Вы услышите интервью. В следующих заданиях выберите правильный ответ.
1. What is true about the BBC World Service’s audience?
1) Over 180 million people tune in to the service daily.
2) Most people listen to broadcasts that aren’t in English.
3) Thirty-eight million of them are native English speakers.
2. What are most of the programmes concerned with?
1) local news and sport
2) international news
3) sport and entertainment
3. In Asia and the Middle East,
1) most households listen to the BBC World Service.
2) BBC broadcasters have become extremely well-known.
3) there are round-the-clock broadcasts in English.
4. How many Asian languages are represented?
1) more than 10
2) a third
3) twenty eight
5. Many European language broadcasts stopped because
1) more Asian language broadcasts were needed.
2) listener numbers across Europe fell.
3) Europeans prefer to listen in English.
6. The BBC World Service is financed by
1) a UK government department.
2) special promotional campaigns.
3) revenue from TV licences.
7. What does George Hitchens conclude about the BBC World Service?
1) It is fair and impartial.
2) It has achieved commercial success.
3) It is politically influential.
1 – 2
2 – 2
3 – 2
4 – 1
5 – 3
6 – 3
7 – 1
A: Today I am with George Hitchens of the BBC World Service. The BBC World Service is the world’s largest international radio broadcaster, providing international news 24 hours a day to countries across the world. George, tell us about your audience.
B: Certainly. More than 183 million people around the planet listen to BBC World Service programmes each week, making it the world’s most listened-to international radio broadcaster. The BBC World Service broadcasts in 28 languages – including English – to over 150 countries. Of the global audience of 183 million regular listeners, about 38 million listen in English.
A: What sort of programmes does the BBC World Service broadcast?
B: Other than news and current affairs, there are programmes on sport, entertainment and science, among other things. However, international news forms the core of our programming.
A: I understand that your largest audiences are in Asia and the Middle East…
В: Yes, that’s correct. And that’s been the case for several decades now. The World Service is available in English up to eighteen hours a day across Asia and in Arabic up to eighteen hours a day in the Middle East. In many parts of Asia and the Middle East, BBC broadcasters are actually household names.
A: Of the 28 languages the World Service broadcasts in, how many are Asian?
B: More than a third. There are broadcasts in Hindi, Chinese, Vietnamese and over ten other Asian tongues. In contrast, many European language broadcasts have ceased over the years.
A: And why is that?
B: German broadcasts, for example, were stopped in the ’90s after 60 years on air, as research showed that the majority of German listeners tuned in to the English version. Broadcasts in Dutch, French and Italian were stopped for the same reason, unlike our Asian programming which has gone from strength to strength.
A: How is The BBC World Service funded?
B: It used to be funded by the UK government -specifically, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or ‘FCO’. The FCO is the UK government department responsible for promoting the interests of the UK abroad. Now, however, due to a change in government policy, funding is no longer from the FCO; it comes directly from the compulsory BBC licence fee which every household in the UK must pay if they have a television.
A: George, the BBC World Service has a wonderful reputation for the quality of its reporting. Why do you think this is?
B: The World Service is formally independent of the government, so the government has absolutely no editorial influence on the content of the programmes. This means a high standard of objectivity is maintained. Indeed, what makes the World Service so wonderful is that it is politically independent, non-profit and commercial-free.
A: Thank you, George.
