听播客学英语 193 圣诞屋

 　　Bling? What’s bling?

　　Bling is a modern slang word for jewellery. But not any sort of jewellery. Jewellery is bling if:

　　it is big

　　it is brightly coloured

　　it is loud and tasteless

　　there is lots of it

　　it is really in your face

　　Jewellery is not bling if it is small, discreet¹ or tasteful!

　　And what is “house bling”? For a long time people have decorated the insides of their houses at Christmas, for example with Christmas trees, holly² and mistletoe. But in the past few years, some people have started decorating the outsides of their houses as well, with lots of coloured lights, illuminated³ models of Santa Claus, reindeer⁴ and snowmen, and sometimes even with an audio system which plays Christmas carols. This is house bling. There is a picture of house bling on the podcast website, and (I hope) on your iPod too. If you type “house bling” into the search box at flickr.com, you will find lots more examples.

　　Some people even compete with their neighbours to have the most house bling, the brightest house bling, the most tasteless house bling. House bling increases electricity consumption, and probably adds significantly to global warming and rising sea levels.

　　I am taking a short break over Christmas. I will be back in January, when Kevin and Joanne will be making some New Year resolutions. To keep you company until these podcasts return, here is Hilda Lamas. This lady sings the American National Anthem⁵ at basketball games in Texas, so – respect! But for us she sings that Christmas won’t be Christmas unless you get right back here with me. Yeah!

1 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

2 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

3 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

4 reindeer   

n.驯鹿

参考例句：

• The herd of reindeer was being trailed by a pack of wolves.那群驯鹿被一只狼群寻踪追赶上来。
• The life of the Reindeer men was a frontier life.驯鹿时代人的生活是一种边区生活。

5 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。