BBC英语精选--英语6分钟: Reading the classics（在线收听）

BBC Learning English   

6 Minute English 

Reading the classics 

NB: This is not a word for word transcript 

Alice:   Hello – this is 6 Minute English, I'm Alice and today, I'm joined by  

Yvonne. Hello, Yvonne!  

Yvonne:   Hello Alice!  

Alice:    Now Yvonne, if I said Don Quixote, what would you say?  

Yvonne:  Oh, it's a famous classic Spanish novel – but that's all, because sadly, I've 

never read it.  

Alice:   Oh well, don't worry - because you're not the only one! In fact, Don Quixote 

has been described as Spain's best-known, but least read book.  

Yvonne:  So like me, most people have heard of it, but not many people have actually 

read it.  

Alice:    Exactly. But before we find out what the Royal Spanish Academy is doing 

about that, here's today's question: in 2005, the BBC announced the UK's best- 

loved - or favourite book. What was it?  

  a) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling 

  b) The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien or  

  c) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 

Yvonne, what was your guess before you looked up the answer?  

Yvonne:   Well, I said Harry Potter - because I must be the only person on earth who’s 

never read it!  

Alice:    Oh, me neither! Isn’t that terrible? Well we'll find out what the UK's best-loved 

book is later on. Now people say that most Spaniards have never managed to 

finish reading Don Quixote, even though it's a classic. What do you think 

makes a classic novel or book, Yvonne?  

Yvonne:  Well, excellent writing that people want to continue reading into the future, but, 

it doesn't have to be old - although Miguel De Cervantes finished writing Don 

Quixote way back in 1615.  

Alice:   No, I suppose you can have modern classics. But the Royal Spanish Academy 

has been trying to get people to feel more passionate, more excited, about this 

old book by using new technology. And what they're doing seems to be 

working, as the BBC's Nkem Ifejika reports:  

Extract 1: Nkem Ifejika, BBC reporter 

Byte size chunks for a sound bite culture - the novel was divided into 2,149 short 

passages. Any Spanish speaker can then pick a passage, record themselves reading it 

and upload to the internet. A quick search for video of Don Quixote shows they've 

already done so; the novel being read aloud by people across the globe - the exact 

manner in which young servants used to read it when it was written, never all at once. 

Alice:   So the novel was divided up into 2,149 short passages or sections – what 

Nkem Ifejika describes as 'bite size chunks for a sound bite culture'. Yvonne, 

can you help us out with that phrase, please?  

Yvonne:  I'll try, Alice. Now, lots of people can't or don't like to concentrate – or focus 

on one thing for a long period of time, so they're happier with things they can 

do quickly – with 'bite size chunks' of information, for example.  

Alice:   And what would you say is 'a sound bite culture'?  

Yvonne:  Well, lots of us like to listen to a short piece about something rather than read 

about it, so we're 'a sound bite culture'. For example, we seem to enjoy short, 

snappy advertisements that get messages across really quickly.  

Alice:  Yes - and more and more people on trains are listening to a chapter of a book 

on their iPods rather than reading it. As we heard, it's all about 'bite size 

chunks for a sound bite culture!'  

Yvonne:  It certainly is!  

Alice:  Now the Royal Spanish Academy is asking people to read passages of Don 

Quixote out loud, just as people used to when the book was first written in the 

1600s. People never read the entire book all at once.  

Yvonne:  And most people don't do that today either.  

Alice:   No, they don't - but Spanish speakers from all over the world are recording 

themselves reading Don Quixote out loud, which means more people are 

learning about and can listen to this classic.  

Yvonne:   And that's a good thing – plus, I think it must be fun listening to all those 

different voices reading it.  

Alice:   And lots of different accents.  

Yvonne:  Hmmm – really nice.  

Alice:  What about other classics? Here's what a few of our colleagues had to say 

about what they've read – or rather, what they haven't!  

Extract 2: BBC Learning English colleagues 

MAN:  I read a lot of Dickens and I even read Moby Dick when I was at school - 

and I think I am one of the few people who's ever read Don Quixote. 

WOMAN:    Well, I’ve read quite a few classics, mainly English classics like Thomas 

Hardy and Jane Austen. However I did try to read James Joyce’s Ulysses 

and actually carried it around on holiday with me for 6 weeks once - and I 

still didn’t manage to get through it!  

Alice:   Ah-ha – so we've found someone who's read lots of classics and has even read 

Don Quixote!  

Yvonne:  Good – the Royal Spanish Academy will be extremely pleased.  

Alice:   They certainly will, although he read the translation of it in English. He's also 

read Moby Dick, an American classic about a whale.  

Yvonne:  Now I've never been able to finish reading that!  

Alice:  Well, unlike many of us, our other colleague has done rather well - although 

she hasn't managed to finish the Irish classic, Ulysses.  

Yvonne:  Well, that's not exactly relaxing reading, is it?  

Alice:  No, it’s not really holiday reading I think. Now earlier on, Yvonne, I asked: 

which is the UK's favourite book? You thought it was Harry Potter and the 

Goblet of Fire – which is a good guess, but it's Lord of the Rings by JRR 

Tolkien. He wrote the book between 1937 and 1949 - mainly during the 

Second World War.  

Yvonne:  Now that is amazing. I couldn't concentrate long enough to write a book - 

during a war. No way! 

Alice:  No, it’s probably because now, we live in ‘a sound bite culture’ and need ‘bite 

size chunks’! Well, that's all for today's 6 Minute English. Join us again soon 

for more.  

Both:   Goodbye!