英语听力精选进阶版 7857

William: On Friday 29 April London is going to see one of the biggest events in its recent history: the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton. You're going to see some incredible¹ pictures on your TV sets as anything up to 1.5 million people crowd round the streets to watch the procession² from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey and then back again. My name is William Kremer and this is On the Town. Come with me as I cycle the route³ of the royal wedding procession!

Yang Li: 明天是 Prince William 和 Kate Middleton 的婚礼，仪式之后人们还将观看隆重的婚礼车队从威斯敏斯特大教堂到白金汉宫，婚礼车队就是 wedding procession. 那么中途都将经过哪些地标建筑呢？bbcukchina's William Kremer 早些时候骑着自行车前去兜了一圈儿，他将给我们介绍一些背景。The procession starts at Buckingham Palace. 听大家注意听，看看你能不能听出来白金汉宫有多少年历史，另外宫里一共有多少间房子？

William: Now the first procession, to Westminster Abbey, will start here at Buckingham Palace, and the second one will finish here. It's where the Queen lives. The main part of this building is 300 years old. It contains about 600 rooms and has the largest garden in London.

Yang Li: 白金汉宫一共有 300 年历史了，宫内一共有 600 间房子! 下一站我们的柯·威廉到了著名的检阅大道 The Mall. 请你听后回答以下问题，为什么 William 说，这条大道在戒严的时候看上去特别好。

William: Well, I'm now on The Mall, and this is a road that leads away from Buckingham Palace. And this road is very very wide and it looks amazing when it's closed to traffic. And the reason it looks amazing is because the colour of the road is red. So when you look down the Mall, towards Buckingham Palace, it looks like a great big red carpet going up to the palace.

Yang Li: William 说检阅大道看上去非常漂亮因为整个路面刷成了红色，看上去就象是通向白金汉宫的一条巨大的红地毯。

下面 William 的车轮子转到了 Whitehall. 不过在这段录音里他说，这条大街上有一条小岔道，非常有名。注意听这条著名的小道是什么名字。

William: Well, I'm on another big busy road called Whitehall. And Whitehall used to lead up to an enormous⁴ palace called the Palace of Whitehall, but this was destroyed in 1698. Nowadays, Whitehall is where you'll find many government departments. And just off Whitehall we have a very tiny street, it's called Downing Street. It's where the Prime⁵ Minister lives, at number 10.

Yang Li: Downing Street, 唐宁街是英国首相的官邸所以非常有名。不过它还不是伦敦最有名的地标建筑。London's most famous landmark⁶.

William: Well, I'm now outside London's most famous landmark. I'm talking, of course, about the clock tower to Big Ben. And that's part of the Houses of Parliament⁷ or what's sometimes called the Palace of Westminster.

Yang Li: William 经过了世界著名的大笨钟 Big Ben 终于来到了威斯敏斯特大教堂，这就是 William 和 Kate 即将举行婚礼的地方，当初威廉的父母 Charles 和 Diana 是不是也是在这里结婚的？

William: Well, I finally arrived at my destination: Westminster Abbey. So this is the place that William and Kate are going to get married. It's about a 700-year-old building and over 3,000 people are buried inside, including many kings and queens, scientists like Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin and poets like Geoffrey Chaucer. William's parents – Charles and Diana – didn't get married at Westminster Abbey but in St Paul's Cathedral⁸. But the Abbey is where the Queen, William's grandmother, got married to Prince Phillip in 1947 and it's where she got coronated six years later.

Yang Li: 听出来了吗？威斯敏斯特大教堂不是查尔斯和戴安娜举行婚礼的地方，他们是在伦敦的圣保罗大教堂举行的婚礼。不过威斯敏斯特大教堂同英国王室有紧密的联系，许多国王和女王都葬在这里。另外威廉王子的祖母女王伊丽莎白二世1947年的时候也是在这里结婚的。

1 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

2 procession   

n.队伍，行列；v.列队行进

参考例句：

• The students entered the school in procession.学生们排队进入学校。
• The grand procession moves slowly out of the temple.这支庄严的队伍缓缓地走出庙堂。

3 route   

n.路径，途径，路线；vt.确定路线，按规定路线发送

参考例句：

• On the way home, we took an indirect route.回家的路上，我们绕了一个大圈。
• The plane did not fly the usual commercial route.飞机没有沿通常的商业航线飞。

4 enormous   

adj.巨大的；庞大的

参考例句：

• An enormous sum of money is injected each year into teaching.每年都有大量资金投入到教学中。
• They wield enormous political power.他们行使巨大的政治权力。

5 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

6 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

7 Parliament   

n.议会，国会

参考例句：

• She won a seat in Parliament at the election.她在选举中赢得了议会中的席位。
• The drug was banned by an act of parliament.议会的法案明令禁止该药品。

8 cathedral   

n.教区总教堂；大教堂

参考例句：

• We visited the magnificent cathedral.我们参观了宏伟的教堂。
• There's a cathedral in the town.镇里有一座大教堂。