By Naomi Grimley London, UK

Should the British be making more effort to celebrate their Britishness?

Background: 英国政府一直在辩论有关庆祝英国民族意识日这一提议，最初想法是一个公假日，后来则是作为一个节日。不过，英国公众对这一提议始终反映平平。

Questions: 请在听下面录音的时候试着回答这些问题。这是一个用来帮助你提高听力技能的练习。

1. True or false: Gordon Brown has only been interested in celebrating Britishness for a very short time.

2. What's the name of France’s national holiday?

3. The public might have been more excited about the idea of a national celebration if it had meant what?

4. What has happened to the idea of a Britishness Day?

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Naomi Grimley's report 点击此处下载录音材料

Gordon Brown has made it his mission 使命 to foster 扶植 "Britishness". He's long argued that a greater sense of national identity 民族特征 would help fight Al Qaeda-inspired extremism 极端主义 and keep the different parts of the United Kingdom bonded together 紧密联系在一起.

So even before he became Prime Minister, Mr Brown had suggested the idea of a patriotic 爱国的 celebration similar to America's Independence Day or Bastille Day in France.

But the British version of these national holidays never really got off the ground 实施. Many critics 批评人士 ridiculed 嘲讽 the idea - arguing that the British didn't actually like to be overtly 公然的/公开表现出来的 patriotic.

It must be said, voters 选民 might have been a bit more excited by the prospect 前景 if it had meant an extra day off work. But it became apparent ministers 政府大臣部长们 were just thinking about turning an existing public holiday 公共假日 into a "Great British Weekend". And embarrassingly 令人尴尬地 the public holiday they had in mind 心里想的 wasn't actually a holiday at all in Scotland.

So now the idea of a Britishness day has been quietly dropped 放弃... and the government's gone back to thinking of other ways to encourage a bit of national pride.

mission 使命

foster 扶植

national identity 民族特征

extremism 极端主义

bonded together 紧密联系在一起

patriotic 爱国的

got off the ground 实施

critics 批评人士

ridiculed 嘲讽

overtly 公开的/公然的

voters 选民

prospect 前景

ministers 大臣部长们

public holiday 公共假日

embarrassingly 令人尴尬的

had in mind 心里想的

dropped 放弃

Answers

1. True or false: Gordon Brown has only been interested in celebrating Britishness for a very short time.
False – He has long argued, he has argued for a long time, that a greater sense of national identity would help some of Britain’s problems.

2. What's the name of France’s national holiday?
France’s national holiday is called Bastille Day.

3. The public might have been more excited about the idea of a national celebration if it had meant what?
The public might have been more excited about the idea of a national celebration if it had meant an extra day off.

4. What has happened to the idea of a Britishness Day?
The idea of a Britishness Day has been dropped, abandoned.

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