The Lipstick Blondes

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesThe Lipstick¹ BlondesAmber: Hello, I’m Amber² and you’re listening tobbclearningenglish.comIn People and Places today, we meet a ski mountaineer –and she defines³ the term for us! And she takes us to anextremely high, cold and lonely place – the Mustagatamountain in China.
　　Suzy Madge is the leader of a group of women who callthemselves The Lipstick Blondes – they admit it’s a sillyname because they don’t all have blonde hair and theynever wear lipstick! But they did prepare very carefully -with a strict physical training programme – before theyset off to the climb Mustagata mountain. Suzy talks about adifficult decision she had to make alone on the mountain,and we hear from Nick Holton of the British MountaineeringCouncil who comments on the expedition.
　　First though, Suzy explains what ski mountaineering is! Andshe says it’s‘meditative⁴’ (from the word ‘meditation’ – that’sconcentrating your mind on just one thing) as well as,‘exhilarating’ – it makes you feel happy and alive! Skimountaineering is …Suzy MadgeWhere you climb up a mountain and then you ski down! It’sa really great combination of a kind of meditative climb upand then an exhilarating ski down.
　　Amber: Now as it happens, The Lipstick Blondes didn’tmake it to the top, the summit⁵, of Mustagata mountain whichis at a demanding 7,500 metres. Suzy explains whathappened. As you listen, try to catch the expression sheuses to describetaking ‘an individual approach’, in other words, notoperating as a team.
　　Suzy MadgeWhen we started the climb from base camp, it becameapparent that we were all going at very different speeds.
　　So we had to sit down and think about whether we were goingto try andstick together as a team and push everyone as far as theycould go, or whether we were goingto take a more individualistic approach and everyone dotheir own thing. We decided⁶ to stay together as a team.
　　On the summit day, we started late because there was quitea blizzard⁷. One of us was quite a long way ahead - it wasme, I sat down and waited for the others and – as someonesopertinently put it, as I told them the story – I watchedmy ego⁹ slide down the mountain as Iwaited for the others, because basically, I wasn’t goingto get to the summit because I waswaiting for the others just to see how high we could allget.
　　Amber: Did you catch it? Suzy says they decided to staytogether as a team – ‘to stick together as a team’, andnot let ‘everyone do their own thing’. If you do your ownthing, you do something the way you want to do it. Suzy wasahead of the others but she decided to wait so that theteam could get as high as possible, even though that meantshe wouldn’t get to the top. A friend told her that she‘watched her ego slide down the mountain’! She decided tolet go of her ‘ego’, her idea of her own importance, andput the team first. Listen again.
　　Suzy MadgeWhen we started the climb from base camp, it becameapparent that we were all going at very different speeds.
　　So we had to sit down and think about whether we were goingto try andstick together as a team and push everyone as far as theycould go, or whether we were goingto take a more individualistic approach and everyone dotheir own thing. We decided to stay together as a team.
　　On the summit day, we started late because there was quitea blizzard. One of us was quite a long way ahead - it wasme, I sat down and waited for the others and – as someoneso pertinently⁸ put it, as I told them the story – Iwatched my ego slide down the mountain as I waited for theothers, because basically, I wasn’t going to get to thesummit because I was waiting for the others just to see howhigh we could all get.
　　Amber: Next, Nick Holton of the British MountaineeringCouncil comments on The Lipstick Blondes’ expedition. Doeshe think it was successful? Well, first he describes asuccessful expedition in mountaineering terms, and then heassesses the expedition ‘in other terms’ – in relationto other things.
　　Nick HoltonSuccess would be getting to the top, being the first, doinga new climb, being the first to ski something – then theexpedition clearly wasn’t a success. But if you think ofit in other terms, in terms of a group of women going awayand enjoying themselves or a group of women takingresponsibility for themselves on a huge, huge mountain,then clearly in their own terms they’ve been verysuccessful.
　　Amber: So Nick says the women took responsibility for eachother and enjoyed themselves – and that equals success!
　　Now let’s recap the language we focused on.
　　meditative (from meditation) – concentrating your mind onjust one thing exhilarating – if something isexhilarating, it makes you feel happy and alive! summit –the highest point of a mountain‘to do your own thing’ – to do something the way youwant to do it‘to stick together’ – to stay togetheryour ego – your idea of yourself and your importance andability‘in mountaineering terms’, ‘in other terms’ – here,the word ‘terms’ is used to describe which area of asubject you’re discussing.

1 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。

2 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

3 defines   

规定( define的第三人称单数 )； 使明确； 精确地解释； 画出…的线条

参考例句：

• This name defines us all. 这个名字造就了我们。 来自演讲部分
• The range of incomes over which this happens defines the 'poverty trap'. 发生在这种情况的收入范围，称为“贫困陷阱。”

4 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

5 summit   

n.最高点，峰顶；最高级会议；极点

参考例句：

• They climbed up the mountain and reached the summit.他们爬山，最终达到了山顶。
• The summit of the mountain is lost in the cloud and mist.山顶隐没在云雾之中。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

8 pertinently   

适切地

参考例句：

• It is one thing to speak much and another to speak pertinently. 说得多是一回事，讲得中肯又是一回事。
• Pertinently pointed out the government, enterprises and industry association shall adopt measures. 有针对性地指出政府、企业和行业协会应采取的措施。

9 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。