国家地理-2008-09-27 伦敦的骸骨展

 

Transcript--by myconsent (for reference only)

 

Construction workers in London are currently busy with redevelopment activity across the city. But it often disturbs the graves of thousands of long-deceased Londoners buried deep beneath the modern city. The Wellcome Collection has brought together a carefully selected array of some of the more interesting skeletons whose history spans several centuries.

 

We found all of these skeletons. We actually have 17 thousand at the moment at Museum of London, but there were lots more and quite a few of them have been reburied. She says forensic¹ analysis can reveal much about the circumstances in which these Londoners lived.

 

And this is a female skeleton, and she was found at the site of Royal Mint, where they built the building to make the coins. And she’s got a lovely green skull² and green teeth from the copper³. So when they made the coins, they threw away the copper waste and that’s turned her green. And she’s from the mediaeval period, and the rest of her skeleton, you can see, is normal bone color.

 

This is the skeleton of a child, aged⁴ about 11 years old. And as you can see from the skull, there’s an awful lot of destruction. But this destruction is from a disease, and also along the one side here and then down to the leg bones. And this child unfortunately suffered from congenital syphilis. And so that meant that the mother had venereal syphilis and it was passed from mother to child.

 

Fast-forward a few centuries, and the socioeconomic condition of modern-day East London has parallels to centuries gone by. In the furthest part of East London stands the City of London Cemetery⁵. In the mid⁶ 1850s, officials decided⁷ London burial should take place outside the city limits, as space for burial sites was becoming increasingly scarce.

 

The legislation that came in to protect the disturbance⁸ of remains⁹ in the 1850s was for a specific reason, I mean, creating the problems we’ve got now, of graveyards¹⁰ being full, cemeteries¹¹ being full, and cemeteries being unsustainable. Therefore, we have to go, move forward to reusing graves.

 

Well that may not be an ideal solution for many. It will mean at least that the Londoners buried here will not meet the same fate as their 14th century counterparts.

 

Notes

forensic: 关于法庭的, forensic analysis 法医鉴定

 

Royal Mint: the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom (by Chloe)

 

the mediaeval period: also referred to as “the Middle Ages”,中世纪

 

congenital:  [con共同+genit（gene）出生+al形容词后缀] 先天的

 

syphilis: 梅毒

 

parallel: 拥有与…相似特点的事物

 

1 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

2 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

3 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

4 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

5 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

6 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 graveyards   

墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards. 他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• "And northward there lie, in five graveyards, Calm forever under dewy green grass," 五陵北原上，万古青蒙蒙。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

11 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句