听播客学英语 201 邻居和足球

 　　Sometimes things happen that make you think that the world has gone mad.

　　Christopher works in a bank. In fact, he has a senior job in the bank and is very well paid. He lives in a posh part of London called Kensington. The people who live in his street have a shared garden. If you have visited London, you may have seen shared gardens in some parts of the city. Often they are in the middle of a square of houses, and have iron railings round them. You can get into the garden only if you have a key.

　　Well, Christopher is well paid, important and busy. But he still finds time to play with his little boy, who is 5 years old. One day Christopher and his son took a ball into the garden. They kicked it backwards¹ and forwards. How nice. Father and son enjoying an innocent game of football in the garden.

　　Football? Did someone say football? A neighbour saw what was going on. She complained that it was forbidden to play football in the shared garden. It was a breach² of an Act of Parliament of 1863. She brought a court action against Christopher. She lost because the magistrates³ said that a father and a small boy kicking a ball was not, legally, a game of football.

　　But the neighbour was not satisfied. She appealed to a higher court. So the High Court, with two senior judges and lots of expensive lawyers, listened to the arguments again. They decided⁴ that, yes, Christopher and his son had been playing football, but, no, they did not think that it was right to take any action against them.

　　The neighbour is still very cross. She told the newspapers that “citizens of this country will be appalled⁵ by the court’s judgement.” Well, I’m not appalled. Are you?

　　There is a grammar and vocabulary note for this podcast. If you are listening to the podcast on iTunes or an mp3 player, you will need to go to the podcast website to see the note.

1 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

2 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

3 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》