英语听力精选进阶版 7271

一位意大利著名作家警告说意大利语正在受到英语语言的破坏，这是由于现如今越来越多的意大利人在日常用语中夹杂众多英语单词。犯罪小说作家安德烈亚?卡米雷利说此举是意大利正在遭受“毁灭性殖民化”的象征，意大利总理马里奥?蒙蒂应首先受到批评。

Andrea Camilleri is a literary celebrity¹ in Italy. And he's best known abroad for his novels featuring his brilliant fictional² creation, the Sicilian detective, Inspector³ Montalbano.

But the author is worried about the health of the language in which he works. Speaking earlier this week he took issue with the country's politicians for peppering their speeches with English words and phrases. Terms like ‘welfare’, ‘governance’, ‘devolution’, and even ‘election day’.

The author said that Prime Minister, Mario Monti, was a leading offender⁴. And it's true that Mr Monti does indeed frequently reach for English terminology⁵. Here's an example from his first speech to Parliament. Listen to how he just drops in the English phrase ‘best practices’:

Clip of Mario Monti speaking Italian

And in the very next breath, he's at it again, sliding in that grim English term ‘spending review’:

Clip of Mario Monti speaking Italian

Mr Camilleri said Mr Monti's habit was just part of what he called an "awful tradition" in Italian public life. Not enough, he said, was being done to take care of the national language.

And he gave a classic example. He said that when he served on a jury for a prize given by the Italian state broadcaster at the Venice Film Festival, he was dismayed to find that the official language of the judging would be English.

Quiz 听力测验

What is the profession of the fictional character in Andrea Camilleri’s stories?

Police detective.

If you break the law, then you could be labelled as a ________.

criminal

True or False: The Italian Prime Minister uses English words or phrases in his speech.

True.

What was the official language of judging at Venice Film Festival?

English

Glossary 词汇表

literary celebrity 文学界名人文学界名人

took issue with 持强烈反对意见

peppering 使…布满

welfare 福利

governance 治理

devolution 权力下放

reach for 使用

terminology 术语

drops in 随意使用

best practices 最好方式、方法

at it 做事情

grim 严峻的，让人沮丧的

dismayed 失望沮丧的

1 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。

2 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

3 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

4 offender   

n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者

参考例句：

• They all sued out a pardon for an offender.他们请求法院赦免一名罪犯。
• The authorities often know that sex offenders will attack again when they are released.当局一般都知道性犯罪者在获释后往往会再次犯案。

5 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。