Will the door open and reveal the Prime Minister?

Insert

Man: My name’s John and I’m from Liverpool. We’ve come to see Downing Street, unfortunately we can’t.

Woman: I thought we might be able to get closer but we can’t. I was hoping to actually see the house but we can’t see that either.

Man: Pretty much the same really, just to get a picture of Downing Street, come down to see the area, but a lot more security than I thought there’d be. It’s good, we’re just doing a grand tour at the moment, so this is one of the places we want to come to.

Woman: I suppose it’s quite famous for, obviously for the Prime Minister etc. We actually just saw the Prime Minister down there in the car, we took a picture of him so we just walked up to see where he actually lives.

Feifei: John I just saw the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

John: Really? Where did you see him?

Feifei: At the end of Downing Street where he lives.

John: So in today’s On the Town we are taking you to Number 10 Downing Street in London. I’m John.

Feifei: 是的，今天我们来到了位于伦敦市中心的唐宁街，众所周知著名的唐宁街十号是英国首相的官邸。But John, I’m really disappointed that we can’t go into the house to see what it is really like inside.

John: Well Feifei, Number 10 is also the place where the Prime Minister works, so it’s not open to the public.

Feifei: But I really want to know if the inside of Number 10 is bigger than it looks from the outside.

John: BBC presenter Konnie Huq had the chance to visit Number 10 last year and met Tony Blair. Here’s Mr. Blair’s answer to your question.

Insert

Yes, a lot bigger. We call it like the Tardis, what happens is you come in, you think you just come into a house, and then it’s actually, there are several flats, and there’s about 250 or 300 people who work here.

Feifei: Tardis? What is that?

John: The Tardis is a space ship that looks bigger on the inside than the outside, and this word comes from a very popular British science fiction programme.

Feifei: 原来 the Tardis 指的是一个里面比外面看上去大很多的宇宙飞船。这个词来自于英国一个非常受欢迎的科幻节目。

John: Mr. Blair says you think you just come into a house, but there are actually several flats and there are about 250 to 300 people working there.

Feifei: 唐宁街 10 号从外面看上去就像一个普通的房子，可是这里的前主人布莱尔先生说这个房子里面其实非常大有好几套独立的公寓，有 250 到 300 人在这里工作 。

John: Let’s listen to two former special advisors to Tony Blair, how do they feel about working in Number 10?

Insert

The most surprising thing about going to No. 10 is it’s very quiet.

It was a wonderful environment to work, it was relaxed and energetic, it was a very creative, friendly place to work.

John: So they think Number 10 is very quiet, relaxed and energetic, a wonderful place to work in.

Feifei: 曾经在唐宁街十号工作过的顾问们说这里非常安静，放松,但是同时还很有活力 energetic.

John: They say it’s also a very creative and friendly place to work.

Feifei: Creative 有创造性的。Here is another special advisor to Tony Blair that has worked at Number 10.

Insert

These are buildings with soft carpets, 18th century paintings on the walls, and almost a hushed atmosphere like libraries, yet you expect they should be like a newsroom with people frantically running around with bits of papers, decisions to be made.

John: So he says these are buildings with soft carpets, 18th century paintings on the walls and almost a hushed atmosphere inside like libraries.

Feifei: 唐宁街十号里面铺着 soft carpets 长毛地毯，墙上挂着 18 世纪的油画，hushed atmosphere 非常安静的环境。

John: He says we might expect it to be like a newsroom with people frantically running around with bits of paper.

Feifei: Frantically 疯狂的。这位顾问说人们都会觉得唐宁街10号里面应该是有很多人手里拿着各种文件疯狂地跑来跑去，其实这里很安静像图书馆一样。Even if you can’t get into the house, Downing Street is still worth visiting. You might just be very lucky like me to see the Prime Minister.

John: Well, join us again next time for another On the Town, and don’t forget you can visit our website at www.bbcchina.com.cn. See you!

Feifei: Bye!