2022年经济学人 BBC成立100周年：未知的前景(2)

（单词翻译）

To justify¹ the imposition of an annual licence fee, BBC programming has always had to offer a combination of popularity and piety².

为了证明征收年度订阅费是合理行为，BBC必须一直提供受欢迎且虔诚的节目。

Television, which currently takes 55% of the ￡159 fee, has always tended to provide the popularity.

英国广播公司电视台从159亿英镑的会员费中收取55%，一直以来都倾向于提供流行节目。

In the 1970s the comic double act of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise won audiences of over 20m.

20世纪70年代，埃里克·莫克坎贝和厄尼·怀斯的喜剧双人秀获得了超过2000万观众。

Today, "Strictly³ Come Dancing", a game show, gets ratings of 7m.

如今，竞赛节目《舞动奇迹》获得了700万收视率。

Radio tends to do the piety.

广播往往是虔诚的。

The World Service broadcasts in 42 languages to 492m people.

BBC世界电视台以42种语言为4.92亿人进行广播。

Radio 3 offers programmes with such titles as "Discovering Music: Monteverdi Madrigals".

广播第三台提供类似《探索音乐：蒙特威尔第牧歌》的节目。

Radio 4 offers the implausibly wholesome⁴ "In Our Time".

广播第四台播放非常益于道德培养的《我们的时代》。

Recent episodes have included "Hegel's Philosophy of History", "The Hittites" and "Tang Era Poetry".

最近的剧集还包括《黑格尔的历史哲学》、《赫梯人》和《唐代诗歌》。

The common man has not always been grateful for the BBC's efforts.

普通人并不都对BBC的努力心存感激。

A 1950s sketch⁵ show described the BBC as a "part of the English heritage. Like suet pudding and catarrh".

20世纪50年代的一档小品节目将BBC描述为“英国遗产的一部分。就像羊油布丁和黏膜炎。”。

But the BBC mattered.

但BBC很重要。

Its news (despite grumbles⁶ about lefty bias) was trusted, its radio all but loved.

它的新闻(尽管有人抱怨其有左翼倾向)受到信任，它的广播受人喜爱。

For Britons of a certain age not only the outspread century but humdrum⁷ daily life itself was, like a bourgeois⁸ Book of Hours, measured out by its tread: breakfast with "Today", supper after "The Archers⁹" and insomnia¹⁰ with the shipping¹¹ forecast, whose litany of names "North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty..."

对于某个年龄段的英国人来说，BBC就像一本资产阶级的祈祷书，漫长的世纪和单调的日常生活都在它的陪伴中度过：早餐时收听《今日》，《阿彻家族》后享用晚餐，失眠时伴随的海上天气预报，和一连串的地名——北尤伊斯特岛，南尤伊斯特岛，福尔蒂斯，克罗默蒂……

- was as unintelligible¹² as a religious chant and, to many, as comforting.

——对许多人来说，它们就像宗教圣歌一样难以理解，但宽慰人心。

Now that bond is breaking.

现在，这种纽带正在破裂。

Smartphones and streaming have switched off communal¹³ tvs and radios.

智能手机和流媒体已经关闭了公共电视和收音机的功能。

Programmes are consumed individually, and at will.

节目是独立收费且自愿的。

The particular blend of serendipity¹⁴ and boredom¹⁵ that led people to watch "Antiques Roadshow", or to listen to the wind forecast for the Faroe Islands, has gone.

因为巧合和无聊生活的神秘指引而观看《巡回鉴宝》或收听法罗群岛风向预报的情况，已经不复存在了。

Mr. Hendy observes that the BBC was born with an "umbilical link" to radio.

亨迪先生发现，BBC生来就与广播有着“脐带式联系”。

The technology, it turns out, wasn't there to serve the BBC; the BBC served the technology: the medium was the message.

事实证明，不是技术在服务BBC，而是BBC在为技术服务：信息是其中的媒介。

In its triumphant¹⁶ first century, the BBC forgot this.

在其取得胜利的第一个百年，BBC忘记了这一点。

It is now being painfully reminded of it.

现在，它痛苦地回想起了这一切。

The message from the era of smartphones is brutal¹⁷.

智能手机时代的教训是残酷的。

Viewing figures among the young have collapsed¹⁸; in a typical week, a fifth of 16- to 34-year-olds consume no BBC content at all.

BBC在年轻人之间的收视率大幅下降；按一周的时间计算，16岁至34岁的人中有五分之一根本不看BBC节目。

There is a sense that the BBC doesn't do enough to justify itself: it can cover a state funeral beautifully but it is increasingly irrelevant¹⁹ to many.

BBC好像没有努力改变形象：它可以完美地报道国葬，但对许多人来说，它越来越无关紧要。

Too few shows are "Strictly" style hits; too many are tosh.

没有几个节目像“舞动奇迹”一样热门；大多数节目都在胡说八道。

At a time when it needs to prove its worth, it has cut World Service jobs.

在需要证明自己价值的重要时期，BBC削减了世界电视台的工作岗位。

Catastrophe²⁰ is unlikely, but decline of some sort probable.

大灾难不太可能发生，但某种程度的衰退可能会出现。

The end of the BBC's first century has a less than celebratory feel.

BBC第一个百年的到来并不太让人欢欣鼓舞。