🎧 原版音檔（BBC 存檔）
Vocabulary: social attitudes 詞匯：社會態度
English writer Enid Blyton is one of the most popular authors in the world. More than 400 million copies of her children's books have been sold worldwide and generations of British children have grown up hooked on her stories of adventure and magic.
But not everyone likes Enid Blyton.
Some people are objecting to plans to put up a plaque where her house once stood in the town of Beaconsfield, as part of a festival to celebrate her life and work. They complain that her books are racist, sexist and snobbish.
One of the problems is that Blyton wrote between the 1920s and 1960s. Since that time British society has changed enormously, especially with regards to how we should speak about race, gender, class and how to bring up children.
Many of her stories are enthusiastic about physical punishment, like smacking, which is now considered wrong by many in the UK. Girls also tend to play a very passive role in her popular detective series, like The Famous Five and the Five Find-Outers.
Working class characters don't do well either. They are often mocked for the way they speak or portrayed as lacking intelligence and social graces.
Blyton is also notorious for her attitudes to race. The baddies are often foreign or gypsies and she wrote about toys called golliwogs. Golliwogs are caricatured images of black people, which are still seen in shops today. But many companies now refuse to sell golliwogs because they are felt to be racist.
Generations of children have been willing to overlook the punishments and prejudice and have avidly read her 5,000 short stories and 150 novels. Children's writer Michael Rosen says this is because she knew what children wanted in a story.
Adults are usually absent in Blyton books, allowing children to be powerful: travelling and cooking for themselves, visiting magic lands or solving mysteries. But in modern British life, children are more than ever being constantly watched and controlled, as people become more security conscious.
Blyton's books are now published with changes, to make them more acceptable to modern sensibilities, and sales are increasing. Regardless of criticisms, Enid Blyton stories are as much a part of childhood for this generation of British children, as they were for their parents and grandparents.
Quiz 測驗
1. Where is the planned Enid Blyton festival?
In the town of Beaconsfield.
2. According to the article, is the following statement true, false or not given? Attitudes in Britain haven't changed since the 1920s.
False. The article says attitudes have changed.
3. According to the article, who is mocked for the way they speak, in Enid Blyton books?
Working class characters.
4. In Enid Blyton books, are children watched closely by adults?
No, adults are usually absent.
5. Are Enid Blyton books still sold?
Yes, and sales are increasing.
Glossary 词汇表 （点击单词收听发音）
hooked on被吸引
objecting to去干涉
plaque牌匾
snobbish勢利的
race種族
gender性別
class階級
passive role被動角色
detective偵探
working class characters工人階級的角色
mocked嘲笑挖苦
portrayed被描繪
social graces社交禮儀
notorious臭名昭著的
baddies壞人
gypsies吉普賽人
caricatured漫畫諷刺手法
willing to overlook願意忽略
security conscious安全意識強
sensibilities感性