2022年经济学人 BBC成立100周年：未知的前景(1)

The BBC

英国广播公司（BBC）

The sound of the apocalypse would be soothing¹.

世界末日时的声音会让人感到安慰。

Whereas prophets and novelists tend to imagine Armageddon as noisy - earthquakes, looting and whatnot - for the BBC, it would sound like Peter Donaldson.

尽管预言家和小说家倾向于将世界末日想象成一片嘈杂的景象——地震、劫掠等等——但对BBC来说，世界末日听起来就是彼得·唐纳森的声音。

As documents declassified² a few years ago revealed, he was the newsreader chosen to usher³ in the end of the world.

几年前解密的文件显示，彼得·唐纳森是被选中迎接世界末日的新闻播音员。

"This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons," he says, with velvet⁴ voice and perfect diction.

“这个国家遭到了核武器的攻击，”他用天鹅绒般的声音和完美的措辞说。

"Do not, in any circumstances, go outside the house."

“无论发生什么，都不要到屋外去。”

The broadcast adds a few more details.

广播还提到了其它细节。

Food must be conserved⁵.

必须节约食物。

Water must be rationed⁶ ("It must not be used for flushing lavatories").

水必须限量使用(“一定不能用来冲盥洗室”)。

Even in the end times, the BBC would not countenance⁷ the word "toilet".

即使在世界的最后时刻，BBC也不会说出“厕所”这个词。

For many, this felt less unnerving than apposite.

对许多人来说，这不会让人感到不安，反而是来得恰如其分。

The organisation⁸, which turns 100 this month, had announced the start of the second world war and its end.

本月，BBC这个宣布了第二次世界大战的开始和结束的组织，将迎来它的100岁生日。

It had covered the liberation of Belsen and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Suez crisis and the Falklands war.

它报道了贝尔森集中营的解放和伊丽莎白二世女王的加冕，苏伊士运河危机和福克兰群岛海战。

For 100 years, the BBC has parcelled up disaster and defeat, then distributed them, after the pips and before the weather forecast, to the British.

100年来，英国广播公司把灾难和失败包装起来，然后在电台报时之后，天气预报之前播报给英国人。

If Armageddon was to come, it felt right the BBC would announce it, probably after "The Archers⁹", certainly in an rp accent.

如果世界末日真的到来，BBC应该会宣布这一消息，可能是在《阿彻家族》广播剧结束之后，当然是用英国英语的标准发音。

It was not, in the beginning, obvious that this would be so.

一开始，情况并不是这样的。

The BBC was founded a century ago from pragmatism rather than idealism, the result of a lacklustre compromise to satisfy new radio companies (which thought they would flog more sets if people had programmes to listen to on them) and the General Post Office (which wanted to stop anyone from gaining a monopoly over the airwaves, but couldn't be bothered to oversee¹⁰ programmes itself).

一个世纪前BBC的创立基于实用主义，而非理想主义，它是为了满足新的广播公司(它们认为，如果人们有节目可听，它们就能出售更多无线电接收器)和邮政总局(它想要防止电视广播领域出现垄断，但不愿费心监督节目内容)的要求而做出的平淡妥协。

So it was that on October 18th 1922, to the interest of almost no one, the British Broadcasting Company was born.

因此，1922年10月18日，在几乎没人感兴趣的情况下，英国广播公司诞生了。

"Company" became "Corporation" in 1927.

1927年，BBC将其名称中的“Company”改为了“Corporation”。

Today the BBC tends to offer news as its main mission, spending ￡314m ($346m) a year on it.

如今，BBC将提供新闻作为其主要任务，每年在新闻上的花费能达到3.14亿英镑(即3.46亿美元)。

But as David Hendy, a historian, explains in a new book, it was at first far less interested.

但正如历史学家大卫·亨迪在他的新书中解释的那样，一开始，人们对此并不感兴趣。

As one early BBC boss put it: "I didn't really care what was happening in Abyssinia."

正如BBC早期的一位老板所说：“我根本不在乎阿比西尼亚发生了什么。”

By agreement with the newspapers, the BBC broadcast no bulletins before 7pm, to avoid competition.

根据与报纸行业达成的协议，BBC在晚上7点之前不播放广播，以避免行业竞争。

But the BBC - which in its early days employed no journalists—hardly tried anyway.

但早期没有雇佣记者的BBC在当时几乎没有努力过。

"There is no news," ran one crisply conclusive¹¹ bulletin in 1930, before returning to a broadcast of Wagner's "Parsifal".

1930年，在切回到瓦格纳的《帕西法尔》歌剧之前，BBC干净利落地总结道：“没有新闻。”

Wagner wasn't mere¹² filler.

瓦格纳不是仅仅用来凑数的。

Cultural betterment, not bulletins, was seen as the BBC's main mission.

相比于新闻简报，文化进步在当时被视为BBC的主要使命。

William Haley, an early BBC chief, envisaged¹³ radio as a pyramid with popular programmes at its base and high culture at its apex¹⁴.

BBC早期的首席执行官威廉·黑利将广播想象为一座金字塔，底层是流行节目，顶端是高雅文化。

The common man would be drawn¹⁵ in low and then, in a sort of audio purgatory¹⁶, be purified by BBC programming until he achieved the blessed state of voluntarily enjoying Buxtehude.

普通人会被底层节目吸引，然后在这种音频炼狱中，通过BBC的节目得到净化，直到他达到自愿欣赏布克斯特胡德的幸福状态。

Presenters¹⁷ in dinner jackets, their speech a lesson in itself, carefully followed strict pronunciation guides: "quad-rille" was to be pronounced with the accent on its last syllable¹⁸; "phil-istine" on its first.

那些身穿晚礼服的演讲者的演讲本身就是一堂课，他们严格遵循发音指南：“quad-rille”一词的重音在最后一个音节，“phil-istine”的重音在第一个音节。

1 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

2 declassified   

adj.解密的v.对（机密文件等）销密( declassify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thousands of classified documents have now been declassified. 数以千计的保密文件现在被解密了。
• The software used for Siemens S7-300 encryption logic block declassified. 此软件用于对西门子S7-300加密逻辑块解密。

3 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

4 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

5 conserved   

v.保护，保藏，保存( conserve的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He conserved his energy for the game. 他为比赛而养精蓄锐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Under these conditions, the total mechanical energy remains constant, or is conserved. 在这种条件下，总机械能保持不变或机械能保存。 来自辞典例句

6 rationed   

限量供应，配给供应( ration的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We were rationed to two eggs a day. 每天配给我们两个鸡蛋。
• The army is well rationed. 部队给养良好。

7 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

8 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

9 archers   

n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The next evening old Mr. Sillerton Jackson came to dine with the Archers. 第二天晚上，西勒顿？杰克逊老先生来和阿切尔家人一起吃饭。 来自辞典例句
• Week of Archer: Double growth for Archers and Marksmen. 射手周：弓箭手与弩手（人类）产量加倍。 来自互联网

10 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

11 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 envisaged   

想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He envisaged an old age of loneliness and poverty. 他面对着一个孤独而贫困的晚年。
• Henry Ford envisaged an important future for the motor car. 亨利·福特为汽车设想了一个远大前程。

14 apex   

n.顶点，最高点

参考例句：

• He reached the apex of power in the early 1930s.他在三十年代初达到了权力的顶峰。
• His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.当选总统是他一生事业的顶峰。

15 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

16 purgatory   

n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的

参考例句：

• Every step of the last three miles was purgatory.最后3英里时每一步都像是受罪。
• Marriage,with peace,is this world's paradise;with strife,this world's purgatory.和谐的婚姻是尘世的乐园，不和谐的婚姻则是人生的炼狱。

17 presenters   

n.节目主持人，演播员( presenter的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each week presenters would put the case for their favourite candidate. 每个星期主持人推出他们最喜欢的候选人。 来自互联网
• Karaoke was set up to allowed presenters to sing on the stage. 宴会设有歌唱舞台，可让出席者大演唱功。 来自互联网

18 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。