英语听力精选进阶版 6198（在线收听）

The UK’s Business Secretary Wins an Embarrassing Award 英国商务大臣获一尴尬奖项

When did you last look around a corner? Did you do it thoroughly?

If you think that question is a little odd, you’re not alone. Every year the Plain English Campaign collects perplexing examples of English usage as part of a drive for language that everyone can understand.

In an annual awards ceremony, the Campaign highlights jargon and gobbledegook used by official bodies in their literature. They also give someone in the public eye a "Foot in Mouth" award for making the most baffling remark of the year.

This year that dubious honour goes to one of the most powerful people in Britain: Lord Mandelson, the government’s Business Secretary. He earned the black mark for these comments, which he made in May:

"Perhaps we need not more people looking round more corners, but the same people looking round more corners more thoroughly to avoid the small things detracting from the big things the Prime Minister is getting right."

Although his meaning is unclear, Mandelson’s remarks appear to be a classic example of a metaphor being stretched that little bit too far.

The Campaign also awarded the Department of Health a Golden Bull Award for describing an initiative as "refocusing upstream to stop people falling in the waters of disease". Eh?

American Airlines were also rapped for sending a passenger a "property irregularity receipt". "Property irregularity" is code for lost luggage. The Plain English Campaign described this as "an acknowledgement sent to a passenger that avoids the real problem of lost luggage".

For many Brits, Peter Mandelson’s accolade has an especially sweet irony. For years he was the government’s top spin doctor. People including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have turned to Mandelson when looking for the right way to phrase things.

What hope is there for English language learners when even renowned masters of communication make a mess of things?

Glossary 词汇表

perplexing 令人困惑的 

jargon 术语 

gobbledegook 难解的语言 

official bodies 官方机构 

literature 文献 

in the public eye 在公众眼中 

baffling 令人困惑的 

dubious honour 令人尴尬的荣誉 

black mark 污点 

detracting 贬低 

a metaphor … too far 比喻过分 

initiative 倡议 

upstream 上游 

rapped 批评 

acknowledgement 确认 

Brits 英国人 

accolade 嘉奖 

spin doctor 政治顾问，为丑闻辩解的公关人员 

turned to 求助 

renowned 享有盛誉的