Hen and stag parties

Hen and stag parties
Yvonne: Welcome to 6 Minute English! I’m Yvonne Archer¹ – and Kate, thanks for joining
me today.
Kate: You’re welcome, Yvonne!
Yvonne: Now, as the wedding season comes to an end, many newly-weds – people who just
got married - will be thinking about money. So, as well as the money they received
as gifts, they’ll be thinking about how to pay back all the money they probably
borrowed. Kate, how much money do you think most people spend on a wedding?
Kate: Umm – well I've heard that it's even up to about ?20,000.
Yvonne: Well, the average cost has gone up so a wedding this year is actually over ?21, 000
Kate: Wow – that's just so much money!
Yvonne: But weddings aren’t only expensive for the bride and groom² – the man and woman
who get married; their guests often have to spend quite a lot too. And that leads us
to today's question. Kate, on average, how much money does a guest spend to go
to a friend’s wedding? Is it…
a: 120
b: 240 or
c: 380
Kate: Oh, that's a really good question because the weddings that I've been to, I've
always ended up spending loads of money. So I'm going to go for b) ?380.
Yvonne: Okay, we'll find out whether you're right later on.
So, apart from a gift, something to wear, travelling to the wedding and perhaps
accommodation（住宿） – somewhere to stay – wedding guests often spend money on ‘a
stag night’ or ‘a hen night’. But what are they? Kate, can you explain them for us,
please?
Kate: Well, ‘a stag night’ is an opportunity for the man and his male friends to have a
party for the last time before he gets married. The woman has ‘a hen party’ with
all her female³ friends for the same reason. And sometimes at a stag night or at a
hen night, people do things that they probably won’t do once they’re married.
Yvonne: Yes - and we’ll leave it there, shall we?! Now those events are sometimes called ‘a
stag do’ and ‘a hen do’, because the party often lasts for more than one evening.
Our colleague⁴ Emily is getting married soon and she told me that for her hen party,
she’s simply going out for a nice meal. But, that’s not typical – it’s not what
people usually do - as Emily explains. As we hear from her, who does she say is
‘the hen’, and what does the hen usually wear?
Emily
It usually involves（包含） a lot of drinking. The hen, i.e. the bride, will usually wear like a pretend⁵ veil⁶
and maybe some L plates, like on a car – you know, she's not quite married yet. And they
sometimes wear silly outfits⁸ and things but generally, they go to have a good time. They might go
to a club or to a restaurant.
Yvonne: So, a typical hen do might take place in a club – a night club – or in a restaurant（餐馆,饭店）,
and it ‘usually involves a lot of drinking’ - so the women usually drink a lot of
alcohol⁹. But, who is ‘the hen’ and what does she wear at her hen do? Kate?
Kate: Well, ‘the hen’ is the bride – or the bride-to-be, so the woman who’s getting
married. And she usually wears ‘a pretend veil’ – as Emily put it. That’s a bride’s
veil which isn’t real. It’s usually much smaller and shorter than the veil that brides
wear on their wedding day.
Yvonne: And what about the ‘L’ plates? What’s that about?
Kate: Oh no – well those are large, red ‘L’s- or the letter ‘L’ - or ‘L’ plates – which are
put on a car to show that the person is still only learning¹⁰ to drive – so it's not legal¹¹
for them to drive yet. So, the hen’s friends make her wear ‘L’ plates to show that
she's not legally¹² married yet.
Yvonne: Emily also said the hen sometimes wears a silly outfit⁷ – clothes that make people
smile or laugh. And of course, the stag – the man who’s getting married – might
also have to wear a silly outfit for his stag do. But let’s hear from Ben who got
married in 2004, but he hasn't forgotten his stag do. It lasted a whole weekend but
what did he choose to do?
Ben
The culture at the moment seems to be getting on a plane and going to Eastern Europe and doing
lots of drinking. But I didn't really fancy¹³ that; I wanted to do something outdoors and get very wet and cold and sleep in a barn¹⁴ with no heating¹⁵ - because that's the sort of thing that sounds like fun to me!
Yvonne: Ben thinks that ‘the culture at the moment’ – the thing that lots of men do - is to
fly to Eastern Europe for a stag weekend and drink lots of alcohol. But as Ben says,
he didn’t ‘fancy’ that – he didn’t want to do that. So Kate, what did Ben do for his stag do?
Kate: Well, he wanted to do something outdoors – something that didn’t take place
inside a building. So Ben and his friends got very cold and wet - and then they
slept in 'a barn' without any heating –and that's a building that's made for animals to sleep in.
Yvonne: But for Ben, that sounded like fun! Well, it’s time now for the answer to today’s
question. Kate, I asked: on average, how much money does a guest spend to go toa friend’s wedding?
Kate: And I said it was b) - 240.
Yvonne: It's more – it's actually 380.
Kate: Wow – that's so much money. Gosh!
Yvonne: Hmm – it is. Well that's all for today’s 6 Minute English – but do join us again soon.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)
 

1 archer   

n.射手，弓箭手

参考例句：

• The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
• The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。

2 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

3 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

4 colleague   

n.同僚，同事

参考例句：

• He is a colleague of mine.他是我的同事。
• The professor paid a return visit to his American colleague.教授回访了他的美国同事。

5 pretend   

vt.假装，假托，装扮；vi.假装，装作

参考例句：

• So you don't need to pretend,do you?所以你不必装假了，对吧？
• Many people pretend that they understand modern art.许多人装着自己懂得现代艺术。

6 veil   

n.面纱，掩饰物，修女；vt.给...戴面纱或面罩；vi.带面纱或面罩

参考例句：

• Please veil your face.请用面纱遮住脸。
• There was a veil of mist over the mountains.山上覆盖着一层薄雾。

7 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

8 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

9 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

10 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

11 legal   

adj.法律的，依照法律的，合法的，法定的，正当的

参考例句：

• He is my legal adviser.他是我的法律顾问。
• This is partly a political and partly a legal question.这个问题部分是政治问题，部分是法律问题。

12 legally   

adv. 合法地，法律上地

参考例句：

• A bill of exchange is a legally recognized document. 汇票是合法票据。
• The agreement will be legally binding. 这个协议将具有法律效力。

13 fancy   

n.想像力，幻想；喜好，爱；adj.想像的，时髦的，华丽装饰的，奢侈的；技巧的；vt.想象，自认为，喜好

参考例句：

• He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to her.他似乎相当喜欢她。
• I have a fancy that it's going to rain.我想大概要下雨。

14 barn   

n.谷仓，饲料仓，牲口棚

参考例句：

• That big building is a barn for keeping the grain.那幢大房子是存放粮食的谷仓。
• The cows were driven into the barn.牛被赶进了牲口棚。

15 heating   

n.加热，供暖，暖气装置；adj.加热的，供暖的

参考例句：

• They will install a heating and lighting system in our house.他们将在我们家装上供热供电系统。
• If the pressure is too low,the heating system will act up.如果压力太低，供暖系统就会出毛病。