Outside View

In England no town is more than 170 kilometres from the sea. So it's no surprise that Britain has a very important history of ships and the sea. The British Navy was the biggest navy in the world at one time. Now it's smaller, but many other ships are still used for importing and exporting goods and for taking people on business or holiday. In Liverpool  there is a great museum of maritime  history. It's got several ships in the docks outside. Inside it shows what it was like to be on some of the ships. Ships like this one – the Cutty Sark  [卡蒂萨克(船名) 是帆船制造史上建造的最快的一艘帆船] at Greenwich [格林尼治(英国城市)]  in London – brought tea from India to Britain. It was a very profitable  trade and made many people very rich. The ships used only sails and achieved very high speeds. Young men had to climb the rigging  [n. (帆船上的) 帆具, 索具] to put up the sails. It was very dangerous. Between 1830 and 1930, more than nine million people from all over Europe left from the port of Liverpool to start a new life in America or Australia. In the early 20th century, there were large numbers of very elegant passenger ships. They crossed the Atlantic from Liverpool or Southampton  [南安普敦(英国英格兰南部港市)] to New York in five or six days. The most famous ship was probably the Titanic. It sank in 1912 and over 1,500 people drowned. It was the worst disaster in maritime history. You probably know about it from one of the most expensive films ever made – Titanic ! One of the most famous shipping companies is Cunard [英国冠达邮轮公司] . It's got the world's biggest cruise  ship, the Queen Mary 2  [玛丽女王2号是世界上最大的远洋豪华客轮], which crosses the Atlantic from Southampton to New York. It still takes five or six days but some people prefer that to five or six hours in an aeroplane . The majority of people do travel around the world by plane but ships are still very important for moving goods. These metal boxes, or containers [n. 集装箱], are packed with clothes, television sets, computers, furniture and toys. Here at the Southampton Container Terminal, they unload more than one and a half million containers each year. So the sea still plays a very important part in life in Britain. 

Listening in

Talk 1

I have a short announcement to make, followed by an appreciation of a life well lived and a talent enjoyed by so many.

The death was announced today of David Bowie  [大卫·鲍伊], the English singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. His career lasted over five decades, and he is considered one of the most important people in the history of popular music.

Bowie was born in south London in 1947 and studied art, music and design, and then began his career as a musician in 1963. He was notable for his regular reinvention  of identity, the most famous and exciting of which was Ziggy Stardust , and every change of identity led to a change of musical style. He lived in Berlin during the late 1970s and was inspired by the growing German music scene. He was also noted for innovation in how he presented himself on stage, and his concerts were at the vanguard  [n. 先锋, 先驱] of the shift from music played for listening to, to the concept of a concert as a visual and often exciting event.

In some ways Bowie didn't try to belong to our world. Once in his new identity, he rarely abandoned it. Equally rare were his interviews and personal appearances as David Bowie, although he became much more accessible in his later years.

In 2004, while on tour in Germany, Bowie suffered what turned out to be a heart attack, and he reduced his commitment to touring and to music in general.

But he remained busy until the end of his life. In 2013 he announced the release of a new album called The Next Day , which contained the track "Where are we now?" which refers to his time in Berlin. It's considered one of his finest, most moving songs, where the singer reflects on his life through the lives of others he met while in Germany. But this wasn't his last album. That was Blackstar , which was released on 8th January 2016, two days before his death. Many critics noted that most of the lyrics  in the album reflect his awareness that he would die soon. He had been told he had cancer 18 months before, but had not made the news public.

It's been estimated that during his career Bowie sold approximately 140 million records which made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He received various awards, although he turned down an honour from Queen Elizabeth  [伊丽莎白女王], and there's even an asteroid  [n. 小行星] named after him.  

Bowie was much loved, much admired and a man of innovation and inspiration. He'll be much missed. 

Thank you for your attention. Perhaps we can spend a few moments thinking of our friend who died today.

Q1: Who do you think this announcement was made to?

Q2: Which features mentioned of David Bowie's work are considered most important?

Q3: How will David Bowie be remembered?

Passage 1

Just as Chinese children learn about the emperors of China, English children learn about England's history through its kings and queens. There have been many more kings than queens but one of the greatest and most loved rulers of England was a woman, Queen Elizabeth I  [女王伊丽莎白一世]. During her reign  in the second half of the 16th century Elizabeth made England rich from international trade and also defeated one of the most frightening invasions England ever faced. 

Elizabeth's father, King Henry VIII  [亨利八世], had six wives – he divorced two of them and executed  two. Elizabeth's mother, Queen Anne Boleyn  [安妮·博林], was Henry's second wife and one of those whom he executed, when Elizabeth was three years old.

Elizabeth, who was born in 1533, was very intelligent, talented, and, unusually for a woman, received an excellent education. However, for much of her early life she was afraid that she would be executed like her mother. But after the death of her half-brother and half-sister, she became queen in 1558 at the age of 25. All the rulers of Europe wanted to marry her and Elizabeth's advisors also wanted her to marry and have a son. But Elizabeth never did, because she was afraid a husband would try to control her.

One of Elizabeth's greatest problems was her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots  [苏格兰女王玛丽]. Mary believed she should have been ruler of England. Believing that her cousin was a danger to her as long as she remained alive, Elizabeth imprisoned Mary in 1568 and finally executed her in 1587.

The King of Spain, Philip II  [菲利普二世], had once wanted to marry Elizabeth but the two countries then became enemies. Mary, Queen of Scots shared the same religion as Philip, and her death gave the King an excuse to go to war with England. At the time Spain was the most powerful country in Europe and in 1558 Philip assembled a huge navy called the Spanish Armada  [西班牙的无敌舰队]. It sailed for England with the intention  of invading it. Queen Elizabeth made a famous speech to her soldiers, in which she said, "I know I have the body of a weak and feeble  woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too." The Spanish Armada was defeated.

By the time she died in 1603, Elizabeth was ruler of one of the most powerful and richest countries in the world.

Passage 2 

Presenter: Natural disasters happen everywhere in the world and one of the most famous natural disasters is the volcanic  eruption that destroyed Pompeii  [n. 庞贝，意大利古城], a town in the south of Italy, almost 2,000 years ago. I'm here now, on the streets of Pompeii, and with me is Rebecca Young, a guide to the town. She's going to tell me more about what happened on that terrible day. So, what did happen, Rebecca?

Rebecca: Well, turn around ... what do you see?

Presenter: A mountain, a smoking mountain, it must be the volcano, Vesuvius  [n. 维苏威]. So is it still active?

Rebecca: Yes, it could erupt again. And almost 2,000 years ago on August 24th, in AD 79, that volcano suddenly erupted. People weren't expecting it, they were just doing what they normally do, walking through the streets, buying food at the market. And suddenly, there was this terrible noise and huge rocks and hot ash started raining down on the town. Lava [n. 熔岩]  was pouring down the mountain and – people died where they stood. Look over there. What do you see?

Presenter: A man and woman, lying with their arms around each other. And what's this man doing with his hands? Is he praying or something?

Rebecca: Yes, he was praying.

Presenter: They look so real! How long did the eruption  last?

Rebecca: Two days. And by the time it had finished, the city had completely disappeared, buried by ten meters of ash. And everyone forgot about it.

Presenter: So when was it discovered again?

Rebecca: Not until 1748. People started excavating  [v. 发掘, 挖掘(古物)] and they found Pompeii again. The ash had preserved it and everything was exactly as it was on that day in AD 79. There was a forum, four public baths  [公共浴场], 26 public fountains …

Presenter: Twenty-six public fountains?

Rebecca: Yes! Two theatres, a hotel …

Presenter: A hotel?

Rebecca: Yes. Let's go into this house here. This is the entrance courtyard.

Presenter: What kind of person owned it?

Rebecca: There were two owners – they had a small business. Look at the floor. Can you see some kind of writing?

Presenter: Yes. So what does it say?

Rebecca: It says, "Welcome, money." In Latin, of course.

Presenter: "Welcome, money." That's wonderful!

Rebecca: I'm going to take you to another house, belonging to a wealthy man this time.

Presenter: All these beautiful paintings on the walls!

Rebecca: Yes, they covered their walls with these frescoes  [n. (在灰泥未干时绘制的)湿壁画], which is wonderful for archaeologists  [n. 考古学家]. Look at this woman. Isn't she beautiful?

Presenter: Yes! What's she holding?

Rebecca: We think it was a mirror although we haven't had …