万花筒 2009-07-03&07-05 经济不好，皇室也拮据

So you see, you got all kinds of work to do: the house needs a coat of paint, the concrete needs to be fixed¹. Well, pity the Royal Family, even they are not immune to the global recession. Queen Elizabeth reportedly is raiding Her piggy bank to pay for improvements to the palace or palaces, and royal visits around the world. She's also asking the British people to pick up some of the tab and that is causing quite a stir. Greg Palkot is at Buckingham palace. So what's all the hoopla, Greg?

 

Hey, John. Yeah. We are in front of Buckingham palace or as it is especially known by the locals “Buck house”. So that's my cameraman all laughed at. Zoom² beyond me and look up at the flag flying over the building. It's the Union Jack³ that means that the Queen is not in residence. If She was there, Her own Royal Standard would be flying. She's traveling and what has caused a lot of stir in this country is the money that She and all the Royals are spending traveling and at home, especially in this recessionary period, it's all picked up by the taxpayers⁴. The last fiscal⁵ year budget has just been released and they have spent, according to the Buckingham Palace officials, 66 million dollars equivalent. That's 2.5 million dollars than last year. Some of the travel expenses have been raising eyebrows⁶. John, one trip by Prince Charles last year set a record to South America 'cause they poured one million dollars. A one-way flight by Prince Andrew to Egypt cost 90,000 dollars, and a train ride from here to Liverpool, couple of hundred miles away by the Duke of Edinburgh and that was 20,000 dollars. As you noted⁷, they are spending at such a clip that they are dipping into their reserves, and they should be gone within two years, John.

 

Wow, obviously a lot of criticism, but there are some defenders⁸ of the crown as well, right?

 

Yeah, that's right, John. There are a lot of defenders. They say it's “value for money”. Yeah, that's the phrase often used here. They're symbols of the regime of this country. The basic working budget that they have, in fact, hasn't changed for several years, and they worked it out. It cost about a little more than one dollar per head in this country to keep the Royals in business. Still, they justified⁹ some budget items in their budget like a 25-million-dollar maintenance bugdet. Some people think that they should be spending a little bit more money. If you come back live, do us again. All of I show you that the scene in front of Buckingham Palace. It's a good crowd but the Royals should be taking advantage of that crowd a little bit more according to the critics. The place is only opened up to the public two months out of a year, unlike the White House which is basically opened up all the time. If they can bring people through here all the time spending money, that could raise them royal profits and get some royal headaches off the minds of the Queen and the government here. Back to you John.

 

All right, sounds good. Greg Palkot, thank you.
 

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。