of Blenheim. The park is totally man made, landscaped by the great Capability Brown.
Sun Chen: That’s unbelievable. Landscape 这个单词，其实既可以作为动词，也可以作为名词。在这儿的意思就是大规模地进行园艺。这座大花园，是由当时英格兰历史上最伟大的园艺师布朗大师设计完成的。
Helen: And Blenheim palace has a very special status. Here is John again with the explanation.
Sun Chen: 要想听懂下面的采访，这些单词，你可得先记好了。归功于。
Helen: Contribute to.
Sun Chen: 联合国。
Helen: United Nations.
Sun Chen: 文化遗产。
Helen: Heritage.
As we look out there, that’s the other feature of Blenheim. That’s the park, totally man made, landscaped by Capability Brown in the 1760s. Now that magnificent landscape there and this wonderful Baroque building contributed both of them to Blenheim being chosen as the United Nations, in the 1980s, as a world heritage site. If I tell you other world heritage sites are the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, you realise what a stately home this is. It’s the only one in the country, the only stately home, which is a world heritage site.
John Forster, Blenheim Palace Education Officer
Sun Chen: 要是这么说，布拉海姆宫还真是不同寻常。这座宫殿可是在英国唯一一座被列入联合国世界文化遗产的贵族庄园。
Helen: A world heritage site. And, as John says, the other world heritage sites are the Pyramids…
Sun Chen: 金字塔 Pyramids.
Helen: The Great Wall of China.
Sun Chen: 中国的长城， Great Wall of China.
Helen: So this is definitely a very prestigious title to have.
Sun Chen: 作为英国历史悠久的建筑，布拉海姆宫，当然肯定是英国旅游的热点。
Helen: Sadly we’ve run out of time again.
Sun Chen: 我真希望还能再来一次布拉海姆宫。这真是一座精美绝伦的宫殿。
Helen: And if you are interested in Winston Churchill…
Sun Chen: 温斯顿·丘吉尔，英国近代历史上最伟大的首相。
Helen: Then you’ve got to visit Blenheim, because this is where Winston Churchill was born and buried!
Sun Chen: I see. 这里就是温斯顿·丘吉尔出生和埋葬的地方。
Helen: You can download audio and scripts of our programmes from our website.
Sun Chen: 我们的网址是 www.bbcchina.com.cn.
Helen: Bye for now.
Sun Chen: See you next time.
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