Arundel Castle

The script of this programme 本节目台词

Rob: Hello, I'm Rob. Welcome to On the Town.

Helen: 大家好，我是 Helen. 欢迎收听 BBC 都市掠影节目。

Rob: This is the programme where we show you interesting places in the UK. So where are we going today, Helen?

Helen: 今天，我们将前往一个古老的城堡。

Right, Arundel Castle is close to the mouth of the River Arun which goes out into the English Channel. We were founded by William the Conqueror on Christmas Day 1067. And we are one of a chain of castles that goes across the south coast of England. It was put here to defend the south coast from invasion by the French from the continent of Europe.

Arundel Castle has nearly 1,000 years of history.

Rob: That's head guide Penny Horsfield from Arundel Castle.

Helen: 这座城堡的名字叫 Arundel Castle, 中文翻译是阿伦德尔城堡。

Rob: It's near the south coast of England.

Helen: Right. 城堡的地理位置是靠近英格兰南部的海岸，在 Arun 河与英吉利海峡接口的地方。

Rob: The castle was founded by William the Conqueror on Christmas Day 1067.

Helen: Conqueror 征服者。征服者威廉 William the Conqueror 可以算是英国历史上第一个真正的国王，是他1067年下令修建阿伦德尔城堡。

Rob: There were a chain of castles that were built across the south coast of England. Their function was to defend the coast from invasion by the French.

Helen: 英国在南海边修建的好几座城堡，都起到防御抵抗作用，以防法国从海上入侵。Invasion 侵略，defend 防卫。

Rob: Let's get back to Arundel Castle. Does any one actually live there or is it just a museum?

Helen: 城堡属于诺福克公爵和他的家族，已经有超过850年的历史了。Penny 带我参观了城堡的内部，我还学到了几个有趣的知识。

Helen: It's quite interesting, the change in ceiling height, isn't it? Sometimes you go incredibly high and sometimes it's incredibly low.

Penny: It's very much a social geography thing. Basically where the ceilings are lower, that's more the servants' area. Where the ceilings are higher, that's more the family area.

Helen: We just came through the servants' door then!

Penny: Well basically yes.

Rob: You walked through the servants' door?

Helen: 是的，我们是从以前给佣人们专用的走廊到大厅的。佣人，下人就是 servants. 原来从门框的高低大小，还有屋顶 ceiling 的高低就能看出来，一个房间或者是通道是给什么人用的。

Rob: So tall ceilings and wide passages are for the family of the house and the opposites are for the servants. Where did that narrow staircase take you?

Helen: A very grand bedroom. In fact it was Queen Victoria's bedroom. 这个以红色，粉色和金色为主体的睡房是给维多利亚女王准备的。请听 Penny 的介绍。

This is Queen Victoria's bedroom. She visited the castle in 1846 and she came for three nights, having given the Duke two years' notice that she was going to visit, so he had time to get everything ready. So he had all the furniture made for her in her favourite colours which were supposed to be gold, red and dusky pink.

Rob: Wow, Queen Victoria gave the Duke of Arundel two years' notice for her visit.

The gardens have been open to the public since 1854.

Helen: 女王就是不一样，派头真大。维多利亚女王提前2年给阿伦德尔公爵通知说她要到城堡来住几天。

Rob: So the Duke had all the furniture made for her especially in her favourite colours.

Helen: 公爵还专门请人定做了维多利亚女王睡房里所有的家具，肯定花了不少钱。

Rob: One of the most impressive bits of furniture is the massive four-poster bed. Interestingly, it's got a step ladder next to it. What did Penny say about it?

Helen: 超级大床的旁边放了一把华丽的梯子，这是干吗用的呢？

Right, that's actually to help the Queen get into bed. Because in those days, the richer you were, the more mattresses you have. The more mattresses you have, the higher your bed is. Queen Victoria was tiny, she was a very little woman, so you had to climb up stairs to get into bed.

Rob: Very interesting.

Helen: 原来以前的人用床垫来体现身份，身份越高，越有钱， 就会用越多的床垫。

Rob: As the monarch of Great Britain, Queen Victoria's bed must have had at least a dozen mattresses.

Helen: Absolutely. 可是维多利亚女王个子很小，所以床边不得不放把梯子。不然上床睡觉都成问题。

Rob: Well, Penny has given us a wonderful insight into Arundel Castle and I have learnt a few things about our history too.

Helen: I really enjoyed my time at the castle.

Rob: Thanks for listening to On the Town from BBC Learning English. Join us next time.

Helen: 感谢收听，下次再会。Bye bye!

Rob: Bye bye!