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

Background: 英國政府一直在辯論有關慶祝英國民族意識日這一提議，最初想法是一個公假日，后來則是作為一個節日。不過，英國公眾對這一提議始終反映平平。

Questions: 請在聽下面錄音的時候試著回答這些問題。這是一個用來幫助你提高聽力技能的練習。

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?

Click here for answers

Britishness Day 英國日

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 極端主義 and keep the different parts of the United Kingdom bonded together 緊密聯系在一起.

So even before he became Prime Minister, Mr Brown had suggested the idea of a patriotic 愛國的 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 實施. Many critics 批評人士 ridiculed 嘲諷 the idea - arguing that the British didn't actually like to be overtly 公然的/公開表現出來的 patriotic.

It must be said, voters 選民 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 政府大臣部長們 were just thinking about turning an existing public holiday 公共假日 into a "Great British Weekend". And embarrassingly 令人尷尬地 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 放棄... and the government's gone back to thinking of other ways to encourage a bit of national pride.

GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽發音, 請單擊英語單詞)

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.