威廉王子婚期將至 英國國民下注忙
Royal courtiers were pondering on Wednesday how to tailor the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton to the austere times and Britons began betting on the likely date for the ceremony.
The wedding -- which according to one estimate will boost Britain's economy by nearly $1 billion -- has been widely hailed as a welcome respite from budget cuts and belt-tightening.
But amidst the celebrations and the flood of congratulations from around the world, it has also raised the awkward question of who should foot the bill.
Buckingham Palace confirmed it was due to sit down with royal advisers to work out the details, but was tight-lipped on a likely date or whether the ceremony could be held at the kind of venues that hosted his father's and his grandmother's nuptials.
Queen Elizabeth married at Westminster Abbey. Charles and the late Princess Diana tied the knot at St Paul's Cathedral.
William and Kate, both 28, have so far revealed only that the wedding will take place in either the spring or summer next year with bookmakers tipping July and August as favorites.
Bookmaker Graham Hill said July was marginally ahead on 15/8 with August at 2/1.
July 29 -- the 30th anniversary of the spectacular wedding of his parents -- is another hot favorite, while the Daily Mail newspaper said royal aides had made "discreet overtures" to Westminster Abbey about the possibility of August 12 or 13.
A spokesman for William said the couple would be "mindful of the economic situation" in a move clearly designed to show the palace remained in touch with ordinary people.
Britain's coalition government, led by the Conservative Party, last month unveiled deep public spending cuts to help tackle a record budget deficit.
But Britons spoken to close to Buckingham Palace, in central London, appeared unfazed by the potential cost of the ceremony.
"It will bring more in than it costs to do, which is probably more than you can say about the Olympics," said Kevin Reed from Nottingham in central England.
Jan Cornworth, from Wolverhampton, central England, welcomed the news. "There's too much misery around," she said. "It's nice to have something good going on and it's for the people isn't it? -- as well as for them."
本週三，英國皇室官員們開始考慮如何在當前的嚴峻形勢下打造威廉王子和凱特•米德爾頓的婚禮，而英國國民們也開始給婚期下注。
這場婚禮預計將給拉動英國經濟增長近10億美元，因爲能夠暫緩英國政府的削減預算和財政緊縮政策而廣受歡迎。
然而，就在皇室舉行慶祝活動並接到來自世界各地的祝賀的同時，一個棘手的問題也浮出了水面，也就是誰來買單。
白金漢宮已確認將同皇家顧問一起商討婚禮的細節問題，但對於婚禮的舉行日期，以及婚禮是否會在像威廉父親和祖母結婚的這種場所進行，他們沒有透露。
伊麗莎白女王的婚禮是在威斯敏斯特大教堂舉行的。查爾斯王子和已故的戴安娜王妃則是在聖保羅大教堂舉行的婚禮。
威廉和凱特今年都是28歲。迄今爲止，兩人只透露說婚禮將在明年春天或夏天舉行。博彩公司認爲七月或八月結婚的可能性較大。
博彩商格拉漢姆•希爾說，賭7月的賠率是15/8，8月的賠率是2/1，7月勝算稍大一點。
7月29日也是一個熱門下注日期，這天是威廉父母舉行盛大婚禮的30週年紀念日。不過《每日郵報》稱，皇室的助理們已經向威斯敏斯特教堂作出“謹慎表態”，日期可能是在8月12日或13日。
威廉王子的一位發言人表示，威廉和凱特在準備婚禮時會“考慮當前的經濟形勢”。此舉顯然是爲了表示皇室並未脫離羣衆。
上個月，由保守黨領導的英國聯合政府出臺了大幅削減公共開支的政策，以應對鉅額財政赤字。
不過，根據在倫敦市中心白金漢宮附近展開的調查，英國人似乎並不擔心這場婚禮的花費。
來自英格蘭中部的諾丁漢郡的凱文•裏德說：“這場婚禮帶來的收益將超過它的花費，很可能比奧運會帶來的收益還多。”
來自英格蘭中部的伍爾弗漢普頓市的簡•康沃斯對這一消息表示歡迎。她說：“現在周圍的不幸太多了。能有點喜事發生挺好的，這是他們的喜事，也是人民的喜事，不是嗎？”
Vocabulary:
courtier: 朝臣
tailor: to make or adapt something for a particular purpose, a particular person, etc.（專門製作；訂做）
respite: a short break or escape from something difficult or unpleasant（暫停；暫緩）
belt-tightening: 緊縮開支
foot the bill: to be responsible for paying the cost of something（負擔費用）
tight-lipped: not willing to talk about something（口緊的；緘口不語的；守口如瓶的）
overture: a suggestion or an action by which somebody tries to make friends, start a business relationship, have discussions, etc. with somebody else（友好姿態；建議）
unfazed: not worried or surprised by something unexpected that happens（處變不驚的；泰然自若的）
