Kate: Hello, this is 6 Minute English. I'm Kate Colin and today I'm joined by Jackie Dalton. Hello again Jackie.
Jackie: Hi Kate.
Kate: Today is the 23rd of April and is St George's Day. Saint George is the patron saint of England and all over the country people are proudly celebrating being English.
Jackie: Yes, that's right. All kinds of things are happening; here in London, the mayor has organised musical concerts, dancing and theatrical events. Elsewhere in the country there'll be lots of historical activities and re-enactments（颁布，通过，制定） such as sword fighting and archery（箭术）
Kate: Sounds like fun. As I said, St George is a patron saint – can you explain what this means?
Jackie: Well, a saint（圣人，圣徒） is a person who has received official honour for having lived in an extremely good or holy way. And a patron saint is believed to have given special help to a particular place or activity or even to a particular person or type of object, for example Saint Anthony is the patron saint of lost things. Now interestingly, St George isn't patron saint of England but also of many other countries and cities including Lithuania, Portugal, Germany, Moscow and Venice.
Kate:Well, before we go any further, here's my question for this week. According to the legend, which mythical creature did Saint George kill? a) a unicorn b) a dragon c) a griffin
Jackie: Answers
Kate: We'll check your answer in a few minutes. St George's Day is great fun and an ideal opportunity for people to celebrate their nationality and being English. It reminds us that we are proud of our national identity, where we come from and who we are. However it is important to make the distinction that Britain is made up of England, Wales and Scotland and each country has its own patron saint with its own special day. St Andrew is patron saint for Scotland and Saint David is for Wales.
Jackie: Yes, and what's interesting is that Britain is an extremely diverse society which means there are many different cultures and nationalities living here who all consider themselves to be all or at least, part British. Let's hear a bit more about this in our first extract from the BBC's Mathew D'Aconna. He uses the expression multiple identities. What does this mean Kate?
Kate:multiple identities refers to people from lots of different backgrounds.
Can you hear 2 reasons why Britain has such a variety of people living here? Clip 1 The United Kingdom has always been a map of multiple identities. How much truer that is today in an era of mass immigration and labour mobility. More and more of us are hybrids（混血儿）.
Jackie: Mathew D'Aconna said we're living in an era of mass immigration and labour mobility. This means many people have come into Britain to live and work. Labour mobility means that people are moving around a lot to work.
Kate:And hybrids is a word we use to describe people, animals or plants which are made up of a mixture of two different things. When people live in these multi-cultural societies, there are methods we use to define our national identity. We're going to hear from a social psychologist Steve Reicher, talking about two forms of identity, both Ethnic and Civil:
Clip 2 An Ethnic definition is one based upon descent – 'why am I Scottish? I'm Scottish because I come of Scottish parents who themselves were born of Scottish parents' so it's backward looking in that it roots our identity in the past. The Civic definition is much more about 'I am here now, I am committed in the future to this country, I devote myself to this country'.
Jackie:Steve Reicher said that people often make a distinction between those two different types of national identity. One is Ethnic and is based on looking into our past and where our families are from. The other is Civic and is more about where we live now and where we chose to spend our lives in the foreseeable future.
Kate:So we've established we have a wide range of people from all over the world living in the UK. But how do they define themselves and refer to their national identity? Have a listen to some people from the streets of London and see if you can hear the different ways in which they define themselves.
Clip 3 -I'm from England so I'm English rather than British -I'm an Asian but British -I would say I'm Northern Irish -I'm a Muslim living in Britain -Definitely British, but definitely Irish -I suppose I see myself as British but I've got a lot of Jewish in me as well -Well I was born over here so you're classed English and British aren't you.
Jackie:Lots of very different answers there and most people seem to be a bit of a mix. Interestingly many people consider themselves to be British and something else….Britain really is a melting pot of cultures. A melting pot: this is an expression we sometimes use to describe a society of people from lots of different backgrounds who all live together.
Kate:So let's go over some of the words and expressions we've come across today. We had: patron saints which are saints who are believed to give special help to a particular place, activity, person or type of object diverse society – a place where people from many different cultures and nationalities live multiple identities – refers to people from lots of different backgrounds mass immigration – the movement of many people coming into a country to live and work labour mobility – refers to people who move around a lot to work hybrids - a word we can use to describe people, animals or plants which are made up of a mixture of two different things melting pot – an expression we sometimes use to describe a society with people from lots of different backgrounds
Kate:And finally to the question I asked you earlier. I asked you which mythical creature is St George most famous for killing?
Jackie:And I said…
Kate:You were absolutely correct. According to the story, the brave St George killed the dragon and managed to save the princess at the same time. That's all we have time for. Have a good St George's Day and thanks for listening. Bye!
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