英伦广角 2012-01-28 英女王新游艇提议被政府拒绝

 Having this year sprung a leak, the royal Britannia was moved to dry dock, a patched up and three liquors of paint later and she is ready to be refloated. But while she is unlikely to serve the queen again, there is now talk of a new royal yacht taking to the waves once more.

 

Britannia was decommissioned in 1997. The Queen then struggled to keep her composure as she said her farewells.

 

One or two eyes are watering fifteen years on, after a lit letter from Michael Gulf¹ today suggested a diamond jubilee² gift from the nation to her majesty³, Britannia’s replacement⁴. But would that mean finding more than sixty million pounds from the public purse? The prime minister rolled it out, Nick Clegg, chose a more tabloid⁵ approach.

 

"I thought myself this debate is gonna turning into a debate about the having or having not yacht. Sorry, but I couldn't resist it. I suspected most people in the country would think given these very little money around, this probably isn’t, wouldn't be the top of their list of priorities for the use of scarce, scarce of public resources."

 

But while the education secretary appeared to suggested private donations was only be thought if sufficient taxpayers’ funds were unavailable. Labor⁶ was about to let the matter of the rest.

 

"How many primary school places could the government fund with the money that secretary of state proposed be spent to the new royal yacht."

 

"The letter which I write to prime minister on 12 of September clearly stated that I agreed, of course , that the project for the royal yacht , the future ship for 21st century was one, I just quickly read my letter when no public funding should be provided ."

 

In her lifetime, Britannia sailed one million nautical⁷ miles, hosting heads of the state and royal honeymoons⁸, as well as helping⁹ the queen become the most travelled monarch¹⁰ in history. Albeit¹¹ in the way it returned to those days, private funding.

 

"And what's the plan is really about is the project doesn't involve taxpayer’s money at all as it involves donation from the big business not just in Britain but across the common wealth."

 

"I name the ship Britannia."

 

But economic times may have to improve before these immortal¹² words are uttered once more.

 

"Good luck. Britannia, a vessel¹³ fit for the Queen."

 

Paul Harrison, Sky News.

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 jubilee   

n.周年纪念；欢乐

参考例句：

• They had a big jubilee to celebrate the victory.他们举行盛大的周年纪念活动以祝贺胜利。
• Every Jubilee,to take the opposite case,has served a function.反过来说，历次君主巡幸，都曾起到某种作用。

3 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

8 honeymoons   

蜜月( honeymoon的名词复数 )； 短暂的和谐时期； 蜜月期； 最初的和谐时期

参考例句：

• I suppose all honeymoons are more or less alike. 我想所有的蜜月多多少少都是相似的。
• Honeymoons are stupid things. 蜜月是乏味的事情。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

11 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

12 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

13 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。