【一起听英语】圣诞老人

圣诞老人在每年的圣诞节来临之际总是会给孩子们带来很多欢笑......

Kate Hello and welcome to this week’s 6 Minute English. Today I’m joined by

Rebecca – hi Rebecca!

Rebecca Hello Kate

Kate Well tomorrow is the 25th December which is of course is …. Christmas Day! I

love Christmas – how about you?

Rebecca answers

Kate Well, specific icon¹ we all associate with Christmas is Santa Claus. What are

your memories of him as a child?

Rebecca answers

Kate Before we go any further, here's my Christmas question for this week. Are you

ready? An easy one this week…. whereabouts does Santa Claus live?

Is it: a) the North Pole

b) Iceland

c) Norway

Rebecca answers

Kate: We'll check if you were correct at the end of the programme. Well apart from

Santa who comes round to our houses to deliver presents to children, we can 

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often see him in the run up to Christmas in many department stores and

shopping malls around the world. But I've been wondering about these people

whose job it is to dress up as Santa for the Christmas period?

Rebecca: Yes, it is certainly an unusual job - must be fun though!

Kate: Well today we're going to hear from someone called Santa Paul who works as

Santa in a department store in the US. We're going to hear from him as he's

putting his Santa costume on and gets into character! Have a listen – what

items of clothing does he mention?

Extract² 1

Putting on my fabulous³ boots right now and they have gold buttons with the names of all the

reindeer⁴ on them. Pick up my sack that I have made. The white gloves really finish the suit

because the white personifies Santa as being pure and the red signifies⁵ Santa as being an

outdoorsman. The hat - and there you have it, I am Santa Claus ready to join the world again.

Ho Ho Ho!

Rebecca Well, first of all he put on his boots with gold buttons with the names of all

the reindeers on them. Of course, reindeers are a type of animal with large

horns, which are supposed to pull Santa's sleigh. Then he mentioned his sack,

a type of bag in which he carries all the presents. Then he put on his gloves and

hat and I think that was it. He is Santa!

Kate: Yes indeed. And did you manage to hear what the colours red and white

signify⁶?

Rebecca: The white personifies the purity⁷ of Santa. Personifies means that something is

a perfect example of something so in this case the white gloves show how pure

and good he is. And he said that red signifies or is a sign of him being an

outdoorsman – someone who lives and works outside in the fresh air. He's

certainly that! 

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Kate: Ah, so now we know. I've always wondered why he dressed in red and

white… But how did Paul start being Santa in the first place? You're going to

hear some new words next – could you explain what bleached⁹ mean?

Rebecca Well, bleached means to remove the colour from something usually using

chemicals. So if you bleach⁸ your hair, you make it very blonde or white.

Kate And persona?

Rebecca Persona means the particular type of character that a person seems to have

Kate Thanks, so let's listen. How did Paul come to be Santa?

Extract 2

My friend Cliff, he had been a Santa for several years and he mentioned that he thought it was

time that I be a Santa. So I had my hair bleached and once I saw that colour I knew I was

Santa. I feel the persona coming out and once I'm in my full suit - I am Santa.

Rebecca: Well, he said his friend, Cliff had been Santa for a few years and he suggested

to Paul that he do it too. So he bleached his hair and as soon as he did this, he

felt Santa's persona.

Kate Yes, exactly. And at least he's convincing to all the children who come and

visit him. So finally we're going to hear about where he works inside the

department store, where he sits to greet all the children and give them presents.

You're going to hear the word reindeer again. Let's listen – can you tell me

three things about his house.

Extract 3

 I have a small house, almost full sized reindeer, stuffed reindeer – I have a couple of

them. And a sleigh and the set is actually raised just a little bit so it does look very rustic¹⁰… 

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Rebecca So he said he has a small house in which he has two stuffed reindeer - so

they're not real ones but toy ones and he also has his sleigh there and he said

the overall impression is very rustic which means simple or typical of the

countryside.

Kate Sounds very cosy¹¹! Well we're nearly out of time unfortunately. So let's go over

some of the vocabulary we've come across today. We had: reindeer, sack,

personifies, outdoorsman, bleached, persona, sleigh and rustic.

Kate And the question I asked you earlier. Where do you think Santa Claus lives?

Rebecca And I said the North Pole.

Kate Correct! Well that's all we have time for at the moment.We're off home now to

hang up our stockings and wait for Santa to deliver our presents.

So from all of us at BBC Learning English, we wish you all a very Happy

Chrsitmas. Bye for now! 

1 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

2 extract   

vt.取出，提取，获得，摘录；n.摘录，提出物

参考例句：

• The article was a choice extract from her writings.这篇文章是从她的著作中摘录出来的精粹。
• We can extract oil from olive.我们可以从橄榄中榨油。

3 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

4 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

5 signifies   

表示…的意思，意味( signify的第三人称单数 )； 具有重要性，要紧

参考例句：

• The term inflation signifies a decline in the value of money. 通货膨胀一词意味着货币贬值。
• To the patient and to the physician, pain signifies an unnatural state. 无论对患者或对医师，疼痛标志着一种反常状态。

6 signify   

vt.表示...的意思，意味，预示

参考例句：

• State ownership in itself does not signify collective control.国家所有本身并不意味集体控制。
• The striped band round a policeman's sleeve is to signify that he is on duty.警察袖子上的袖标标明他正在执勤。

7 purity   

n.纯净，纯洁，纯度

参考例句：

• She was a woman of purity and goodness.她是一位纯洁善良的妇女。
• The white colour is a symbol of purity.白色是纯洁的象征。

8 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

9 bleached   

漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的

参考例句：

• His hair was bleached by the sun . 他的头发被太阳晒得发白。
• The sun has bleached her yellow skirt. 阳光把她的黄裙子晒得褪色了。

10 rustic   

adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬

参考例句：

• It was nearly seven months of leisurely rustic living before Michael felt real boredom.这种悠闲的乡村生活过了差不多七个月之后,迈克尔开始感到烦闷。
• We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.我们希望新鲜的空气和乡村的氛围能帮他调整自己。

11 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。