英语听力：探索发现 2012-08-03 爱尔兰的故事 Story Of Ireland—9

 It seems the Romans did briefly¹ contemplate² an invasion until trouble in Scotland called the legions away. And so Ireland was never subordinated to Roman law or government. But they didn't need to dispatch an army to exert an influence that extended well beyond trade into the realms of society and culture. 

 

This is a small bronze figure of one of the minor³ Roman deities⁴. It was found in the River Boyne at Navan. 

 

So this is pre-Christian, this?

 

This is pagan Roman. It's a bit like if Ireland was on the edge of the European Community and you would expect that it would be trading with it. Ireland had cattle. Cattle would have been shipped over to Britain. Items like leather, the Roman army consumed vast amounts of leather. The cattle lords out on the central plains. They start getting notions of grandeur⁵ and they become important provincial⁶ kings of early medieval Ireland. They have the establishment of dynasties that continued in power for hundreds of years afterwards. But again they were looking to the Roman world to model themselves on the Roman emperors. 

 

By the fourth century, some Irish outposts on the west coast of Britain had expanded into kingdoms as more settlers came. They desired to go eastwards⁷, wrote an early Gaelic poet, into the broad long-distant sea. A medieval scholar would later write that the power of the Irish over the Britons was great. And there are some evidence that Irish traders were venturing into the heart of Roman Britain.

 

Here in the 1893 in the middle of the Home Counties, Victorian archaeologists excavating⁸ the Roman town of Silchester made a fascinating discovery. It was a fourth-century clue to the existence of a long-vanished Irishmen.

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。

3 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

4 deities   

n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明

参考例句：

• Zeus and Aphrodite were ancient Greek deities. 宙斯和阿佛洛狄是古希腊的神。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Taoist Wang hesitated occasionally about these transactions for fearof offending the deities. 道士也有过犹豫，怕这样会得罪了神。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文

5 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

6 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

7 eastwards   

adj.向东方（的），朝东（的）；n.向东的方向

参考例句：

• The current sets strongly eastwards.急流迅猛东去。
• The Changjiang River rolls on eastwards.长江滚滚向东流。

8 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句