英语听力精选进阶版 6197

Who’s Turning Your Town’s On? 谁来为城市点燃彩灯?

As Christmas approaches, towns and cities around the UK are preparing for a peculiarly British celebration.

The switching on of a town’s Christmas lights has become an increasingly competitive event over the years, with some councils spending lots of money to attract A-list celebrities¹ to do the honours.

The American singer Mariah Carey flew to London in November to switch on the lights at one of the city’s biggest shopping centres, while Jim Carrey illuminated² Oxford³ Street and promoted his new film at the same time.

The historic English city of Bath was brought to a standstill as thousands of fans flocked to see the Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage conduct the switching-on ceremony.

However, some celebrations do not go according to plan as was seen in Birmingham when dozens of people were injured in a crowd surge as the famous British boy band JLS took the stage.

Not all towns can afford to bring in an internationally-known star, so many switch-on ceremonies are handled by ex-TV talent show contestants⁴.

The hit TV programme the X Factor has supplied many smaller municipalities with a low-budget celebrity⁵ like Chico, a singer who reached the quarter-finals of that show back in 2005.

Pantomime stars are also much in demand at this time of year, as they endeavour to promote their Christmas shows.

But if your council hasn’t got the budget to bring in a famous face, what are the cheaper alternatives?

A town in the west of England chose to let the public decide by submitting their suggestions online. The result: a 21-year-old DIY store worker was given the prestigious⁶ duty.

"I was amazed and delighted to be asked," said Scott Parker, "it's just a privilege and not something I'd ever thought about before."

Glossary 词汇表

peculiarly 奇特地 

switching on 点燃(灯火) 

councils 地方议会/政府 

A-list celebrities 一流名人 

do the honours 剪彩/掌灯（等荣耀） 

illuminated 点燃 

promoted 宣传 

brought to a standstill 导致（交通）堵塞 

flocked 簇拥 

crowd surge （人群）蜂拥而上 

boy band 男子乐队 

TV talent show 电视才艺秀 

municipalities 直辖政府 

low-budget celebrity 酬劳不高的三流明星 

quarter-finals 四分之一决赛 

pantomime 圣诞童话闹剧 

endeavour 尝试 

budget 开支 

prestigious duty 荣耀的责任 

privilege 特权

1 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

2 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。