听播客学英语 172 骗局

 　　Today’s podcast introduces the English word “scam”. What is a scam? Imagine this situation. I set up a website. The website says that you can buy new digital cameras really cheaply. You are interested. You think you would like to buy one of my cheap cameras. So you click the buttons and enter your credit¹ card number. Then you wait for the camera to arrive. But it doesn’t arrive. I have taken your money and disappeared. That is a “scam”. Other English nouns² that mean more or less the same are “swindle” and “fraud”.

　　Why are we talking about scams today? Well, in Britain there are a number of shows on television which invite people to telephone the show. Sometimes people phone in to answer questions in a quiz. Sometimes they phone in to vote on something – for example on who should win a song competition. The telephone numbers which these TV shows use are “premium³ rate telephone numbers”. That means that the telephone calls cost more than normal calls – sometimes very much more. And the TV company gets part of the money from the call.

　　Now, speaking personally, I think you have to be either very stupid or very bored to ring a premium rate telephone number on a TV show. But it is a free country. If it makes people happy to spend money in this way, then that is OK. It may be silly, but it is not a scam.

　　About two weeks ago, however, a news report appeared which said that on one TV show, the presenters⁴ had invited people to telephone the show to win a chance to appear in a quiz. However, the TV company had already secretly chosen the winners. So the viewers were paying for the expensive telephone calls, but none of them could win. It’s a scam, said the newspapers. And lots of people agreed.

　　And then it emerged⁵ that the same sort of thing had happened on other TV shows. Embarrassed TV executives⁶ told viewers that they were very sorry and that it would never happen again. The regulator for premium rate telephone calls started an investigation⁷. It is even possible that the police will look at some of the more serious cases.

　　Then two days ago, the worst happened. For many years, the BBC have had a children’s TV show called Blue Peter. It is quality children’s television; it is fun; it is clean; it is wholesome⁸. Parents like it. Most children like it too. A few months ago, there was a quiz on Blue Peter. The presenters asked children to phone in if they thought they knew the answer. Lots of children did phone. They (or, rather, their parents) paid 10p for each call. But there was a technical problem, and none of the calls reached the studio. Instead, the BBC asked a girl in the audience to pretend to be somebody phoning the show. She answered the question correctly and won a prize.

　　Now, this was a mistake, not a scam. But the BBC were very embarrassed that such a thing could happen on a respected show like Blue Peter. It is like discovering that your grandmother sells illegal drugs. British people generally do not trust or believe politicians or estate⁹ agents or used car salesmen. Now we don’t trust phone-in TV programmes either.

1 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

2 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

4 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

5 emerged   

vi. 浮现, (由某种状态)脱出, (事实)显现出来

参考例句：

• They emerged from the church into the bright daylight. 他们走出教堂来到明亮的日光下。
• The swimmer emerged from the lake. 游泳者从湖水中浮出来。

6 executives   

（公司或机构的）经理( executive的名词复数 )； （统称公司或机构的）行政领导； （政府的）行政部门； [the Executive][美国英语]（美国政府的）行政当局

参考例句：

• They have taken measures to equate the salaries of higher civil servants to those of business executives. 他们采取措施使高级文职人员的工资和企业管理干部的工资相等。
• He disregarded the advice of his executives. 他对主管层的建议置若罔闻。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 wholesome   

adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的

参考例句：

• In actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.实际上我喜欢做的事大都是有助于增进身体健康的。
• It is not wholesome to eat without washing your hands.不洗手吃饭是不卫生的。

9 estate   

n.所有地，地产，庄园；住宅区；财产，资产

参考例句：

• My estate lies within a mile.我的地产离那有一英里。
• The great real estate brokers do far more than this.而优秀的房地产经纪人做得可比这多得多。