【一起听英语】凯特王妃

凯特王妃去哪里都是相当有气场的，今天我们来了解一下凯特王妃.....

Finn: Hello, I'm Finn, welcome to 6 Minute English. With me in the studio today is Neil.

Neil: Hi there, Finn.

Finn: Hello Neil. Today we have a royal story about Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – or

as she is still often known – Kate Middleton.

Neil: Yes, Prince William's wife has been in the news this week after a well-known British

novelist compared her to a "shop-window mannequin with no personality of her

own".

Finn: Now, the novelist in question is a woman called Hilary Mantel. She has won a number

of awards for her books set during the rule of Henry VIII - he's an English king from

the Tudor period.

Neil: The Tudor period – that's the 16th Century, well from 1485-1603 to be precise!

Finn: Very good, Neil, and as a history graduate I'm not surprised you knew that! But can

you tell me, how many wives Henry VIII had? Was it:

a) four

b) five

c) six

Neil: Well I took my degree a long time ago but I can still remember, I'm pretty sure, the

answer is 'c' – six.

Finn: Ok, well let's find out if you are right at the end of the programme. Going back to

Hilary Mantel, her quotes are from a long speech she made - the London Review of

Books Lecture - on the subject of royal women.

Neil: We're going to listen to three clips from the speech itself. In the first, just pay

attention to the descriptive language you hear.

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013

Page 2 of 5

Author Hilary Mantel

Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee, and built by

craftsmen¹, with the perfect, plastic smile, and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and glossvarnished.

Finn: We hear a number of interesting phrases here: Kate is "designed by a committee" –

which means designed by a group of people who all have an interest in the outcome.

Neil: Yes, it's a negative phrase. She is then "built by craftsmen" with the "perfect, plastic

smile".

Finn: And it goes on to say that the "spindles of her limbs are hand-turned and gloss²

varnished⁴". A spindle is a thin, wooden rod – and so this is a description you would

expect of a beautiful doll: lovingly hand-made and then covered in shiny, protective

varnish³.

Neil: Indeed – the language used is quite imaginative, as we'd expect from an awardwinning

novelist, and it uses the vocabulary of craft or craftsmanship⁵. It is what we

might call an extended metaphor⁶, we might say, – a long comparison.

Finn: But when the long comparison is to a doll – to an object – you can see why it has

caused controversy⁷.

Neil: That's right, which is the interesting point: by comparing Kate Middleton to an

object, Hilary Mantel is really describing how she is portrayed⁸ by the media.

Finn: We call this process objectification – becoming an object.

Neil: Let's listen to a bit more of the speech.

Author Hilary Mantel:

Machine-made, precision-made: so different from Diana, whose human awkwardness and emotional

incontinence showed in every gesture.

Neil: Again we hear the language of manufacture – Kate is "precision-made", "machinemade"

– made according to precise plans, as if by machine.

Finn: Unlike Diana who was very human. She talks about Diana's "emotional

incontinence". Incontinence is when you can't control yourself when you need the

toilet.

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013

Page 3 of 5

Neil: So emotional incontinence is when you can't stop your emotions from showing – they

showed "in her every gesture" – in each gesture or movement of her body.

Finn: Although Mantel says she may have had more personality, as we know, things ended

badly for Diana:

Author Hilary Mantel:

We don't cut off the heads of royal ladies these days but we do sacrifice them, and we did

memorably⁹ drive one to destruction a scant¹⁰ generation ago.

Finn: Hilary Mantel suggests that the media and public drove Diana to destruction – the

constant attention on her private life was what caused Diana's death.

Neil: And this happened "a scant generation ago" - which means "barely a generation

ago" – not long at all.

Finn: Now, as I'm sure many people will know Diana died in a car crash, but many royals

in history died by one particular means – as Mantel says – they had their heads cut

off.

Neil: Which brings us back to the question at the beginning of the programme. I know that

two of Henry VIII's wives had their heads cut off, or were beheaded, but you asked

how many he had in total.

Finn: Yes, was it:

a) four

b) five

c) six

Neil: And I said 'c' – six.

Finn: And you were absolutely right so well done there.

Neil: My memory is good.

Finn: Very good. Before we go, Neil, could you remind us of some of the words we learned

today?

Neil: Yes. We heard:

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013

Page 4 of 5

shop-window mannequin

objectification

machine-made

emotional incontinence

gesture

scant

beheaded

Finn: Thanks Neil. Well, that's it for today, let's behead the programme. Please join us

again soon for 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.

Both: Bye

1 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

2 gloss   

n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰

参考例句：

• John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点，但是没有用。
• She rubbed up the silver plates to a high gloss.她把银盘擦得很亮。

3 varnish   

n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰

参考例句：

• He tried to varnish over the facts,but it was useless.他想粉饰事实，但那是徒劳的。
• He applied varnish to the table.他给那张桌子涂上清漆。

4 varnished   

浸渍过的，涂漆的

参考例句：

• The doors are then stained and varnished. 这些门还要染色涂清漆。
• He varnished the wooden table. 他给那张木桌涂了清漆。

5 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。

6 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

7 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

8 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 memorably   

难忘的

参考例句：

• The book includes some memorably seedy characters and scabrous description. 这本书包含了一些难忘下流的角色及有伤风化的描述。 来自互联网
• Horowitz could play Chopin memorably. 霍洛维茨可以把肖邦的作品演奏得出神入化。 来自互联网

10 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。