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【听音频，也可猛戳左下角“
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”】
This
is
6
Minute
English
from
BBC
Learning
English
.
com
.
这里是
bbclearningenglish
.
com
英语六分钟节目。
Alice
:
Hello
and
welcome
to
6
Minute
English
from
BBC
Learning
English
:
the
programme
in
which
we
talk
about
a
story
in
the
news
and
learn
some
vocabulary
while
we're
doing
it
.
I'm
Alice
and
joining
me
today
is
Neil
.
Hi
there
,
Neil
.
大家好，欢迎收听本期
BBC
英语六分钟。在本期节目中，我们会看一个新闻故事，同时学习一些新的词汇和短语。我是爱丽丝，今天和我一起主持节目的是尼尔。你好，尼尔。
Neil
:
Hi
Alice
.
你好，爱丽丝。
Alice
:
Now
,
Neil
I
know
you're
very
musical
–
but
can
you
spot
a
multi
-
million
dollar
violin
when
you
hear
one
?
尼尔，我知道你非常懂音乐，但是你能听出价值几百万美元的小提琴所弹奏的曲子吗？
Neil
:
A
multi
-
million
dollar
violin
?
So
,
that's
a
musical
instrument
which
costs
several
million
US
dollars
?
Who's
got
that
kind
of
money
to
spend
on
an
instrument
?
几百万美元的小提琴？你是说，要花几百万美元才能买到的乐器？呃，谁会花那么多钱买乐器啊？
Alice
:
Somebody
with
lots
and
lots
of
money
.
When
we
talk
about
dollars
in
English
,
they
usually
mean
US
dollars
.
Anyway
,
let's
listen
to
these
two
violins
,
and
then
tell
me
which
sound
you
like
the
best
,
and
which
do
you
think
is
the
most
valuable
?
当然是很有钱的人啦。对了，在英文中，我们所说的
dollars
通常是指美元。不管怎样，让我们先来听听这两把小提琴的演奏。然后你要告诉我，你更喜欢哪把小提琴以及哪把更贵。
Neil
:
OK
.
没问题。
Alice
:
So
,
did
you
like
the
sound
of
the
first
violin
,
or
the
second
?
好了，尼尔，你是喜欢第一把小提琴的声音，还是喜欢第二把的呢？
Neil
:
Well
,
my
perfect
musical
ears
are
telling
me
the
second
violin
was
the
multi
-
million
dollar
one
.
嗯，我这完美的音乐耳朵告诉我，第二把应该是价值几百万美元的小提琴。
Alice
:
And
was
that
the
one
you
liked
best
?
那你更喜欢这个吗？
Neil
:
Oh
yes
.
Of
course
!
当然！
Alice
:
Good
taste
.
Well
done
.
One
of
the
qualities
which
makes
the
sound
so
wonderful
is
what's
called
timbre
–
the
quality
of
the
sound
.
And
that
leads
me
to
another
question
,
Neil
.
Which
language
does
the
word
timbre
come
from
originally
?
Is
it
:
a
)
Russian
b
)
Italian
c
)
French
品味不错嘛，恭喜你答对了。小提琴之所以能弹奏出如此美妙的声音，
timbre
（音色）是其中一个因素。所谓音色，即声音的质量。这让我想起了另外一个问题。尼尔，你知道
timbre
（音色）这个词最初来自哪种语言吗？是俄语？意大利语？还是法语呢？
Neil
:
Hmm
.
Definitely
not
Russian
.
I
would
be
tempted
to
say
French
but
most
musical
expressions
come
from
Italian
.
So
I'm
going
to
say
Italian
.
嗯，肯定不是俄语。我想说是法语，但是大多音乐表达语又来自意大利。所以，我选意大利语吧。
Alice
:
Well
,
as
usual
we
won't
find
out
the
answer
until
the
end
of
the
programme
.
Let's
talk
some
more
about
violins
.
What
makes
one
violin
sound
so
much
better
than
another
?
好的，和往常一样，我们会在节目最后揭晓答案。尼尔，咱们继续谈谈小提琴吧。你觉得是什么让一把小提琴的声音比另一把的更好听呢？
Neil
:
I
like
that
very
mellow
sound
–
a
sound
that
that
is
sweet
and
rich
.
我喜欢非常柔美的声音，就是那种既悦耳又圆润的声音。
Alice
:
Mellow
.
We
talk
about
coffee
being
mellow
,
rich
and
sweet
-
and
sound
can
be
mellow
too
.
What
makes
an
instrument
top
of
the
range
?
The
best
that
is
on
offer
.
Here's
Professor
Tasmin
Little
from
the
Royal
Academy
of
Music
,
who
is
also
a
concert
violinist
–
a
soloist
.
柔美。我们谈论咖啡时，可以说咖啡很
mellow
（醇厚），当然形容声音时，我们也可以说声音很
mellow
（柔美）。那么什么会使乐器显得档次高呢？也就是高端产品。接下来让我们一起听听皇家音乐学院教授兼小提琴独奏者塔斯明·利特尔是怎么说的。
There
are
two
most
famous
and
great
makers
.
Stradivari
is
the
most
famous
,
but
also
there
is
Guarneri
del
Gesu
who
is
also
very
favoured
by
top
soloists
,
perhaps
the
instruments
are
more
mellow
in
sound
.
But
certainly
,
there
is
nothing
to
beat
a
Stradivarius
,
because
they
are
just
really
the
top
of
the
range
instruments
.
And
I'm
very
,
very
fortunate
to
have
this
instrument
on
loan
from
the
Royal
Academy
of
Music
.
有两位非常著名的小提琴制造商。最有名的是
Stradivari
，但
Guarneri
del
Gesu
也很受顶级独奏家的青睐，也许是因为他制造的小提琴声音更加甜美吧。当然，没有什么能打败
Stradivariu
制造的小提琴，因为它们都是真正的顶级乐器。所以能从皇家音乐学院借到这样一把小提琴，我感到非常非常幸运。
Alice
:
So
Professor
Tamsin
Little
says
there
is
nothing
to
beat
a
Stradivarius
–
it's
the
top
of
the
range
.
塔斯明·利特尔教授说，没有什么能打败
Stradivariu
制造的小提琴，它们都是顶级乐器。
Neil
:
And
she's
very
fortunate
–
very
lucky
to
have
one
on
loan
.
That
means
she's
borrowing
the
violin
to
play
at
concerts
.
而且她非常幸运地借到了这样一把小提琴。换句话说，塔斯明·利特尔在音乐会上弹奏的小提琴是借来的。
Alice
:
Yeah
–
as
some
Stradivarius
violins
cost
several
million
dollars
,
I
don't
think
many
musicians
would
be
able
to
afford
them
themselves
.
嗯，是这样的。但是
Stradivariu
小提琴价值几百万美元，我想没有几个音乐家可以买的起吧。
Neil
:
And
what
is
it
about
violins
made
by
the
Stradivari
family
in
17
th
and
18
th
centuries
that
makes
them
so
special
?
那么到底是什么让
Stradivari
家族在17、18世纪制作的小提琴那么特别呢？
Alice
:
As
we've
heard
that
word
before
,
they
have
great
timbre
–
the
sound
they
make
reverberates
.
其实我们之前听过这个单词，那就是
timbre
（音色），即小提琴发出的
reverberates
（回音）。
Neil
:
Reverberates
–
it
echoes
back
at
you
.
A
really
rich
,
deep
sound
.
How
did
violin
makers
like
the
Stradivari
family
give
violins
that
special
sound
quality
?
Reverberates
（回音），你听到的回声，一种非常圆润、深沉的声音。
Stradivari
这样的制造商是怎样使小提琴拥有这种音质的呢？
Alice
:
Professor
Little
says
that's
the
billion
dollar
question
.
It
means
that's
the
question
that
everybody
would
like
answered
.
If
we
could
only
understand
what
gives
these
violins
their
very
special
quality
,
people
would
have
copied
the
technique
ages
ago
.
利特尔教授说，这是个价值数十亿美元的问题。也就是说，人人都希望这个问题可以得到解决。如果我们知道是什么使这些小提琴的音质如此特殊的话，那几个世纪以前人们就已经复制这项技术了。
That's
the
billion
dollar
question
,
isn't
it
–
it's
one
that
has
foxed
people
for
centuries
.
People
have
come
up
with
all
sorts
of
explanations
.
There
are
a
few
,
such
as
:
at
the
point
when
Stradivarius
was
choosing
his
wood
,
there
had
