剑桥大学校园英语情景对话09：唇枪舌剑（mp3+中英）

V: Wow, Cambridge students are going to receive pole dancing classes to help combat summer exam stress.

V:哇，剑桥大学的学生准备接受钢管舞课程训练，以缓解盛夏期末考试的压力。

L: It’s unbelievable. But Francisco, who is responsible for airanging the pole dance classes, said that the classes are for fitness and well-being, and are not intended to be sexual.

L:真难以置信。但是负责安排钢管舞课的弗朗西斯科说安排这样的课只是为了健身 和健康，不是为了性感。

V： And the report said that Cambridge Union Society officers have confirmed that.

V:报道还说剑桥联含会的主管证实了此事。

L: Wait a minute, you mean Cambridge Union Society, the famous debating society in Cambridge?

L:等一下，你说的剑桥联含会就是那个著名的剑桥辩论会吗？

V: Yes. And the lessons will take in the Blue Room of the Union building, more commonly used as the venue for debates among venerable statesmen including Winston Churchill and former Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

V：是的，而且钢管舞课还要在联合会大楼的"蓝厅”开课呢。蓝厅平时多用作德高 望重的政治家们开展辩论的场所，包括英国前首相温斯顿?丘吉尔和前大主教德 斯蒙德?图图等人都在此辩论过。

L: I'm curious about Cambridge Union Society. Since its founding in 1815, the Society has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of free speech and open debate.

L:我对剑桥联含会很好奋。自从1815年建立以来，联含会就作为言论自由和公开 辩论的著名标志而享誉世界。

V: For almost two hundred years, the Cambridge Union Society has stood as a centre of debate and free speech in British intellectual life.

V:在其近200年的历史中，剑桥联合会一直是英国知识分子生活中辩论和言论自由 的中心。 .

L: The Society is fiercely independent and has often been at the centre of controversy. Shortly after it’s founding in 1815 it was temporarily closed down by the University for being too contentious.

L:联含会非常独立并经常处于争议之中。在1815年成立后不久，它就被剑桥大学 临时关闭了，因为它太容易引起争论了。

V： But today with its own bar, library and cinema facilities，it has become an integral part of student life in Cambridge..

V:但是在今天，拥有自己的酒吧、图书馆和电影院设备的联含会已经成为剑桥学生 生活中必不可少的一部分。

L: Speaking of its origin, the exact origin of the Society remains steeped in legend, but as the story goes the Union was founded in 1815 at the conclusion of a drunken brawl between three smaller College debating societies.

L:说到它的起源，关于联合会的起源的确有很多传说。但是据说联含会是在三个较 小的学院辩论社团的成员暍醉酒争吵过后成立起来的，那年是1815年。

V： And the union of the three societies provided the basis for the name “The Cambridge Union Society.”

V:这三个社团的名字中都包含“联合会”这个词，这就是‘‘剑桥联合会”的来源。

L: The Union originally existed as a gentleman’s club, the sole preserve of the rich and well connected and, using the Union as a model, a similar society was subsequently formed in Oxford.

L:联含会起初只是一个男生俱乐部，只招收家庭富裕、有社会背景的男士。随后以 联合会为典范，牛津大学也成立了一个相似的社团。

V: This is in stark contrast to today, where all members of the University are welcomed amongst the diverse membership.

V:今天的情况和以往大不相同，会员刺的多样化使得剑桥大学的所有学生都能成为 联合会的一员。

L: The Union has debated all sorts of topics: crime, drugs, prostitution，race, law, abortion, gay rights and the media.

L:联含会辩论各种各样的话题，如犯罪、毒品、卖淫、种族、法律、堕胎、同性恋 者权利和媒体等。 ..

V: Topics like asylum seekers，Europe, Iraq, pornography and tuition fees have all taken place over the last few years.

V:在过去的几年中，联合会的辩论话题还涉及到寻求政治避难者、欧洲、伊拉克、 色情作品和学费等。

L: Debates on international affairs have often been the most controversial. Following the attendance of the Ambassador of South Africa at a debate in the early 1980s there was a full-scale riot outside the building with bricks being hurled through the windows.

L:国际事务的辩论通常是最具争议性的。20世纪80年代早期，在南非大使参加辩 论后，联含会大楼外爆发了大规模的暴动，窗户 都被砖块砸破了。

V: A debate on the motion “This house believes the Palestinians want too much and give too little” was so controversial that the President at the time received death threats， policemen stood guard outside the building.

V: 一场名为”我们认为巴勒斯坦人索取太多而付出太少”的辩论极具争议，以至于当时联合会的 主席接到了死亡威胁，警察还要在联合会大楼外 警戒。

L: In the past the Union had debated some of the most important events of the 20th Century. In 1938，the same year that Chamberlain visited the Union, conscription was debated.

L:过去，联合会曾就20世纪一些重要事件进行过 辩论。1938年，时任英国首相的张伯伦访问了 联合会，同年联含会就征兵问题展开辩论。

V： Newspapers at that time said that the motion was passed with an overwhelming majority against conscription, causing much controversy and consternation
 

V:当时的报纸说这项动议以绝大多数人反对征兵的结果通过了，引起了很多争论和恐慌。