英国新闻听力 英国教堂敲钟面临用工荒

Here in the UK, a centuries old tradition of church bell ringing is under threat. There is a shortage¹ of new recruits².

在英国，教堂敲钟这个百年传统受到了威胁。因为新员工短缺。

A BBC local radio survey suggests it's getting more and more difficult to persuade new comers to take on the task.

一家BBC当地电台调查显示，劝说新人承担这项任务变得越来越难。

So how do you attract a new generation? Joe Tillie is a tower captain at St Dunstan's in Stepney in east London.

那该怎么去吸引新的一代人呢？乔·蒂利是伦敦东部斯特普尼圣邓斯坦的塔楼长。

What first lured³ him to bell ringing?

是什么吸引他来敲钟呢？

I think part of it was just curiosity⁴ because you hear the noise and behind stain⁵ glass windows you can see shadow if figures moving around,

我觉得就是好奇心吧，因为听到钟声，看到彩色玻璃窗里面有影子晃动

and you think, oh what is it that they are doing.

你就会想，他们在干什么。

So yeah I suppose it's just curiosity really and then once I got in the tower and found out what the mechanics⁶ of it, that's really what motivated me to do it.

所以我认为真的是出于好奇心，进到塔楼里探究机械原理是真正促使我去做这件事的原因。

And I think what I found was when you first try it, you think it looks really easy.

我发现第一次尝试时会觉得它看起来非常简单，但其实要难得多，

And it's actually much harder than it looks as most things are.

大部分事情都是这样的。

And so you get a real motivation to try and perfect your technique and to do it correctly.

这就会让你有动力去努力完善自己的技巧，把工作做到位。

So share some of the skills you found out you needed in case any of our listeners also have a dream to be a bell ringer.

我们的听众中可能会有人想成为敲钟人，那请你分享一些在工作中发现需要的技巧吧。

So you are doing an activity that has maybe six, eight or ten people.

你所从事的这项活动有6个、8个或10个人参与，

So your communication has to be very good.

所以必须有良好的沟通能力。

You can't really talk whilst⁷ the bells are ringing. So a lot of it is to do with listening.

钟在响的时候是不能说话的，大部分精力要放在听上

So you are listening for other people's bells and your bell in relation to that but also the visual clues.

听其他人的钟声以及你的钟声与那些钟声的关系，同时还要利用视觉线索。

So you are looking to see where they are looking, to see where you should be ringing.

你要看他们的目光在哪里，从而判断你敲钟的位置。

Or perhaps you might go a bit wrong and someone will turn at you and smile.

你要是做得有点不对的话其他人朝你微笑，

And you've got to pick that up and think "ah, right, what am I supposed to be doing?

这时候你就得迅速做出反应，想“啊，我该怎么做?

Am I ringing after that person? Are they telling me to ring more quickly?

是让我在他之后敲钟吗？他们是在告诉我敲快点嘛？

And the other aspect of it would be the physical strength, So ringing that requires quite a lot of energy.

另一方面就是体能。敲钟需要消耗非常大的能量的。

And so you are perfecting your technique to get the bell up to the balance which with something that big can be quite difficult.

你得完善自己的技巧让大钟平衡，那么大一个东西，有时候很难平衡的。

You don't look like the hulk.

你看着也并非人高马大，

So is it the way you pull the bells down cuz usually it's a big rope, isn't it or it's a technique rather than strength?

是往下拉铃的方式得当吗？一般来说绳子都挺大的是吧？换句话说技巧比力量重要对吗？

Yeah, so it relies a lot on I suppose gravitational potential energy.

对，我认为主要借助于重力势能。

So the bell is, we call it "up", so it's balancing.

钟，我们称“起来”后，也就是在平衡的过程中，

And you just need a tiny pull for it to swing on a wheel.

你只需要给它很小的拉力就可以让它在轮子上转动，

And so that's where the skill comes because if you pull it too hard, it will spin round too quickly and potentially break.

这就考察技术了，因为用力过猛钟会转太快，甚至会摔下来，

And if you don't pull it hard enough, then it's not going to go anywhere.

而力道不足钟就上不去。

But we have a ringer and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me saying she is quite petite.

但我们有一个敲钟人，她不会介意我这么说的，她非常小巧。

1 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

2 recruits   

新兵( recruit的名词复数 )； （机构中的）新成员； 就业； 人才开发

参考例句：

• A corps of doctors arrived to inoculate the recruits. 一队医生来给新兵打防疫针。
• The recruits are exercised every day in the art of self-defence. 新兵每天训练自卫技能。

3 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

4 curiosity   

n.好奇心，新奇的事物，珍品

参考例句：

• He gave in to curiosity and opened my letter.他抑制不住好奇心，拆开了我的信。
• The children are dying of curiosity to see what's in the parcel.孩子们出于好奇，迫不及待地想看看包裹中是什么东西。

5 stain   

n.污染，污点，著色；v.沾染，染污，著色

参考例句：

• It will remain an indelible stain on his memory.这将成为他记忆中一个不可磨灭的污点。
• Does this material stain easily?这种料子容易染色吗？

6 mechanics   

n.力学，机械学；结构

参考例句：

• The mechanics of fixing a car are very long.修理一部汽车的过程很长。
• The mechanics of the machine are very old.这台机器的机件非常老。

7 whilst   

conj.一边...一边，当...的时候，同时，时时

参考例句：

• She sang whilst she worked.她边干活边唱歌。
• There was dead silence in the court,whilst the white rabbit read out these verses.当白兔子念诗的时候，法庭上鸦雀无声。