Oliver、Olivia成英国最受欢迎宝宝名

    After a 14-year reign¹, Jack² has lost its stranglehold on the title of England and Wales' top name for newborn boys, replaced by Oliver.
    Olivia was the most popular name for newborn girls for the second year in a row, according to figures published by the Office of National Statistics(统计) for first names given to babies born in 2009.
    Jack remained a popular name for boys, ranking second, while Harry³ came in third.
    Ruby⁴ and Chloe were the second and third most popular names chosen for girls.
    There were no new entries in the top ten for either boys' or girls' names compared with 2008, although there were regional variations with popularity of names.
    Oliver was the most popular name for boys in six English regions（地区,区域）, for example, but Jack was still the top name in Wales, and in the north east and north west of England.
    Mohammed ranked 16th nationally for boys, but was the most popular name in the West Midlands.
    Compared to names chosen for babies 10 years earlier, there was a resurgence⁵ in the popularity of names which were once associated with people of the inter-war generation.
    Evie was the tenth most popular name given to baby girls in 2009, for example, moving up 157 places since 1999.
    Ruby, the second most popular name for girls in 2009, was ranked 91 places lower 10 years ago. Boys names such as Alfie and Charlie have followed a similar trend.
    Six names in the boys top ten in 2009 were also there in 1999 - Jack, Joshua, Thomas, James, Daniel and William.
    Five girls' names featured in both lists - Olivia, Chloe, Emily, Sophie and Jessica.
    There were 706,248 live births in England and Wales in 2009.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

5 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。