Man: Normally, it is a happy occasion when they arrive here, and normally, when they're out the front, on days like Trooping the Colour, VE Day or VJ Day. This is a tragic1 occasion.

Woman: Looks that the Queen is about... she is. She is getting out of the car. While she's getting talk to people.

Man: It's extreme unusual. This is, this is almost unprecedented2. I think, perhaps the last time the Queen was among her people outside the palace was, was the day the war in Europe ended.

Woman: It's really as if the public and the royal family, the monarchy3, have had a bit of a quarrel this week and now it's being healed in some measure.

Man: Like a family spat4, not unlike the spats5 they acknowledged with Diana. I mean, Jenny is quite right to say that whatever the professional ups and downs between the Queen and the Princess...

Alastair: They sent a copy of the Queen's speech. You might want to scrape the frost off it first.

Man: I think the queen was very generous in recognizing that her oldest son wasn't the easiest chap to be married to.

Alastair: I've made a couple of suggestions to make it sound like it came from a human being.

Tony: Yeah, all right.

Alastair: Well this old bat finally agreed to visit Diana's coffin6.

Tony: You know when you get it wrong, you really get it wrong. That woman has given her whole life in service to her people, 50 years doing a job she never wanted, a job she watched kill her father. She's executed it with honour, dignity, and as far as I can tell, without a single blemish7, and now, we're all baying for her blood! All because she's struggling to lead the world in mourning for someone who, who threw everything she offered back in her face, and who, for the least few years, seemed committed 24-7 to destroy everything she holds most dear!

Man: We cross, now, live, to Buckingham Palace for the Queen's tribute to Princess Diana.

Elizabeth: Since last Sunday's dreadful news, we have seen, throughout Britain and around the world, an overwhelming expression of sadness at Diana's death. We have all been trying, in our different ways, to cope. It is not easy to express a sense of loss, since the initial shock is often succeeded by a mixture of other feelings, disbelief, incomprehension, anger and concern for those who remain. We have all felt those emotions in these last few days, so what I say to you now, as your Queen, and as a grandmother, I say from my heart.

Cherie: Heart? What heart? She doesn't mean a word of this.

Tony: That's not the point. What she's doing is extraordinary.

Elizabeth: ...in good times and bad, she never lost...

Tony: That's how to survive.

Cherie: Listen to you. A week ago, you were the great moderniser, making speeches about the people's princess. Now you've gone weak at the knees.

Tony: Ssh.

Elizabeth: ...and for her devotion to her two boys.

Cherie: I don't know why I'm so surprised. At the end of the day, all Labour prime ministers go gaga for the Queen.

Tony: What?

Elizabeth: Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I, for one, believe there are lessons to be drawn8 from her life, and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory. I hope that, tomorrow, we can all, wherever we are, join in expressing our grief at Diana's loss and gratitude9 for her all-too-short life. May those who died rest in peace, and may we, each and every one of us, thank God for someone who made many, many people happy.

妙語佳句,活學活用

1. VE Day

Short for Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945, the day on which the Allies announced the surrender of German forces in Europe.

2. VJ Day

Short for Victory over Japan Day, August 14

3. Ups and downs

這個片語大伙應該都很熟悉,它的意思是Good times and bad times, successes and failures 盛衰,沉浮,成敗,好壞等,比如:We've had our ups and downs but things are going fairly well now.

4. Throw something in someone's face

意為Confront or upbraid10 someone with something 以和某人對抗,責備某人,比如: Dean keeps throwing her poor driving record in her sister's face.

5. 24-7

這是一個俚語,意思是Continuously; unceasingly. 持續(xù)不斷地,連續(xù)地。一天24小時,一周七天,24-7就用來表示無時無刻,不斷地。

6. Go weak at the knees

口語,意為To be overcome by emotion,比如:This film makes me go weak at the knees.
.
7. At the end of the day

At the end of day在這里是個非正式的口語表達,it is something that you say before you say what you believe to be the most important fact of a situation(在話已說盡,事情已做完的時候),像漢語中說到底,到頭來。比如:Sure we missed our best player but at the end of the day, John, we just didn't play well enough to win the game.

除此之外,at the end of the day 還可以表示finally,比如:We interviewed many people for the job, but at the end of the day, we didn't think any of them could handle it.