英语听力：探索发现 2012-08-24 爱尔兰的故事 Story Of Ireland—18

 For the monasteries¹ were still producing great works of art. He might have been less enamoured at the political maneuvering². The status of clergy³ could have much to do with their alliances and family ties with the local aristocracy. Indeed, from the earliest times, monasteries could be the launching pads for earthly ambitions. 

 

The Abbot here of Ardmore in county Waterford came from a powerful local family. Declan was set to have been a contemporary of Saint Patrick. The story goes that together they went to a banquet of local nobility, and together chose the new king of the region. Was this story true? Well, we’ve simply no way of knowing. But it does underline a significant truth--churchmen were becoming increasingly powerful political players. And this foreshadows an enduring theme of the Irish story that embrace between spiritual and temporal power, Christ and Caesar together.  So the Abbot of monastery⁴ is much more than a spiritual man. He becomes a major political player. 

 

He controls a vast number of people and enormous resources. And if you think that the Abbot was getting up in the morning to say a five-o’clock Mass, he was not. he was much more like a Medici prince. Because the Church is rich, the Church gets involved in political violence. There’s one famous one in which there was a battle between Cork⁵ and Clonfert in which the annals said there was innumerable slaughter⁶ of the ecclesiastical men and superiors of Cork. 

 

It sounds an extraordinary idea that you have religious men, spiritual figures going to war with each other. I mean it doesn’t fit the notion we have of this island of saints and scholars. 

 

It doesn’t fit the notion, but it is the reality. The Abbot of Armagh or the Bishop⁷ of Clonmacnoise had a social status equal to that of a king. 

 

But a new power was to loom⁸ out of the northern seas.

1 monasteries   

修道院( monastery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In ancient China, there were lots of monasteries. 在古时候，中国有许多寺院。
• The Negev became a religious center with many monasteries and churches. 内格夫成为许多庙宇和教堂的宗教中心。

2 maneuvering   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• This Manstein did, with some brilliant maneuvering under the worse winter conditions. 曼施坦因在最恶劣的严冬条件下，出色地施展了灵活机动的战术，终于完成了任务。 来自辞典例句
• In short, large goals required farsighted policies, not tactical maneuvering. 一句话，大的目标需要有高瞻远瞩的政策，玩弄策略是不行的。 来自辞典例句

3 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

4 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

5 cork   

n.软木，软木塞

参考例句：

• We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
• Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。

6 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

7 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

8 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。