金融時報:英王室“權(quán)力的游戲”

英王室“權(quán)力的游戲”

美劇《權(quán)力的游戲》風靡全球，在英國也頗受歡迎。FT諷刺專欄作家施里姆斯利(Robert Shrimsley)“自黑”說：我們失去了一個帝國，我們球踢得不好，而我們的王室跟劇中的比起來也特沒意思。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

gone off the boil 過了沸騰時期，過了頂峰

lechery['let?(?)r?] 好色，淫蕩

heady ['hed?] 興奮的，使人頭暈的

saga ['sɑ?g?] 傳說

Dodi Fayed 埃及電影制片人，戴安娜王妃離婚后的男友，兩人在1997年在法國的一場車禍中去世

Maori ['mauri] 新西蘭毛利人

King Edward VIII 愛德華八世，即為與辛普森夫人結(jié)婚而退位的國王。他的弟弟接任王位，即《國王的演講》中的喬治六世國王

spin-off ['spin?:f, -?f] 影視的續(xù)集，副產(chǎn)品

debauchery [d?'b??t?(?)r?] 縱情酒色

double-cross 兩面三刀，出賣

Lift your game, House of Windsor （697 words）

By Robert Shrimsley

Everyone seems terribly excited about the new series of Game of Thrones.

There are many explanations for the popularity of GoT but, in Britain at least, it is clear that the real secret of its success is that our own homegrown royal drama has really gone off the boil.

For centuries we had a monarchy that cornered the market in lechery and treachery, but now viewers are abandoning it for the land of Westeros and the intrigues of House of Lannister for their entertainment. So there it is, the final indignity. We've lost the empire, we can't play football and our monarchy is being bested by a TV series set in what sounds like a furniture store.

This week, while Game of Thrones featured its usual heady mixture of dwarfs, dragons and death, the best the British Game of Thrones could come up with was Princess Kate, Prince William and baby Prince George(future King, if the monarchy remains) in New Zealand, where they weren't captured by Maoris but pretended to play cricket and waved at crowds.

In just a few years we've gone from Game of Thrones to Lame as Clones. Do you realise we haven't even had a decent beheading since 1697? Game of Thrones wouldn't go more than 20 minutes without a good decapitation but, oh no, we haven't had one since the Jacobite Rebellion (the House of Stuart had been deposed by the Parliament in the Glorious Revolution, between 1688 and 1746, there were uprisings aimed to restore them to the throne. Had nothing to do with the Jacobins in the French Revolution). Prince George is nearly nine months old and he's unlikely to murder a single cousin. As for violence, in general the best you can hope for these days is Prince Harry charging at a photographer. No wonder the Scots are threatening independence.

There was a time when you could tune into our own saga in the certain knowledge that something exciting would happen. You may not have got dragons or sorcery but you could count on divorce, adultery and abdication. You had Princess Diana lounging on Dodi Fayed's yacht in her swimsuit; now the best you can get is Princess Kate in a terribly fetching scarlet jacket. What's more, there's only two of them in this marriage, which may work well in conventional terms but is, frankly, useless in narrative terms.

Admittedly, it did get a bit dull after the first world war, but from the moment King Edward VIII ran off with Mrs Simpson, we were into several decades of absolutely fizzing stories. Those writers really knew their trade. You would not have thought that some old royal with a speech impediment was particularly original but, 75 years later, it wins an Oscar for best picture.

And the 1980s were terrific. Princess Diana, Sarah Ferguson(a commoner married to Prince Andrew and then divorced), the brilliant comic invention that was Prince Edward(third son of Queen Elithebeth II, he had started a television programs production company which went bankrupt) – any one of them could have secured their own spin-off series and, indeed, several tried.

There are those who feel the royals should be a model family – a blank canvas on to which we can all paint our aspirations.

But if there is one thing we know about modern society, it is that it has absolutely no attention span. What the modern royals don't realise is that they are now competing with a far wider range of entertainment, fighting for eyeballs with Grand Theft Auto V and Breaking Bad. On the daily commute, people who could be reading about the royals are instead playing Candy Crush. At this rate, I do worry about how many more series will be commissioned.

The British monarchy has not endured for centuries on the back of calm and courtesy; it has held the union(UK) together on tales of violence, debauchery and double-cross. At such a delicate stage in the UK's history, this is no time to mess with a winning formula.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.What's the secret that Game of Thrones is popular in Britain, according to the writer?

A.The story is based on the true history of British Monarchy.

B.The Monarchy ceased to produce eye-catching gossips.

C.The Britons no longer have an empire or good football.

D.The House of Lannister is as intriguing as any real monarch.

答案(1)

2.What do we know about modern people?

A.They are no longer interested in stories of .

B.They have far wider range of entertainment.

C.They prefer games and TV series instead of gossip stories.

D.They are tired of violence, conspiracies and debauchery.

答案(2)

3.Which of the following depicts that today's royal family is dull and unexciting?

A.King Edward VIII renounced the throne and ran off with Mrs Simpson.

B.The story of a King with a speech impediment won the Oscar award.

C.“You may not have got dragons or sorcery but you could count on divorce, adultery and abdication.”

D.Prince William and Princess Kate played cricket and waved at crowds on visiting to New Zealand

答案(3)

4.What's the point the writer trying to make in the last paragraph?(You are encouraged to look back.)

A.Violence, debauchery and double-cross ensured the reign of the Monarchy.

B.The Monarchy is valuable in holding the United Kingdom together.

C.The Monarchy must now rely on courtesy and keeping calm.

D.Better not to mess up with the complicated Manarchy.

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：B.The Monarchy ceased to produce eye-catching gossips.

解釋：our own homegrown royal drama has really gone off the boil，意思是王室過了自己（出產(chǎn)八卦新聞）的巔峰期了。

(2)答案：B.They have far wider range of entertainment.

解釋：在倒數(shù)第二段說，那些曾經(jīng)會關(guān)注王室八卦故事的人們，現(xiàn)在的娛樂方式多了去了，他們可以看《絕命毒師》、玩《俠盜獵車手》或《糖果粉碎傳奇》。因此作者說“擔心王室連續(xù)劇還能持續(xù)多久”。至于D，怎么可能呢。

(3)答案：D.Prince William and Princess Kate played cricket and waved at crowds on visiting to New Zealand

解釋：王室什么時候有意思呢？一個時候是古代，tales of violence, debauchery and double-cross，另一個時代是一戰(zhàn)后。文章倒數(shù)第五段有這么一句話Admittedly, it did get a bit dull after the first world war, but from the moment King Edward VIII ran off with Mrs Simpson… 也就是戰(zhàn)后從愛德華八世到戴安娜王妃之間，有著不少divorce, adultery and abdication題材的故事。 D顯然并非很有意思。

(4)答案：B.The Monarchy is valuable in holding the United Kingdom together.

解釋：最后一句a delicate stage in the UK's history，當然是指今天面臨的蘇格蘭獨立公投， no time to mess with a winning formula，結(jié)合前文，意思是歷史上英王室保障了聯(lián)合王國的統(tǒng)一，雖然不是靠calm and courtesy，但也算是成功的秘訣。雖然王室不可能是高端華貴的道德楷模，但留著又何妨？

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