Hello, Catherine here from BBC Learning English. Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC Learning English Archive（档案馆）. It was originally（ 最初） broadcast（广播） in April 2007 on our website. Enjoy! Hello, I'm Amber and you're listening to bbclearningenglish.com. In Weekender today, we consider a linguistic（语言的） dilemma（进退两难的局面）.

  Should we call a woman who acts an actress? Does the use of the word "actor" to describe both men and women make more sense? We hear from two acclaimed actresses, Fiona Shaw and Zoe Wanamaker, and from David Marsh（湿地） who is the author of the Guardian（[法] 监护人） newspaper Style Guide. But first, a little history. The word "actress" was first used round（圆） about 1700. But women began acting on the English stage in 1656 when King Charles II permitted（允许） it.

  So there's a gap between women starting to act in 1656 when they were called "actor" and women being called "actress" round about 1700. Then, if we jump forward to the 1970s and 1980s, women began to choose the term "actor" instead of "actress" as a direct result of the women's movement and an awareness（意识） of gender（性别） bias（偏见） in language. Women began to take back the term "actor" and it's often used today. Zoe Wanamaker explains that in the 1970s and 1980s there was a stigma, a feeling that people disapproved（不赞成） of being called an actress. This was because the word "actress" seemed to have the connotation（含蓄） or suggested meaning of being a prostitute. There was supposed to be a feeling of equality（平等） and also there was this stigma against being called an actress because particularly（特别） in this country, in Great Britain, the name "actress" seemed to have this connotation of being a prostitute.