托福阅读素材：美国人爱上了英国腔

　　和谐英语网托福频道为各位考生带来美国开始流行英音，希望对拓展大家的托福素材知识和提高托福阅读技巧有所帮助：

　　Downton Abbey's Lady Mary is now the most in-demand British voice inAmerica, new research has revealed.

　　有新研究指出，《唐顿庄园》里大小姐玛丽的声音已经成为在美国最受欢迎的英国声音。

　　Actress Michelle Dockery's cut glass English tones beat the likes ofquintessential English actor Hugh Grant and current James Bond Daniel Craig, tobecome the most requested UK accent for the US voiceover industry.

　　女演员米歇尔?道克瑞那精致的英音击败标杆人物英国演员休?格兰特和新晋邦德演员丹尼尔?克雷格，成为美国配音行业最受欢迎的英国口音。

　　voiceovers are big business in America covering everything from TV ads torecorded birthday greetings and at the moment famous British - and Irish -voices are particularly popular.

　　配音在美国是一个非常庞大的行业，包括电视广告到生日祝福录音等领域。现在英国和爱尔兰名人的口音尤其受欢迎。

　　From Nigella Lawson's sultry tones to Liam Neeson's Ulster brogue and evenGordon Ramsay's angry rants, demand has more than doubled in the past year.

　　去年，妮格拉?罗森性感的声音和连姆?尼森的爱尔兰口音，甚至是戈登?拉姆齐的愤怒咆哮，这些声音的需求量都成倍增长。

　　Copycat versions of these, and others from Hugh Grant to Keith Lemon, areused for all kinds of things including online guides, training videos and evenautomated voicemails.

　　这些声音的模仿版本，以及模仿休?格兰特，基思?柠檬的声音被用于多个方面，包括在线指引，训练视频和自动语音邮箱。

　　And Lady Mary's cut-glass upper-class accent is the most popular of thelot, according to PPH's analysis of 5,000 job adverts requestingBritish-sounding voices in the USA.

　　根据全球自由职业者市场网站PeoplePerHour(PPH)在美国对5000份英音招聘启事的分析报告显示，玛丽精致高贵的口音在众多声音中最受欢迎。

　　It does not even mean using the real voice of Ms Dockery who plays thearistocrat in the successful series, said PPH boss Xenios Thrasyvoulou.

　　这并不意味着要使用大小姐玛丽扮演者道克瑞女士的真实声音，PPH的老板Xenios Thrasyvoulou如是说。

　　Instead, a good impression will do as it will for others on the top 20 listincluding Daniel Craig and Helen Mirren - familiar to Americans for playingJames Bond and The Queen.

　　相反，一个好的印象非常重要，比如其他位列前20名的人，包括丹尼尔?克雷格和海伦?米伦，这两位因扮演詹姆斯?邦德和女王而被美国观众所熟知。

　　All the Americans want is an English-speaking voice that sounds like thestar or, sometimes, more generically they will ask for a 'BBC News' or a'Downton Abbey' accent, according to research by global freelance marketplacePeoplePerHour (PPH).

　　PPH研究发现，美国人想要的是一个听起来像玛丽说英语的声音，或者，有时是想要一种“BBC新闻”或者“唐顿庄园”那样的口音。

　　Colin Farrell, the Irish actor who is a Hollywood A-lister is high in thelist alongside Scot James McAvoy, who has also had success in Americanmovies.

　　好莱坞一线演员、来自爱尔兰的科林?法瑞尔与在电影方面有极大成就的苏格兰演员詹姆斯?麦卡沃伊都在英国腔热门榜上名列前茅。

　　Surprisingly, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini's Geordie accent is often requested,even though her failure as a US X-Factor judge was attributed to US audiencesunable to understand her.

　　出乎预料的是，谢丽尔?费尔南德兹-维西尼的口音需求也很旺盛，虽然她在美国X音素(X-Factor)中担任评审的失败被归咎于美国观众听不懂她说话。

　　Americans request British and Irish voiceovers more often than that of anyother nation, said Xenios Thrasyvoulou and it is fast becoming a major UK exportacross the Atlantic.

　　美国人对英音和爱尔兰口音的配音需求比对其他国家的都要大，Xenios Thrasyvoulou说。这也迅速成为英国跨越大西洋的主要出口业务。

　　Often they will request a 'Downton accent' or a 'Hugh Grant' or even a 'BBCNews accent' when advertising for the service, said PeoplePerHour'sresearch.

　　PeoplePerHour研究报告显示，在需求广告中，他们通常会提出想要一种“唐顿庄园”、“休?格兰特”或者一种“BBC新闻”的口音。

　　It may be for promotional or training videos made by private companies oreven for novelty purposes like a 'celebrity' voicemail on a mobile or landlinetelephone.

　　这些声音可以被私人公司用于推广或者训练视频，甚至可以由一些新奇的用途，比如给手机或固定电话的语音信箱加一段“名人”语音。

　　Around 10.4 million Americans regularly tuned in to watch the last seriesof Downton Abbey shown over there and similar numbers enjoy Sherlock and DoctorWho.

　　大概有1040万美国人会定期追看《唐顿庄园》，以及《神探夏洛克》和《神秘博士》。

　　But it is not just America. PPH found requests for British voices fromcountries as far afield as Australia and India to Mexico, Egypt and evenGermany.

　　这个现象不仅仅发生在美国。PPH发现对英音的需求还来自澳大利亚，印度，墨西哥，埃及甚至德国等国家。

　　Xenios Thrasyvoulou said: 'The original British export was manufacturingthen it was financial services now it seems to be the British accent.

　　Xenios Thrasyvoulou说：“英国起初的出口是制造业，随后是金融业，现在是英式口音。”

　　'With more companies than ever across the world utilising videos forpromotional purposes, voiceover artists from the UK are cashing in on thepopularity of their accents.

　　“随着世界各国各个公司更多地使用视频资料来做宣传推广，英国配音演员也因他们的口音而获益颇丰。”

　　'It's not just companies either, it seems that people from America,Australia and the UAE are also hiring voiceovers for novelty projects likebirthday messages.

　　“而且不仅仅是公司方面的需求，美国，澳大利亚和阿拉伯联合国酋长国的人们都在用新奇的方式使用英国腔，例如录制生日祝福语等。

　　'The is potentially driven by a new wave of British programmes that arebecoming hugely popular in the US and other countries across the world.'

　　“英国的电视节目在美国和其他各国都越来越受欢迎，而这种对英音的需求正是其内在驱动的结果。”

　　TOP TWENTY MOST IN DEMAND BRITISH ACCENTS IN AMERICA

　　美国最受欢迎的英音前20位

　　1. Lady Mary (Downton Abbey)

　　2. Hugh Grant

　　3. Daniel Craig

　　4. Colin Farrell

　　5. James McAvoy

　　6. Helen Mirren

　　7. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini

　　8. Hugh Laurie

　　9. Idris Elba

　　10. Sean Connery

　　1.大小姐玛丽(唐顿庄园)

　　2.休?格兰特

　　3.丹尼尔?克雷格

　　4.科林?法瑞尔

　　5.詹姆斯?麦卡沃伊

　　6.海伦?米伦

　　7.谢丽尔?费尔南德兹-维西尼

　　8.休?劳瑞

　　9.伊德瑞斯?艾尔巴

　　10.肖恩?康纳利

　　11. Liam Neeson

　　12. Simon Cowell

　　13. Keira Knightley

　　14. Gordon Ramsay

　　15. Benedict Cumberbatch

　　16. Matt Smith

　　17. David Beckham

　　18. Nigella Lawson

　　19. Jason Statham

　　20. Keith Lemon.

　　11.连姆?尼森

　　12.西蒙?考威尔

　　13.凯拉?奈特莉

　　14.戈登?拉姆齐

　　15.本尼迪克特?康伯巴奇

　　16.马特?史密斯

　　17.大卫?贝克汉姆

　　18.妮格拉?罗森

　　19.杰森?斯坦森

　　20.基思?柠檬

　　Vocabulary

　　cut glass 精致的

　　quintessential 典型的

　　sultry 迷人的

　　brogue 土音