Zo?: It looks old and yet quite new too.

Helen: And it has an open theatre inside.

Zo?: 這就是我們今天要向大家介紹的莎士比亞環球劇場。

Helen: The Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames in the centre of London.

Zo?: 大家好，我是劉佳。

Helen: Hello, I’m Helen. Welcome to On the Town from BBC Learning English.

Zo?: 在我們今天的 BBC Learning English 節目當中，我們會和大家一起來了解一下英國的著名的莎士比亞環球劇場的光輝歷史。

Helen: Now just to set the record straight, the Globe Theatre we are seeing today is a marvellous reconstruction. The original Globe Theatre was destroyed by fire 393 years ago on June 29th 1613.

Zo?: 是嗎？最早的劇場 393 年前被一場大火給燒毀了。那現在的這個環球劇場是重建的，a reconstruction.

Helen: And to answer our questions about the Globe Theatre is Patrick Spottiswoode, the Director of Globe Education.

Zo?: Patrick 是環球劇場的教育部負責人，首先我們請他描繪了一下環球劇場的結構。

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It is a round building. It is in fact a twenty-sided wooden O, a polygonal O. And it is made of oak in the main, and it's an open air O so people gather round in the theatre to hear a play.

Zo?: Patrick 形容環球劇場的形狀是一個有 20 面的木頭O 字形建筑。

Helen: A twenty-sided wooden O, and Patrick used a special phrase to describe this shape – a polygonal O.

Zo?: 多邊形的，polygonal. 這是一個木材建筑，主要用的木材是橡樹木。

Helen: That’s oak. Oak is a very durable and hard wood. It’s commonly used in buildings and also for furniture in the UK.

Zo?: 因為環球劇院是沒有頂的，這樣大家就可以圍著舞臺，享受露天戲劇演出。這種演出方式英國人稱之為...

Helen: Open air plays. The shows are performed outside, so we call it open air plays.

Zo?: 我們剛才已經提到最早的環球劇場在 1613 年被大火燒掉了。那Patrick 能不能介紹一下那個時期的環球劇場的歷史是怎樣的呢？

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Well, it was built in 1599 and Shakespeare and a group of actors put money together to build the theatre. It was the first time ever in England actors had paid to build a theatre. So that was very special.

Zo?: 這么說原來的Globe Theatre 是 1599 年修建的。是莎士比亞還有其他一些演員一起出錢修的。

Helen: And it was the first time ever in England that actors used their own money to build a theatre.

Zo?: 以前的社會雖然很喜歡看戲，但是對演員們并不尊重，所以環球劇場的修建也是就有歷史性的意義， 這代表了當時的演藝界有了自己可以隨意發揮的空間。

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And it became the number one theatre in London as Shakespeare's company became the number one acting company of London. So it became from 1599 as the number one venue for theatre and certainly the number one venue for Shakespeare's plays until 1613.

Zo?: 后來環球劇場隨著莎士比亞的劇團的發展，在倫敦的名氣越來越大。

Helen: It became the number one venue for theatre.

Zo?: 這里就成了倫敦第一的劇院， the number one venue. Venue 就是地方，地點的意思。

Helen: The original Globe Theatre provided great entertainment to the public for over 13 years before tragedy struck.

Zo?: 是啊，這個大火到底是怎么回事兒啊？

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And in 1613 they put on a play about Henry VIII and they had a cannon effect to announce the arrival of the king on stage. But it was a special effect that went badly wrong because a spark from the cannon flew up and hit the roof which is made of thatch. It caught fire and the theatre burnt to the ground during a performance.

Helen: Now we know how the fire started. The theatre was burnt down during a performance.

Zo?: 原來就是一場演出把環球劇場給毀了。是1613年上演莎士比亞的亨利八世的時候，為了用大炮做一個音響效果。

Helen: A special sound effect, a cannon firing to announce the arrival of the king on stage.

Zo?: 結果這個大炮爆出來的火花濺上了屋頂。 你想那可了得，整個屋頂都是用稻草鋪的。

Helen: Thatch roof made of dried grass. As you can imagine, fire and dried grass don’t mix, and the theatre was destroyed very quickly.

Zo?: 結果，一場亨利八世的表演就把莎士比亞的環球劇場燒為平地了。

Helen: Luckily for all of us today, the theatre has been rebuilt and it is a wonderful place to be.

Zo?: 對喜歡英國文學的朋友來說，今后有機會到倫敦的話，在環球劇場里聽一出莎翁戲劇，那就不旺倫敦一行了。

Helen: So until next time, it’s goodbye from both of us at BBC Learning English.

Zo?: Bye.