英语听力—环球英语 880 National Songs

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Bruce Gulland.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
The young man stands tall and straight. His eyes shine with pride and joy. He has won his event at the Olympic Games. The young athlete has trained hard in his sport for this experience. He bends down while the gold medal is placed over his head. Everyone listens to the music of his national anthem². The crowds cheer and people all over the world watch on their televisions. He has brought honour to his country. He feels great emotion and happiness.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on national anthems³ – the national songs from every country in the world. Where do they come from? And why are they so important?
Voice 1
The 2012 Olympics will be in Great Britain. Two hundred and five nations are competing. And everyone who competes in the Olympic Games hopes to be part of the victory ceremony. To prepare for these ceremonies, the organizers must have each anthem ready to play.
Voice 2
Philip Sheppard is the conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra⁴. He leads all of the musicians in this large group. The organizers of the Olympics asked the orchestra to play and record the music for each of the anthems. Sheppard agreed. It was a great honour!
Voice 1
But Philip Sheppard had one very important step, before recording⁵. First, he had to find the right anthem for each country. Many people have heard the anthems of big nations like the USA, the UK and France. However, most people have not heard the anthems of much smaller nations like Tuvalu or Comoros. Sheppard had to work very hard to find all the anthems. He used the famous British Library - a large collection of books and other documents. He talked about this process to reporter Adam Sweeting.
Voice 3
‘No-one gave me the anthems. I had to find them for myself. Luckily, I love the British Library. I also enjoy investigating things like that’.
Voice 1
He says he knows a lot more about the smaller countries of the world than he did before!
Voice 2
But are there any bad anthems, musically? Philip Sheppard says no. Some anthems sound strange to people from different cultures. However, each anthem represents the music of that particular country. They come from different musical traditions. Sheppard says that all the anthems are good, when he thought about these different musical traditions and histories. For example, one of Sheppard’s favourite anthems was from the country of Bhutan. He said,
Voice 3
“It is an incredible⁶ piece of music. It is probably the most foreign, ethnic⁷ and distant to Western people. All I had was an obscure⁸ recording. It was someone singing in a temple, without instruments.”
Voice 1
National anthems became popular in the nineteenth century. However, some anthems are much older. The oldest anthem in the world belongs to Holland. It was written between 1568 and 1572.
Voice 2
The words of the Japanese anthem are much older than that. They come from a very ancient poem. But the words were not set to music until 1880.
Voice 1
However Spain’s anthem has no words at all. The music was written in 1761. In 2007, Spain held a national competition. It was for people to write words to fit the music. However, the winning words were not popular! People still do not use them regularly.
Voice 2
Some anthems are written by famous musicians. For example, Haydn wrote the music for the German anthem. Mozart wrote the music for the Austrian anthem. And Rabindrath Tagore wrote both India’s and Bangladesh’s anthems.
Voice 1
In other cases, the country’s leaders wrote the words for the anthem. This is true of Colombia, Senegal, Belgium and Ecuador. It is a great honour to write such an important song.
Voice 2
But for one writer, it was not a happy experience. Manuel Maria Gutierrez wrote the anthem for Costa Rica. In 1853, authorities⁹ put him in prison until it was complete!
Voice 1
Sometimes, people do not know who wrote an anthem! There are many different ideas about who wrote the British anthem. But no one knows for sure. Other anthems come from traditional native music.
Voice 2
Many anthems are directly connected to the history of the country. They make people think of great events in the past.
Voice 1
Perhaps this is why some anthems are so long! The longest anthem is from Greece. It has 158 verses¹⁰. The anthem for Uruguay is also very long. It takes more than five minutes to sing!
Voice 2
This caused some problems for Philip Sheppard when he recorded the anthems for the Olympic Games. For this event each anthem must only last between 60 and 90 seconds. This means that, in many cases, he could only use the main theme of the music. It had to be the part of the music that people would immediately recognise.
Voice 1
Many national anthems praise the country itself and the people who live there. Some anthems are prayers to God. They ask God to bless the country and bring peace and wealth to the people. This is true of the anthems from Antigua, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Slovenia. The anthem for some countries, such as the UK, asks God to especially bless and protect the king or queen.
Voice 2
A few countries such as Denmark, Thailand and Sweden have two anthems. One is the national anthem that praises the country and the people. The other one is the royal anthem that praises the king or queen. This anthem is used for special royal events.
Voice 1
Almost every country has a national anthem. It represents their country to the world. Each anthem also represents something of that nation’s qualities. It unites the people of that country. People identify with their own anthem. When they hear it, they feel great pride.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

3 anthems   

n.赞美诗( anthem的名词复数 )；圣歌；赞歌；颂歌

参考例句：

• They usually play the national anthems of the teams at the beginning of a big match. 在大型赛事开始前，他们通常演奏参赛国国歌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rise please, rise for the anthems of & . 请全体起立，奏和两国国歌。 来自互联网

4 orchestra   

n.管弦乐队；vt.命令，定购

参考例句：

• He plays the violin in an orchestra.他在管弦乐队中演奏小提琴。
• I was tempted to stay and hear this superb orchestra rehearse.我真想留下来听这支高超的管弦乐队排练。

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 obscure   

adj.微暗的，难解的，不著名的，（语音学）轻音的；vt.使...阴暗，隐藏，使...含糊，成为含糊的元音；n.暗淡，模糊

参考例句：

• The point of his speech is obscure.他发言的要点模糊不清。
• The joke did not obscure the underlying seriousness of his point.玩笑并没有掩盖他的观点隐含的严肃性。

9 authorities   

n.当局，权力，权威；权威( authority的名词复数 )；权力；学术权威；[复数]当权者

参考例句：

• They interceded with the authorities on behalf of the detainees. 他们为被拘留者向当局求情。
• At his instigation we conceal the fact from the authorities. 我们受他的怂恿向当局隐瞒了事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 verses   

诗( verse的名词复数 )； 韵文； 诗节； (的)节

参考例句：

• He quotes a few verses from Tennyson in his paper. 他在论文中引用了英国诗人丁尼生的几行诗句。
• Tom sang the verses and everybody joined in chorus. 汤姆唱独唱部分，然后大家一起唱合唱部分。