英国新闻听力 英国举行圣诞亮灯仪式

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."

随着圣诞节的临近，英国各地的城镇都在准备进行特有的英国式的庆祝活动。

多年来，各地圣诞亮灯仪式盛会越演越烈。许多市政府耗巨资吸引高级明星莅临。

11月份，美国歌手Mariah Carey飞往伦敦，在伦敦最大的购物中心点亮彩灯。而Jim Carrey则点亮了牛津大街，同时为自己的最新电影做宣传。

在英国历史名城巴斯，万名粉丝前往观看好莱坞演员Nicolas Cage的亮灯仪式，巴斯城陷入停顿状态。

然而，一些亮灯仪式没有按计划进行，就好像伯明翰发生的状况：著名的英国男孩乐队JLS登台时，人潮拥挤，造成数十人受伤。

并不是所有的城镇都有实力引入国际知名巨星，许多亮灯仪式由前电视才艺竞赛参赛者进行。

走红电视节目《The X Factor》为许多市政府提供了预算更低的明星，例如奇科，在2005年的节目中闯入了四分之一决赛。

在每年的这个时候，哑剧演员们努力促销自己的圣诞表演，对哑剧演员的需求也比较多。

但是，如果你们的市政府没有足够的预算来引入名人，有没有更加实惠的选择呢？

英格兰西部一个小镇选择通过在网上提建议的方式由公众来决定。结果：一名21岁的DIY商店工人被赋予这项享有声望的职责。

“我感到非常惊愕，也非常高兴。”Scott Parker说，“这是一项殊荣，我以前从来没有想到过。”

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。