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To justify the imposition of an annual licence fee, BBC programming has always had to offer a combination of popularity and piety.
為了證明征收年度訂閱費是合理行為，BBC必須一直提供受歡迎且虔誠的節目。
Television, which currently takes 55% of the ￡159 fee, has always tended to provide the popularity.
英國廣播公司電視臺從159億英鎊的會員費中收取55%，一直以來都傾向于提供流行節目。
In the 1970s the comic double act of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise won audiences of over 20m.
20世紀70年代，埃里克·莫克坎貝和厄尼·懷斯的喜劇雙人秀獲得了超過2000萬觀眾。
Today, "Strictly Come Dancing", a game show, gets ratings of 7m.
如今，競賽節目《舞動奇跡》獲得了700萬收視率。
Radio tends to do the piety.
廣播往往是虔誠的。
The World Service broadcasts in 42 languages to 492m people.
BBC世界電視臺以42種語言為4.92億人進行廣播。
Radio 3 offers programmes with such titles as "Discovering Music: Monteverdi Madrigals".
廣播第三臺提供類似《探索音樂：蒙特威爾第牧歌》的節目。
Radio 4 offers the implausibly wholesome "In Our Time".
廣播第四臺播放非常益于道德培養的《我們的時代》。
Recent episodes have included "Hegel's Philosophy of History", "The Hittites" and "Tang Era Poetry".
最近的劇集還包括《黑格爾的歷史哲學》、《赫梯人》和《唐代詩歌》。
The common man has not always been grateful for the BBC's efforts.
普通人并不都對BBC的努力心存感激。
A 1950s sketch show described the BBC as a "part of the English heritage. Like suet pudding and catarrh".
20世紀50年代的一檔小品節目將BBC描述為“英國遺產的一部分。就像羊油布丁和黏膜炎?！?。
But the BBC mattered.
但BBC很重要。
Its news (despite grumbles about lefty bias) was trusted, its radio all but loved.
它的新聞(盡管有人抱怨其左翼傾向)受到信任，它的廣播受人喜愛。
For Britons of a certain age not only the outspread century but humdrum daily life itself was, like a bourgeois Book of Hours, measured out by its tread: breakfast with "Today", supper after "The Archers" and insomnia with the shipping forecast, whose litany of names "North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty..."
對于某個年齡段的英國人來說，BBC就像一本資產階級的祈禱書，漫長的世紀和單調的日常生活都在它的陪伴中度過：早餐時收聽《今日》，《阿徹家族》后享用晚餐，失眠時伴隨的海上天氣預報，和一連串的地名——北尤伊斯特島，南尤伊斯特島，福爾蒂斯，克羅默蒂……
- was as unintelligible as a religious chant and, to many, as comforting.
——對許多人來說，它們就像宗教圣歌一樣難以理解，但寬慰人心。
Now that bond is breaking.
現在，這種紐帶正在破裂。
Smartphones and streaming have switched off communal tvs and radios.
智能手機和流媒體已經關閉了公共電視和收音機的功能。
Programmes are consumed individually, and at will.
節目是獨立收費且自愿的。
The particular blend of serendipity and boredom that led people to watch "Antiques Roadshow", or to listen to the wind forecast for the Faroe Islands, has gone.
因為巧合和無聊生活的神秘指引而觀看《巡回鑒寶》或收聽法羅群島風向預報的情況，已經不復存在了。
Mr. Hendy observes that the BBC was born with an "umbilical link" to radio.
亨迪先生發現，BBC生來就與廣播有著“臍帶式聯系”。
The technology, it turns out, wasn't there to serve the BBC; the BBC served the technology: the medium was the message.
事實證明，不是技術在服務BBC，而是BBC在為技術服務：信息是其中的媒介。
In its triumphant first century, the BBC forgot this.
在其取得勝利的第一個百年，BBC忘記了這一點。
It is now being painfully reminded of it.
現在，它痛苦地回想起了這一切。
The message from the era of smartphones is brutal.
智能手機時代的教訓是殘酷的。
Viewing figures among the young have collapsed; in a typical week, a fifth of 16- to 34-year-olds consume no BBC content at all.
BBC在年輕人之間的收視率大幅下降；按一周的時間計算，16歲至34歲的人中有五分之一根本不看BBC節目。
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 irrelevant to many.
BBC好像沒有努力改變形象：它可以完美地報道國葬，但對許多人來說，它越來越無關緊要。
Too few shows are "Strictly" style hits; too many are tosh.
沒有幾個節目像“舞動奇跡”一樣熱門；大多數節目都在胡說八道。
At a time when it needs to prove its worth, it has cut World Service jobs.
在需要證明自己價值的重要時期，BBC削減了世界電視臺的工作崗位。
Catastrophe is unlikely, but decline of some sort probable.
大災難不太可能發生，但某種程度的衰退可能會出現。
The end of the BBC's first century has a less than celebratory feel.
BBC第一個百年的到來并不太讓人歡欣鼓舞。
