bbc强化听力系列--England Part2（在线收听）

England Part2

Callum: You're listening to Talk about English, I'm Callum Robertson. With me is 

Jackie Dalton and our guest today is Amanda Smyth from Visit Britain 

Jackie:  England is the topic of our programme today and we've had lots of comments 

from you on this topic 

(A few comments mentioning monuments) 

Jackie: 

Francesco, Italy 

I visited London twice it is a fantastic city . I am very fond of England , its culture and, above 

all its language and tradition . I am very interested in English .London is my favourite city . I 

like its monuments , its museums , and its shops.  

Callum: 

Lúcia, Portugal 

London is an attractive place with many green areas (parks and gardens). The monuments are 

also remarkable especially the Houses of Parliament located by the river Thames.  

Jackie: 

Eric Lee, Hong Kong 

I've been to England several times. Last time was 2003. I liked visiting England because I 

enjoyed seeing a lot of monuments. I also liked to see so many old buildings in England.  

Callum:  A lot of comments about the monuments in London. Monuments and historical 

buildings are all over London and earlier I went to visit one. What is it? When 

was it built? And how big is it? Now, over to, me. 

  London is famous for many of its sights and historical buildings. Buckingham 

Palace, Big Ben, the Tower of London, to name but a few.  

  Today I'm visiting one, a monument, which perhaps you may not have heard of 

but is also well worth a visit. A monument is a statue or building that is put up 

to remember and honour a person or event and this one is rather tall.  

  My guide today is James Clare who's the Historic Buildings Architect for the 

City of London and we are at the Monument to the Great Fire of London. 

  James I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about this monument. 

James:  Yes, it's a tall stone column and there are stairs inside that you can climb and 

view London from the top. Just above that viewing platform there is a golden 

ball of fire that commemorates the Great Fire of London in 1666. 

Callum:  You said there that the Great Fire of London was 1666, when was the 

Monument built? 

James:  It was started in 1671 and finished in 1677. 

Callum:  Who was responsible for designing it and building it? 

James:  There was a Commission set up jointly between the government, which was 

the Crown and the City of London and they had equal representation on that 

committee. The leader for the Crown was Sir Christopher Wren and the leader 

for the City was  Robert Hooke. 

Callum:  And Christopher Wren had an important part in another one of London's most 

famous buildings, didn't he? 

James:  Yes, he designed and supervised St. Paul's Cathedral, the new cathedral in the 

classical form which replaced the old Gothic cathedral which had been 

destroyed in the Great Fire. And you can get a good view of St. Paul's from the 

top of the Monument. 

Callum:  Well I think that's a prompt, I think we should go up into the Monument, go to 

the top and have a look at St. Paul's from up there. 

(Entering the building) 

Callum:  We've just come into the monument and were at the bottom and if I look up I 

can see there's a very tall staircase which we're going to climb. How tall is this? 

James:  Well it's over 200 ft tall, that's about 61 metres and there are 311 steps to the 

viewing steps to the viewing platform. 

Callum:  311 steps! Well we better get going, 1…2…3… 

  James, as we're going up here, how many times have you been up this 

monument? 

James:  Well over the past twenty years I must have been up here about 50 times and 

it's exhausting! 

Callum:  Well, we've just stopped for a little breather as we've got a tiny window here 

and from it we are lined up directly with the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. And 

James you don't think that's an accident, do you? 

James:  No, the building doesn't seem to be aligned on a North, South, East, West axis. 

It seems to be slightly twisted, almost as if it was intended it should be possible 

to view St. Paul's from it. 

Callum:  So do you think Christopher Wren was maybe just pointing out some of his 

other work? 

James:  I think it was jointly Hooke and Wren were keen experimenters and they were 

both working on St. Paul's, it was just them being playful probably. 

Callum:  Ok, well let's continue our journey up to the top……308, 309, 310, 311. And 

we finally made it up to the top and what a spectacular view. 

  Well we're out now on the viewing platform. We're looking towards one of 

London's more famous landmarks which is Tower Bridge. Really is a fantastic 

view from up here. James, I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about 

the Monument.  

James:  Yes, it was at the time probably the tallest free-standing building in Western 

Europe. Another interesting piece of trivia is the fact that the height of the 

building is considered to represent the distance from the building to the site 

where the fire started in Pudding Lane. 

Callum:  So we're at the top of the Monument and I'm going to find some people to 

speak to, I've got some people here, hello, what's your name: 

(introductions) 

Callum:  We're up over sixty metres, what do you think of it? 

Man:  It's a really amazing view, it's really nice, we have a perfect view over the 

whole city and I really enjoy it. 

Woman:  It's really cool, I can't say any more. You must be here and see it, all the city 

Callum:  Did you find it very tiring coming up the 311 steps? 

Man:  It's the perfect sport and so I don't need to go the gym later. 

Callum:  So it's good exercise and a good view at the end? 

Man:  Yes, of course! 

Callum:  OK, thank you very much. 

Man:  Thank you. 

Callum:  Well some good advice there from some visitors to the monument, good 

exercise and it's a good view. James, thank you very much for joining us today 

and telling us all about the Monument. 

James:  It's been a pleasure, thank you. 

Callum:  Well that's all from this programme 61 metres above the streets of London. 

Now, time to go back down those 311 stairs! 

Callum, Jackie & Amanda chat about favourite places to go in London. 

[Discuss with Amanda  – London is most popular place to visit but England isn't just about 

London – talk about some of the other aspects of the country – what else is there for people 

who maybe don't want the big city experience 

Number of comments that England is an expensive place to visit …..] 

Some more Comments – Lot regarding football, particularly from Vietnam 

David Yang, Vietnam 

I have never been to England. My dream is to go around the world, experience human's life, 

nature and cultures. But what I wish most is to visit England, talk to native speakers, 

participate in rituals, festivals, ceremonies, holidays and to visit all the stadiums where 

famous football clubs are located - I'm a crazy fan of the Premier League - for MU – 

(Manchester United) 

Bill, Vietnam 

Hi, everyone! I have never been to England and just known it via Premier League on TV, I 

am really into watching football matches, I'm a fan of Arsenal football club. Since I started 

learning English on the BBC, I have been getting it more. I love to travel there and I will. 

Huu, vietnam 

England, the football capital of the world, where there are dozens of beautiful stadiums with 

thousands of fans watching exciting games at every weekends. It's really my dream! 

Thu Thuy, Vietnam 

I've never gone to England but it is a familiar country with me because I always up to date 

news about Manchester United-my favourite Team. I wish I could visit England, especially 

Manchester! 

Callum:  A lot of comments there about Manchester one of the cities visited on the road 

trip. 

Jackie:  We talked to some young people who had come to Manchester to study and 

asked them what they thought of the city, how it compared to where they had 

come from. This is what they said. 

STUDENTS NEW TO MANCHESTER VOX 

I'm Pauline, I’m new to Manchester. I Moved from London nearly a year ago and I think it's a 

much friendlier and less stressful place to live. 

I'm Samantha and I found Manchester to be very big. It was a little bit daunting but I'm slowly 

getting used to it. There's a hell of a lot going on and I'm from Liverpool originally so I 

expected the two cities to be quite similar but in terms of size at the very least Manchester is 

much bigger and Manchester does feel a lot more cosmopolitan and quite like a capital city I'd 

have to say. 

I'm from London actually so it's quite different coming to Manchester. It's a lot smaller, which 

is a bit odd, it's a lot more compact as well, everything's more in one place, which is really 

good. I really enjoy it hear actually, it's a good university and everyone seems really nice. 

I think it's a great place to live and I think it's always going to continue to grow. I just hope it 

keeps up with every other city and continues to be better than everywhere else. It's great, it's a 

great place. 

Callum:  Very positive views there, though from different perspectives – those who had 

come from bigger cities, like London, found it to be small and friendly, very 

compact – everything close together. 

Jackie:  But coming from a smaller city, like Liverpool, we heard Samantha saying she 

found it 'daunting'. If you find something daunting it's a little bit scary, it's a 

challenge. But all the comments were positive. 

Callum:  Jackie, you were in Manchester, what did you think? 

Jackie talks of her impressions