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, basically, here isn’t like a tropical 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.