Alan Johnston, BBC News

媒體英語會帶大家一起學習 BBC 撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。

Background: 世界上最名貴的小提琴是意大利提琴制造家， 史特拉第瓦里(Stradivari)所制的提琴。這些古董琴以完美的音質著稱，其中一把珍藏提琴去年創(chuàng)下了近1千萬英鎊的成交紀錄。但在美國近期的一次試驗中，結果顯示名貴古董提琴未必比現代提琴好。這一結論引起了位于北意大利史特拉第瓦里故鄉(xiāng)的不滿。

For generations lovers of classical music have believed that when it comes to the violin, there is nothing finer than the sound of a Stradivarius. But research in America has challenged the mystique surrounding the famous old instruments.

Tests involving more than 20 professional violinists were conducted in a hotel in Indiana. The violinists were made to wear goggles that blinded them.

They couldn't tell whether they were playing an antique Stradivarius, or a brand new instrument. And most of the musicians decided that they liked the new ones best.

But they've been unimpressed by this in a place called Cremona, the home town of the Stradivarius violin. At the instrument museum there, a spokesman said the American survey was no more than "media hype".

He said that for hundreds of years the world of music had recognised the quality of the Stradivarius.