听播客学英语 98 巨石阵

 　　In today’s podcast, we talk about some theories. We talk about things which may be true, or may not be true. We use words like “perhaps” and “maybe” and “it could be that..”. See how many examples you can find.

　　We English have not lived in England for long. Our ancestors, the Saxons, came to England from northern Germany in the fifth century. They spoke¹ a language which we call Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Over the centuries, Anglo-Saxon changed to become modern English.

　　Before the Saxon invasions, people called the Celts lived here. The modern Welsh language is descended² from the languages of these Celtic people. But the Celts had not lived in Britain for long, either. There were people here before the Celts came. These people had no written language, so they left us no manuscripts³ or inscriptions⁴ to tell us about them. However, they left us plenty of archaeological evidence – burial places, pottery⁵, tools and so on. And they left us a remarkable⁶ and mysterious monument called Stonehenge.

　　If you drive by car south-west out of London, along a road with the romantic name A303, you will reach Stonehenge after about an hour and a half. You will see a circle of great stones, with other stones placed carefully on top of them. There are other, smaller stones – called “bluestones”. Around Stonehenge, there are other ancient places – burial places, for instance, and ancient paths.

　　The archaeologists tell us that Stonehenge was not all built at one time. The oldest parts of Stonehenge are about 5,000 years old. The “bluestones” came about 1000 years later, and the great circle of stones a few hundred years after that. The great stones probably came from a place about 40km away. They each weigh about 25 tonnes. Experts say that perhaps 500 men pulled each stone, while 100 more placed logs on the ground for the stone to roll over. The “bluestones” are even more remarkable – they are much smaller, about 4 tonnes each, but they come from Preseli in south Wales, a distance of nearly 400 km. How did they get to Stonehenge? Maybe people carried them on small boats, over the sea and along rivers.

　　The big question is “Why?” Why did these people, four or five thousand years ago, build Stonehenge, and what did they use it for? Here are some of the theories:

　　- Perhaps Stonehenge was a religious temple. Perhaps priests⁷ sacrificed animals or even human beings here.

　　- Maybe Stonehenge was a centre of political power, a place built by a great and powerful king.

　　- Possibly, it was a place to celebrate the dead, a place to send them on their way to the next world.

　　- Or it could have been a place where sick or injured people came to be cured, like Lourdes in France is today.

　　- Or Stonehenge might have been a place to watch the movement of the sun, moon and stars, and to forecast important events like eclipses⁸.

　　- Or, conceivably, it was all of these things, or it had different purposes at different times.

　　Today, Stonehenge is an important tourist site, and a place for people who like to believe in magic. At the summer solstice (that is June 21st, the longest day of the year) people go to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise. This year, about 30,000 people were there. And, because this is England, it rained.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 manuscripts   

手稿( manuscript的名词复数 )； 原稿； 底稿； 手写本

参考例句：

• The old librarian illuminated some old books and manuscripts. 这个老图书馆员把一些古书和旧抄稿加上各种装饰。
• At his death he left a great mass of undigested manuscripts. 他去世时留下大量尚未整理的文稿。

4 inscriptions   

（作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记

参考例句：

• Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the inscriptions on the gravestones. 几个世纪的风雨已磨损了墓碑上的碑文。
• The inscriptions on the stone tablet have become blurred with the passage of time. 年代久了，石碑上的字迹已经模糊了。

5 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

6 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

7 priests   

n.（基督教和罗马天主教的）神父( priest的名词复数 )；牧师；（非基督教会的）教士；祭司

参考例句：

• the ordination of women priests 女司祭的授职礼
• The clergy remain divided on the issue of women priests. 在女性教士的问题上，牧师们意见不一。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 eclipses   

（日、月）食( eclipse的名词复数 )； 消失，黯然失色

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。
• The moon eclipses the sun. 月亮遮住太阳。