威廉王子婚期将至 英国国民下注忙

Royal courtiers were pondering on Wednesday how to tailor the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton to the austere times and Britons began betting on the likely date for the ceremony.

The wedding -- which according to one estimate will boost Britain's economy by nearly $1 billion -- has been widely hailed as a welcome respite from budget cuts and belt-tightening.

But amidst the celebrations and the flood of congratulations from around the world, it has also raised the awkward question of who should foot the bill.

Buckingham Palace confirmed it was due to sit down with royal advisers to work out the details, but was tight-lipped on a likely date or whether the ceremony could be held at the kind of venues that hosted his father's and his grandmother's nuptials.

Queen Elizabeth married at Westminster Abbey. Charles and the late Princess Diana tied the knot at St Paul's Cathedral.

William and Kate, both 28, have so far revealed only that the wedding will take place in either the spring or summer next year with bookmakers tipping July and August as favorites.

Bookmaker Graham Hill said July was marginally ahead on 15/8 with August at 2/1.

July 29 -- the 30th anniversary of the spectacular wedding of his parents -- is another hot favorite, while the Daily Mail newspaper said royal aides had made "discreet overtures" to Westminster Abbey about the possibility of August 12 or 13.

A spokesman for William said the couple would be "mindful of the economic situation" in a move clearly designed to show the palace remained in touch with ordinary people.

Britain's coalition government, led by the Conservative Party, last month unveiled deep public spending cuts to help tackle a record budget deficit.

But Britons spoken to close to Buckingham Palace, in central London, appeared unfazed by the potential cost of the ceremony.

"It will bring more in than it costs to do, which is probably more than you can say about the Olympics," said Kevin Reed from Nottingham in central England.

Jan Cornworth, from Wolverhampton, central England, welcomed the news. "There's too much misery around," she said. "It's nice to have something good going on and it's for the people isn't it? -- as well as for them."

本周三，英国皇室官员们开始考虑如何在当前的严峻形势下打造威廉王子和凯特．米德尔顿的婚礼，而英国国民们也开始给婚期下注。

这场婚礼预计将给拉动英国经济增长近10亿美元，因为能够暂缓英国政府的削减预算和财政紧缩政策而广受欢迎。

然而，就在皇室举行庆祝活动并接到来自世界各地的祝贺的同时，一个棘手的问题也浮出了水面，也就是谁来买单。

白金汉宫已确认将同皇家顾问一起商讨婚礼的细节问题，但对于婚礼的举行日期，以及婚礼是否会在像威廉父亲和祖母结婚的这种场所进行，他们没有透露。

伊丽莎白女王的婚礼是在威斯敏斯特大教堂举行的。查尔斯王子和已故的戴安娜王妃则是在圣保罗大教堂举行的婚礼。

威廉和凯特今年都是28岁。迄今为止，两人只透露说婚礼将在明年春天或夏天举行。博彩公司认为七月或八月结婚的可能性较大。

博彩商格拉汉姆．希尔说，赌7月的赔率是15/8，8月的赔率是2/1，7月胜算稍大一点。

7月29日也是一个热门下注日期，这天是威廉父母举行盛大婚礼的30周年纪念日。不过《每日邮报》称，皇室的助理们已经向威斯敏斯特教堂作出“谨慎表态”，日期可能是在8月12日或13日。

威廉王子的一位发言人表示，威廉和凯特在准备婚礼时会“考虑当前的经济形势”。此举显然是为了表示皇室并未脱离群众。

上个月，由保守党领导的英国联合政府出台了大幅削减公共开支的政策，以应对巨额财政赤字。

不过，根据在伦敦市中心白金汉宫附近展开的调查，英国人似乎并不担心这场婚礼的花费。

来自英格兰中部的诺丁汉郡的凯文．里德说：“这场婚礼带来的收益将超过它的花费，很可能比奥运会带来的收益还多。”

来自英格兰中部的伍尔弗汉普顿市的简．康沃斯对这一消息表示欢迎。她说：“现在周围的不幸太多了。能有点喜事发生挺好的，这是他们的喜事，也是人民的喜事，不是吗？”

Vocabulary:

courtier: 朝臣

tailor: to make or adapt something for a particular purpose, a particular person, etc.（专门制作；订做）

respite: a short break or escape from something difficult or unpleasant（暂停；暂缓）

belt-tightening: 紧缩开支

foot the bill: to be responsible for paying the cost of something（负担费用）

tight-lipped: not willing to talk about something（口紧的；缄口不语的；守口如瓶的）

overture: a suggestion or an action by which somebody tries to make friends, start a business relationship, have discussions, etc. with somebody else（友好姿态；建议）

unfazed: not worried or surprised by something unexpected that happens（处变不惊的；泰然自若的）