Royal Albert Hall

BBC Learning EnglishLondon LifeRoyal Albert HallYvonne: Frank Sinatra, Pavarotti and The Beatles allperformed here – and evenWinston Churchill spoke¹ here. Today, join me, Yvonne Archeron a visit to theRoyal Albert Hall with London Life frombbclearningenglish.com!
　　The Royal Albert Hall is a wonderful, round building inLondon which was officially opened in 1871. It was namedafter and 'commissioned' by Queen Victoria's husband andConsort, Prince Albert – so he arranged for it to be builtand paid for it. Prince Albert's dream was that the countryshould always havea place to celebrate the arts, industry and sciences. Butdid The Royal AlbertHall make his dream come true? Let's hear from a tour guide…CLIP² FROM GUIDED TOUREverything Albert dreamed of came true. And do you know,even today, this area is still known as Albertopolis. Isn'tthat lovely? I want one of them. What do you think?
　　Yvonne: Sadly, Prince Albert died 10 years before the RoyalAlbert Hall was finished, but as it's still being usedtoday, I think it's fair to say that his dream did cometrue! Here's another chance to hear that short clip again,but this time, try to catch the unofficial name for thearea where The Royal Albert Hall was built…CLIP FROM GUIDED TOUREverything Albert dreamed of came true. And do you know,even today, this area is still known as Albertopolis. Isn'tthat lovely? I want one of them. What do you think?
　　Yvonne: Hmmm – I don't think Yvonneopolis has quite thesame ring as Albertopolis, do you? As we heard, the areawhere The Royal Albert Hall is built is still known as'Albertopolis'. This suggests that it's one of the mostimportant buildings in the area - and that Albert was a manof the people.
　　The suffix³ 'polis' – spelt P-O-L-I-S… comes from theGreek for 'city' and the Latin for 'belonging to thepeople' – so as the tour guide suggested, it's a lovelysuffix to add to a name. Other places which also make useof the suffix 'polis' include the Acropolis in Greece,Teresópolis and Petrópolis in Brazil, which are believed tohave been named after Teresa and Peter of the Portugueseroyal family. And of course, who can forget the Metropolisin the film "Superman"?!
　　Is there an important place or building where you live thatuses the suffix 'polis'? Who's it named after? And is thereanyone who you think should be honouredin this way?
　　IDENTYvonne: Linda Clifford is the longest serving steward⁴ atthe Royal Albert Hall and isnow Head Steward. She started working there in 1986 andtold us about two very special ladies who visit the Hallonce a year. Who are they – or at least – who do youthink they were?
　　Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
　　Yvonne: Perhaps the two ladies were performers who appearedat the Royal Albert Hall in the past. And maybe one of themcould even be Queen Victoria?! Well, whether you believe inghosts or not, Linda says there are several at the RoyalAlbert Hall… it's 'haunted⁵'! So with the lights off, theghosts and the creaking doors, it's a 'creepy' building –it's a bit frightening and eerie⁶.
　　Linda CliffordThere are several ghosts. Two ladies that walk just belowus on a certain day in the year. Now I've been here whenthe lights have been switched off. I have to admit, it'squite creepy. The doors creak and you could turn around and– maybe there was something there?
　　Yvonne: Probably best known as the venue⁷ for the Proms, theRoyal Albert Hall can seat 7,000 people and over 300performances take place there each year. But what type ofpeople do they hope will come to those performances? Listenout for the terms 'cross section' and 'narrow section'
　　which mean opposite things as the Chief Executive⁸ at theRoyal Albert Hall explains…Chief Executive, Royal Albert HallWhat we're looking for is a balance of programming over thecourse of a year that enables us to provide something foreverybody so that we can reach young, old – really, anentire cross- section. Because the one thing the hall isnot about is being elitist and only appealing to a narrowsection of the audience.
　　Yvonne: Performances at the Royal Albert Hall are carefullydesigned to 'reach' or attract all types of people. TheChief Executive says it isn't 'elitist' – so it isn't justfor very rich, powerful and privileged people to use. Andthat was certainly Prince Albert's dream!

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 clip   

n.夹子，别针，弹夹，片断；vt.夹住，修剪

参考例句：

• May I clip out the report on my performance?我能把报道我的文章剪下来吗？
• She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.她用曲别针把文件别在一起。

3 suffix   

n.后缀；vt.添后缀

参考例句：

• We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
• It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义，后缀数组以及如何建立它。

4 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

5 haunted   

adj.闹鬼的；受到折磨的；令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
• The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发，举国上下一片恐慌。

6 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

7 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

8 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。