时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:一起闲话英语-English Chitchat


英语课

 Transcript: 


Hello. I’m going to talk about British festivals. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Notting Hill Carnival 1 in London and the Edinburgh Festival, but today we’re going to look at a lot more that you might not know about. Actually, a lot of these are not exactly festivals, but strange races or competitions. Some of them are ancient and some are modern.
 
So, let’s start in January in the north of Scotland with the Burning of the Clavie. This is a whisky barrel which is set alight then carried through the streets as a bonfire. It’s an ancient tradition which always takes place on 11th of January, the first day of the year, according to an older form of the calendar. The bonfire brings good luck for the coming year and people used to keep bits of burnt wood as protection against evil spirits. At the end of January, even further north, in the Shetland Islands, there’s another fire festival, the Up Helly Aa. This seems like an ancient festival, but has actually only been going for about 130 years – well, it is fairly old, I suppose. People carry fire-lit torches and a Viking boat through the streets, then set fire to the boat. There’s lots of dancing; it’s good fun.
 
Now to the north of England. On Shrove Tuesday in February, otherwise known as Pancake Day, a special Pancake Bell is rung in Scarborough. Everyone goes down to the road next to the beach where they skip – yep, they jump over long ropes, up to fifteen people to one rope. And they have pancake races. This is quite common in the UK – running with a frying pan and tossing 2 a pancake at the same time.
 
Another kind of race takes place in spring – cheese rolling. In Gloucestershire, in the south-west of England, round cheeses in round boxes are sent rolling down a hill and people run after them and try and catch them. The hill is very steep, so people often fall over – if you take part in this you need to be very fit and wear your oldest jeans. Nowadays this strange custom attracts visitors from all over the world, but the people from the local village are usually the ones who catch the cheese.
 
From people-racing 3, to animals, very tiny animals. World Championship Snail 4 Racing takes place in a village in Norfolk. The snails 5 have to race from an inner circle to an outer circle and the winner gets a lot of lettuce 6. There’s a party and barbecue for the snail owners and observers. This custom began in the 1960s after a local man saw something similar in France. In the UK we don’t eat snails, by the way.
 
More fun, in my opinion, are the onion-eating contest, also in Gloucestershire – a race to finish eating a raw onion – and the Black Pudding Throwing Championship, in Lancashire. Black puddings are like big sausages made mainly from dried blood. Contestants 7 bowl three black puddings each at 21 Yorkshire puddings set on a six-metre platform; the winner is the one who knocks down the most. Another fun contest takes place in September at the Egremont Crab 8 Fair in Cumbria in the north of England. The World Gurning Championship is a competition to pull the ugliest face. It sounds ridiculous but this is an ancient British tradition and the Crab Fair itself dates back to 1267. The man who won the title of best gurner the most in recent years had all his teeth taken out so he could make terrible faces more easily.
 
Finally, let’s go back to the south of England. In Brighton there’s a Burning the Clocks Festival to celebrate the winter solstice on December 21st. This custom started twenty years ago and is very popular. People make clock lanterns and time-themed figures of paper and wood, then walk through the town to the beach where the sculptures are set on fire and there’s a massive 9 firework display.
 
So, that’s just a taste of a few of our old and more modern traditions. Would you like to take part in any of them?
 

1 carnival
n.嘉年华会,狂欢,狂欢节,巡回表演
  • I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
  • Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。
2 tossing
v.(轻轻或漫不经心地)扔( toss的现在分词 );(使)摇荡;摇匀;(为…)掷硬币决定
  • Poor Joan has been tossing around all night with that fever. 可怜的琼因发烧而一整夜辗转不能入睡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The two boys agreed to decide the matter by tossing a coin. 这两个孩子同意用掷硬币的方法来决定这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
3 racing
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的
  • I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
  • The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。
4 snail
n.蜗牛
  • Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
  • Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。
5 snails
n.蜗牛;迟钝的人;蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )
  • I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 lettuce
n.莴苣;生菜
  • Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿,我好做色拉。
  • The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。
7 contestants
n.竞争者,参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )
  • The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
  • Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 crab
n.螃蟹,偏航,脾气乖戾的人,酸苹果;vi.捕蟹,偏航,发牢骚;vt.使偏航,发脾气
  • I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
  • The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了,就象螃蟹的壳似的。
9 massive
adj.巨大的,大规模的,大量的,大范围的
  • A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
  • He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。
学英语单词
adpaper
air-brushes
Ampelopsis hypoglauca
anal pads
annihilation gamma-ray
aritox
arterias
back-sweeten
balanced termination
blanket prohibition
Chang Ling
chemical tanker
chrysazine
chryselephantines
coccidiomycosis
credit cooperative
daily piecework report
diammine palladous bromide
differential pulley
duodenes
Emanatism
entertainability
essential part of mark
eurypholis major
Fahrenheit thermometer
film dispersion method
fluval
from whose bourn e no traveller returns
geosacred
Godwin, William
grandma hypothesis
ground ohmeter
gully head protecting works
heavyheartedness
houbu (japan)
hulkingly
hypothecative
in-line skating
inductance sensor
insentiences
involute gear teeth
keel staple
Kingdom of Bahrain
Kragerφ
L-isoleucinyladenylate
lateral thruster
light sizing
line a time printing
linowes
liquid level inspection cock
look sb up and down
lymph node of epiploic foramen
makes trial of
manie
marjanov
mataris
medullary necrosis of kidney
Melissa, Akra
micromotor dental set
minimal-access routine
morbidity statistics
nucleon moment
ogee dam
page region
paper-tape punch
perspirer
pheneridine
philtrum moustache
pre-column derivatization
propylene trimer
PRTF
pseudoskeleton
quadratic variational problems
quality factors of software
satellite ocean surveillance
see you later alligator
semiperipheries
semiterete
service clubs
sick as a horse
St.Vincent
Stickelberger element
stock value
straight-side hydraulic press
subbase plough
swear an a charge against someone
technical publications
tens of thousands of
thiazines
time-shared common bus
tooth profile error
troop fire
turn of tidal current
UNDC
uranium vein
vinyl polymers
volume absorption
warm-cored disturbance
White's
wimble
yield good economic returns
ziani