Neil: Hello, this is BBC Learning¹ English, I'm Neil.

Helen: 大家好，我是Helen. 欢迎收听BBC Learning English “On the Town”.

Neil: And today we're talking about places to get away from all the noise and pollution of the big city – London's parks and open spaces.

Helen: 我们现在就在伦敦市区的一个公园里， so are there many parks in London?

Neil: Well, even though London has a population of about seven million people there are over a hundred parks where you can go for a bit of peace and quiet and to get away from it all.

Helen: 听到了吗？伦敦虽然有7百万人口，可是这里的公园可不少，超过了一百多个呢。那为什么人们这么喜欢公园呢？

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Man: I think it's the contrast, really. I mean London, hasn't it got the largest amount of green space for a capital or something?

Woman: The fact that, basically², here isn't like a tropical³ country and everything sort of comes to life in the spring and summer, makes it such a nice experience.

Man: It's really nice to have a lot of greenery in a big city.

Helen: 我们听到有些人喜欢公园的原因是因为公园和周围的繁忙都市有一种明确的对比 contrast. So Neil, which of the parks is the most famous?

Neil: The Royal Parks. There are eight of them in total, but the two most famous are probably Regent's Park and Hyde Park in central London.

Helen: Royal Parks, 就是皇家公园。那为什么像你说的这个Regent's Park, 还有 Hyde Park 海德公园是皇家公园呢？

Neil: Hundreds of years ago they used to be the private grounds for the royal family to go hunting, but in the 1800s they were opened up for the general public.

Helen: 原来是几百年前这些地方都是皇室打猎 hunting 的地方，不过在1800年以后就开放了，老百姓也可以进皇家花园了， 那这些大的皇家花园里有些什么好玩的呢？

Neil: Well, Hyde Park's got a little bit of everything. It’s 142 hectares in size, with over 4,000 trees, a lake, a meadow⁴ and even horse rides. And in the summer there are pop and classical music concerts.

Helen: So there are lots of things to do in the park! Now first, hectare 这是一个面积单位，也就是一公顷. 海德公园有142公顷，那就是1.42平方公里。那里有树，有湖，还有大片开满野花的草地 meadow。 各项活动也很多，像骑马，音乐会等等。And how about Regent's Park?

Neil: Well, Regent's Park is even bigger than Hyde Park. It's also the venue⁵ for Open-Air Theatre and the home of London Zoo.

Helen: Regent's Park 比 Hyde Park 还要大。伦敦动物园 London Zoo 也在那里。 在很多公园里夏天比较流行的一项活动是 open-air theatre, 露天戏院, 到时候很多人会带上一份三明治，在傍晚时欣赏一出经典戏剧， now that's what I call great entertainment.

Neil: Absolutely, open-air theatres are great fun, and sometimes they are free too. We also asked people some of the other things they like doing in London’s Parks.

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Man: Drink coffee, watch the world go by, people watching.

Woman: I like to go and have a picnic, and I like to go and swim. And if I have friends who have dogs, then it's nice just going for a long walk with the dogs.

Man: I like swimming when it's sunny.

Helen: 有些人喜欢 watch the world go by, 这个短句的意思就是看着世界在你面前走过， 另一种说法是 people watching, 没有什么目的的观察周围的人。有些人也喜欢野餐 picnic 或者是溜狗 walk the dogs.

Neil: So, the parks in Central London are pretty big, but they're nothing in comparison⁶ to some of the parks a little further out of the city centre.

Helen: 那你说哪个是伦敦最大的公园呢？

Neil: The biggest park in London is Richmond Park. It's almost a thousand hectares.

Helen: My goodness⁷, that's huge!

Neil: It's really more like the open countryside than a city park.

Helen: 这就是完全像一个自然的公园，像到了乡村一样。

Neil: There are quite a few parks like Richmond where the trees and grass are left to grow naturally.

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Woman: I really like Holland Park, because it's quite wild. I really like Hampstead Heath, because they have the ponds so you can go and swim, and it's also massive⁸ as well. And I like Epping Forest, because it's just that – it's a forest.

Helen: 刚才这位女士提到了她喜欢的几个公园，像 Holland Park 吸引她的原因就是这里有野外的感觉，the park is wild. 还有一个地方叫做 Epping Forest, 那里有一片小森林， 在伦敦东北方向。

Neil: Well, today we've heard about all the different types of parks there are in London and what you can do in them.

Helen: 那好吧，我们今天的节目就到这儿。

Neil: Join us next time for more “On the Town” from BBC Learning English.

Helen: 再见。 Bye bye.