塑料公主？ The 'plastic' princess?

Hello, I’m Finn, welcome to 6 Minute English. With me in the studio today is Neil.
大家好，我是Finn。欢迎收听本期BBC六分钟英语。今天我的搭档是Neil。
Hi there, Finn.
你好，Finn。
Hello Neil. Today we have a royal story about Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge – or as she is still often known – Kate Middleton.
你好，Neil。今天我们要讲述的是皇家故事，主角和剑桥公爵夫人凯瑟琳，即众所周知的凯特·米德尔顿有关。
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”.
没错，自英国一位著名小说家把她比作“毫无个性的橱窗模特”后，威廉王子的妻子便出现在了本周新闻中。
Yes, 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.
是的，上述小说家是一个女人，叫做Hilary Mantel。她曾因以亨利八世（都铎时期的一位英国国王）统治为时代背景的书籍而赢得了多项奖项。
The Tudor period – that’s the 16th Century, well from 1485-1603 to be precise!
所谓都铎时期，即公元16世纪，具体来说是1485-1603年。
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?
很好Neil，不过你是一名历史系毕业生，所以能知道那些我也不惊讶~~话说回来，你能告诉我亨利八世有多少位妻子吗？是四位、五位还是六位呢？
Well I took my degree a long time ago but I can still remember, I’m pretty sure, the answer is ’c’ – six.
啊，那是很久前拿到的学位了。但我仍记得正确答案，我敢肯定是六位。
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.
好的，节目最后我们会揭晓答案看你的回答是否正确。还是回到有关Hilary Mantel的话题。她刚刚那个比拟引自其在“伦敦书评”所做的长篇讲座——论皇室贵妇。
We’re going to listen to three clips from the speech itself. In the first, just pay attention to the descriptive language you hear.
接下来我们要听三个演讲片段。在一个片段中，请注意你所听到的描述性语言。
Kate Middleton, as she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee, and built by craftsmen, with the perfect, plastic smile, and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished.
凯特·米德尔顿就像是经委员会设计、由工匠们建造的一样，她微笑完美却很虚伪，四肢也像是手工打磨过似的，泛着油漆般的光泽。
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.
我们刚刚听到了很多有趣的短语。比如，凯特是由委员会设计的，即她是由一群均对结果感兴趣的人设计的。
Yes, it’s a negative phrase. She is then "built by craftsmen” with the "perfect, plastic smile”.
没错，designed by a committee是个贬义词。之后我们又听到了“她是由工匠们建造的，微笑完美却很虚伪”。
And it goes on to say that the "spindles of her limbs are hand-turned and gloss varnished”. 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 varnish.
接着Hilary Mantel提到凯特的四肢像手工打磨过一样，泛着油漆般的光泽。spindle原指细长的木棒，所以这个词常用来形容漂亮娃娃，比如说：这个洋娃娃经手工制作，外表涂着光亮的保护漆，可爱至极。
Indeed – the language used is quite imaginative, as we’d expect from an award-winning novelist, and it uses the vocabulary of craft or craftsmanship. It is what we might call an extended metaphor, we might say, – a long comparison.
恩，不愧是获奖小说家。她的语言充满了丰富的想象，所用词汇也尽是手工业术语。这就是我们所谓的扩展隐喻，即长式对比。
But when the long comparison is to a doll – to an object – you can see why it has caused controversy.
但如果长式对比的对象是个物体，比如洋娃娃，那么就会引起争议了。
That’s right, which is the interesting point: by comparing Kate Middleton to an object, Hilary Mantel is really describing how she is portrayed by the media.
一点没错，这就是最有趣的地方。通过把凯特·米德尔顿比作某物体，Hilary Mantel其实是想写出媒体对她的描述。
We call this process objectification – becoming an object.
我们把这一过程称作物化，即把某东西客观化。
Let’s listen to a bit more of the speech.
下面我们来听听第二个片段。
Machine-made, precision-made: so different from Diana, whose human awkwardness and emotional incontinence showed in every gesture.
凯特·米德尔顿犹如机器制造出来的一样，精确无比。这和戴安娜完全不同，因为我们可以从她的每个动作中看出其尴尬表情与失控情绪。
Again we hear the language of manufacture – Kate is "precision-made”, "machine-made” – made according to precise plans, as if by machine.
刚刚我们又听到了一些制造业语言。比如，凯特是precision-made，machine-made，即她是根据精确计划制作的，就像机器制造的一样。
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.
这和戴安娜完全不同，因为戴安娜很人性化。在这里，Hilary Mantel提到了情绪失控。Incontinence原意指尿失禁。
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.
所以情绪失控是指控制不住自己的情绪。它们展现在her every gesture中，即她身体的每个动作都可以体现戴安娜的情绪。
Although Mantel says she may have had more personality, as we know, things ended badly for Diana:
尽管Mantel称她可能更有个性，但我们都知道Diana的下场并不怎么好。
We don’t cut off the heads of royal ladies these days but we do sacrifice them, and we did memorably drive one to destruction a scant generation ago.
在现今社会，我们不会砍下皇室贵妇的头颅，但确实会牺牲她们作为惩罚。比如仅一代人以前，我们便摧毁了一位贵妇的生命。
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.
Hilary Mantel表示媒体及公众把戴安娜推向了毁灭的边缘。他们不断关注她的私生活，直到最后把她逼死。
And this happened "a scant generation ago” - which means "barely a generation ago” – not long at all.
这件事就发生在a scant generation ago，即仅一代人以前，根本没多久。
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.
我想大多数人都知道戴安娜死于车祸，但从历史上来看，很多皇室成员均死于一种特定方式，即像Mantel所说的，斩首。
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.
啊，说到这我想起了节目最开始的问题。我知道亨利八世有两位妻子遭到了砍头，但你的问题是他总共有几个妻子。
Yes, was it: a) four b) five c) six, Neil?
没错，是四个、五个还是六个呢？
And I said ’c’ – six.
我选的是六个。
And you were absolutely right so well done there.
完全正确，回答不错嘛~
My memory is good.
呵呵，我记忆力挺好吧~
Very good. Before we go, Neil, could you remind us of some of the words we learned today?
恩，很好。Neil，在我们走之前，你能带我们回顾一下今天学到的单词吗？
Yes. We heard: shop-window mannequin, objectification, machine-made, emotional incontinence, gesture, scant, beheaded.
没问题。今天我们听到了：shop-window mannequin（橱窗模特）、objectification（物化，客观化）、machine-made（机器制造的）、emotional incontinence（情绪失控）、gesture（姿势，动作）、scant（少量的，不足的）、beheaded（斩首的）。
Thanks Neil. Well, that’s it for today, let’s behead the programme. Please join us again soon for another 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.
谢谢你，Neil。好了，以上就是本期节目的内容。我们来给它斩首吧~~欢迎大家登录bbclearningenglish收听我们的节目。
Bye.
再见~