Leeds Castle 利茲城堡
The script of this programme 本節目臺詞
Helen: Hello, welcome to On the Town from BBC Learning English. I’m Helen.
Chen Li: 大家好， 我是陳鸝。今天，我們的城市掠影節目中，我們來帶您去英國一些最有名的地方。 Helen, I’m very excited about this place we’re going today.
Helen: Me too. Today we’re taking you to Leeds Castle, set in the stunning countryside of Kent, about one hour from London.
Chen Li: 利茲城堡，不要被這個名字給弄糊涂了，要知道這個城堡不在利茲市，實際上它位于具有英格蘭花園之稱的肯特郡。
Helen: Taking us on a tour of the castle is Victoria Wallace, the managing director of the castle. First she told us how old the castle is.
Palace is exactly the right word – it was a royal palace. It’s basically a building that’s evolved over 900 years, it started off as one of the Norman castles.
Victoria Wallace, Managing Director of Leeds Castle
Chen Li: Victoria 說這個城堡更可以說是個皇宮。
Helen: A royal palace. And it has evolved over 900 years. Evolve is a verb and it means developing slowly.
Chen Li: Evolve 進化，我們在談論歷史或者自然科學的時候，會經常用到這個詞。
Helen: Leeds castle is very well known worldwide and I asked Victoria, what makes it so famous.
Leeds has been described as the loveliest castle in the world. And I think that’s largely because it sits in a beautiful fairytale landscape, sitting on these two islands in the middle of a lake, with gentle mellow stone architecture.
Victoria Wallace, Managing Director of Leeds Castle
Chen Li: 這可是里茲城堡一個值得驕傲的稱謂。
Helen: The loveliest Castle in the world.
Chen Li: 世界上最可愛的城堡。
Can you imagine living here?
Helen: And this is because it sits in a beautiful fairytale landscape.
Chen Li: 童話般的風景，一個神奇的感覺。
Helen: Exactly. The castle itself is on two islands in the middle of a lake. That’s a very unusual setting.
Chen Li: 對城堡來說，這兩個島嶼足夠大，以至于看起來，這個城堡就象從湖中升起一樣。
Helen: With the stone architecture, it gives visitors a sense of security and tranquillity.
Chen Li: Security 安全，tranquillity 寧靜。
Helen: Once visitors walk through the castle gate, what are they expecting to see?
As you walk into the castle itself, you enter a completely different atmosphere - it looks like an English country house.
Victoria Wallace, Managing Director of Leeds Castle
Chen Li: 當您步入城堡，就會感到氛圍開始變化，從一個防御性的城堡轉變為英國鄉村的一幢豪宅。
Helen: That’s right. The atmosphere is more relaxed, more homelike.
And all the way around, are these big windows, so it’s a castle full of light. And you look out over the lakes and over the moat, and you see the swans swimming – particularly black swans, which are our speciality - and look out to the gentle English landscape beyond.
Victoria Wallace, Managing Director of Leeds Castle
Helen: The big windows were put in by Henry VIII around 500 years ago.
Chen Li: 里茲城堡光線充足，因為這里的窗戶很大，光線從四面照射進來。 還可以看到護城河。
Helen: The moat, which was dug and filled with water for defence.
Chen Li: 同時還有湖，漂亮的天鵝。
Helen: Leeds castle is famous for its swans, especially black swans.
Chen Li: 許多來參觀城堡的人，也非常喜歡這里漂亮的花園和周圍的風景。
We’ve got lovely gardens which are set up to show all sorts of different styles, and a fantastic maze with an underground grotto, full of myth and mystery. You can be lost in there for hours, but for most people it takes about quarter of an hour to go round.
Victoria Wallace, Managing Director of Leeds Castle
Helen: The maze is great. Children love it.
Chen Li: 迷宮 maze. 如果你有時間，非常值得去試一試。
Helen: There’s also an underground grotto, a small cave which is full of myth and mystery.
Chen Li: A grotto 洞穴，充滿了神奇和奧秘。Helen, how long did it take you to get through the maze?
Helen: Not very fast, but not too slow either. About 15 minutes.
Chen Li: So you didn’t get lost.
Helen: No, luckily not.
Chen Li: 好了，時間到了。世界上最美麗的城堡之旅利茲城堡就到這里了。
Helen: We will be taking you to more interesting places in the UK. So stay tuned.
Chen Li: Bye.
