听播客学英语 27 灯塔人

 　　Britain is an island. We are surrounded by sea. Nowdays, you can get here by plane, or by train through the Channel Tunnel. But before planes were invented, and the Channel Tunnel was built, the only way to come to Britain was by sea.

　　The seas around Britain can be very dangerous. The Romans, who conquered¹ England in 43 AD, knew this. They built lighthouses at Dover in England and Boulogne in France to guide ships across the Channel. However, the lighthouses fell into disuse after the Romans left at the beginning of the 5th century. For hundreds of years, the seas around Britain were completely dark at night. There was nothing to help sailors find their way, or to warn them of dangers.

　　Among the most dangerous rocks around our coast are the Eddystone Rocks. They lie about 14 kilometers from the shore of south-west England, in other words at exactly the place where ships crossing the Atlantic reach England. Over the centuries, hundreds of ships have been wrecked² on the Eddystone Rocks and thousands of sailors have lost their lives.

　　Now let us meet a man called Henry Winstanley. He was born in 1644, and as a young man he became interested in architecture and engineering³. Later he became a merchant, and bought five ships. Within a few years, two of the ships had been wrecked on the Eddystone Rocks. He asked the government why nothing was done to protect ships from the rocks. The government said that the rocks were far too dangerous and too far from land to build a lighthouse there. “Nonsense,” replied Henry Winstanley. “I will build a lighthouse there myself”.

　　And he did. He started work in 1696. However, England and France were at war, and the following year a French ship arrived at the rocks and took Winstanley and his men back to France as prisoners. The French King, Louis XIV, ordered that they should be released⁴ immediately. “I am at war with England, not with humanity”, he said.

　　In November 1698, the lighthouse was ready. It was built of stone and wood, and candles provided⁵ the light at the top of the lighthouse. During the first winter, it was damaged by a storm, but Winstanley repaired it and made it stronger. Winstanley’s lighthouse was the first lighthouse anywhere in the world to be built on a rock far out at sea. During the next five years, its little light sent its warning to passing ships, and not a single ship was wrecked on the Eddystone Rocks.

　　In November 1703, however, a great storm struck southern England. It completely destroyed the lighthouse. Winstanley himself was in the lighthouse at the time, supervising⁶ some repairs, and he was killed.

　　There is a lighthouse on the Eddystone Rocks today. It is the fourth lighthouse on the rocks, and it has kept sailors safe since 1882. Until 1982, a lighthouse keeper lived in the lighthouse to maintain⁷ and operate the light. It must have been the loneliest job in England. Today the lighthouse runs automatically⁸. A maintenance⁹ crew visit occasionally¹⁰ by helicopter. It is very different from Winstanley’s wood and stone lighthouse, with candles to warn ships to keep away from Eddystone.

1 conquered   

攻克( conquer的过去式和过去分词 )； 征服； 破除； 克服

参考例句：

• The Normans conquered England in 1066. 诺曼人于1066年征服了英格兰。
• The mines were manned by forced labour from conquered countries. 这些矿由来自被征服国家的强制劳工开采。

2 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

3 engineering   

n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵

参考例句：

• The science of engineering began as soon as man learned to use tools. 人类一学会使用工具,工程科学就开始了。
• It was the first great engineering works in the world. 这是世界上第一家大型的工程工厂。

4 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

5 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

6 supervising   

v.监督，管理( supervise的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She had something to do in the house, supervising that native. 她待在家里，究竟还有点儿事情可以做做，可以监视那个土人。 来自辞典例句
• In addition, nuisance law fails to provide a systematic mechanism for supervising emissions. 另外，妨害法不能提供一个监督排放的系统性机制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 maintain   

vt.支撑；赡养，抚养；维持，保有

参考例句：

• He has to maintain a large family on a small salary.他不得不依靠很少的工资养活一家人。
• We must do our best to maintain sales at their usual rate.我们要尽力使销售额保持在平日的水平上。

8 automatically   

adv.不加思索地，无意识地，自动地

参考例句：

• The machine cycles automatically.这台机器自动循环运转。
• She had automatically labelled the boys as troublemakers.她不假思索地认定这些男孩子是捣蛋鬼。

9 maintenance   

n.维修，保养，扶养费，维持，保持

参考例句：

• His small farm provides maintenance,but not much more.他的小农场能使他们维持生活，但仅此而已。
• He has to pay maintenance to his ex-wife.他必须给前妻赡养费。

10 occasionally   

adv.偶然地；非经常地

参考例句：

• He went on talking,occasionally wiping at his face with a towel.他继续说着，偶尔用毛巾擦一下脸。
• I like playing football best,but occasionally I play table tennis,too.我最喜欢踢足球，偶尔也打打乒乓球。