美国国家公共电台 NPR--Queen Elizabeth II has been honored with a grand funeral

Queen Elizabeth II has been honored with a grand funeral

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to NPR's Frank Langfitt, author Claudia Joseph and reporter John Phipps who reported on the many people who went to Buckingham Palace following the queen's death.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to bring in another voice to our conversation and reflections, John Phipps. He's a reporter and critic who was one of the first to report on the many people - the crowds of people who descended² upon Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in the immediate³ hours and days after the queen's death was announced.

John, thanks so much for being with us.

JOHN PHIPPS: Morning.

MARTIN: So the news was announced, and you left. You grabbed your pen and your notebook or your computer, and you went out to talk to people. What did you hear?

PHIPPS: It was a very strange scene. People were flooding in from the moment I arrived, and people have been there all day in this rather morbid⁴ way, staring at the palace, waiting for a sign that something had happened. It was damp.

MARTIN: Because we knew she was ill. We had heard that. We should just say we knew - reports that she has - had been ill. And then it was this uncomfortable holding pattern for a while.

PHIPPS: Yeah. And the announcement was very obviously not we expect the queen to return to vigorous, ruddy health any time soon. It was clearly a preparation.

MARTIN: So what did people convey to you as they were, themselves, just coming to terms with the possibility that she was going to pass?

PHIPPS: I arrived just after the news had broken, so I wasn't there during the waiting period. But when I arrived - I mean, I've just heard your correspondent in Newcastle say that people tend to say the same things. And, you know, the language of monarchy⁵ is cliche⁶. Its poetry is all image. We just saw that with this huge televised ceremony in this beautiful old church. That's how it communicates. So when you ask people, they find - why are you here; what did the queen mean to you? - they find themselves often at a bit of a loss. This thing about her being like a grandmother figure to the nation I hadn't really heard until the last few weeks. That's appeared more. People said they felt appropriate. Some people were there opportunistically to be a part of history.

The real sense you have was that whatever history was happening, people weren't exactly clear on what it was. People were standing⁷ around looking at each other, looking to each other for a sense of, well, what do we do? We knew we should be here, but what precisely⁸ is happening? And that was very interesting because I think what we've seen over the last 10 days is a huge effort to codify⁹ and narrativize what this means for the nation. And every media outlet¹⁰ on Earth has been pouring forth¹¹ with their explanations. And there's been ceremonies. And there's been a kind of slow emergence¹² of the figure of the king out of the enormity of the queen, who was more popular than the monarchy itself and had, to some extent, outgrown¹³ it. So it wouldn't - it didn't surprise me that there was a sense of anticlimax¹⁴ in the air at the time because the real show is on TV and is in the newspapers.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。

5 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

6 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

9 codify   

v.将法律、法规等编成法典

参考例句：

• The noble,Dracon,was asked to codify the laws.贵族德拉古被选为立法者。
• The new government promised to codify the laws.新政府应允要编纂法典。

10 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

13 outgrown   

长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过

参考例句：

• She's already outgrown her school uniform. 她已经长得连校服都不能穿了。
• The boy has outgrown his clothes. 这男孩已长得穿不下他的衣服了。

14 anticlimax   

n.令人扫兴的结局；突降法

参考例句：

• Travelling in Europe was something of an anticlimax after the years he'd spent in Africa.他在非洲生活了多年，到欧洲旅行真是有点太平淡了。
• It was an anticlimax when they abandoned the game.他们放弃比赛，真是扫兴。