美国国家公共电台 NPR--Carpenters are working at a frenzied pace to finish repairing Notre Dame Cathedral

Carpenters are working at a frenzied¹ pace to finish repairing Notre Dame² Cathedral

Transcript³

Workers across France are rushing to restore various parts of Notre Dame Cathedral, with a goal to reopen the site in Paris in December 2024 — five years after a destructive fire.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Notre Dame Cathedral is set to reopen by December of 2024, five years after the Paris landmark⁴ caught fire. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley visited one of the many restoration projects, where experts are rushing to finish on time.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE⁵: The wooden structure supporting Notre Dame's roof was so vast it was known as the forest. It burned like a forest, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF AX CHOPPING)

BEARDSLEY: At this 250-year-old carpentry company in France's Loire Valley, they're busy reconstructing it, but you don't hear the whirring of electric saws. It's the chopping of axes that resounds⁶. The oak trees are transformed into long, square beams by hand. Carpenter Joseph Canuel explains.

JOSEPH CANUEL: (Through interpreter) We made roofs well before saws and sawmills existed, and this is how it worked. You got the wood in the nearby forest, like we're doing. And, yes, we could easily cut this log into two long planks⁷. But keeping the wood fibers⁸ the whole length of the beam gives it more resistance.

BEARDSLEY: This company devotes itself to France's historical monuments, so its carpenters are used to working with traditional methods. Still, Notre Dame is special, says CEO Jean-Baptiste Bonhoure.

JEAN-BAPTISTE BONHOURE: We've never done something like that before. The roof frame is dating from the medieval - the 12th century, and especially just the big volume of wood.

BEARDSLEY: He says the nave⁹ and choir¹⁰ roof needs some 1,400 oak trees. Peter Henrikson is a carpenter from Minnesota who heard about an opportunity to work on Notre Dame through the organization Carpenters Without Borders, a group reuniting those who share a love of traditional methods. He says these hand-hewn trusses are special.

PETER HENRIKSON: Taken from the round tree to a squared timber all by hand, all with axes - all these timbers are what's called boxed heart. So the middle of the tree is in the middle of the timber.

BEARDSLEY: Notre Dame's charpente, or roof frame, won't be seen by anyone, says Henrikson. So they could have used faster modern techniques.

HENRIKSON: But a lot of people involved with the historic monuments, historic buildings of France, are really enamored with the traditional way of doing it and want to preserve that. And part of redoing the roof as it was is keeping those skills alive.

BEARDSLEY: He's using an ax, a little hatchet¹¹, to really make a smooth line.

Edouard Cortes is another carpenter here. He removes parchment-thin layers of wood with his ax, which he says was hand forged in the traditional way to resemble what Notre Dame's carpenters would have used.

EDOUARD CORTES: (Through interpreter) It leaves a magnificent mark on the beams, the same medieval mark found on the beams from Notre Dame. For me, it is a passion to work with such old tools. You work with your hand, your hatchet, your heart and your head.

BEARDSLEY: OK. So they're about to lift up the structure.

A crane lifts one of the giant triangular¹² frames and aligns¹³ it next to the others, a dry run before the final installation atop Notre Dame in the coming months. Then the removable metal pins connecting the trusses will be replaced by permanent wooden mortise-and-tenon joints¹⁴. There won't be a single nail, screw or piece of metal in Notre Dame's roof frame.

JEAN-LOUIS GEORGELIN: We want to restore this scaffold as it was built in the Middle Age.

BEARDSLEY: Retired¹⁵ General Jean-Louis Georgelin is in charge of rebuilding Notre Dame. He says it's important to be faithful to the cathedral's original artisans. That spirit is imbuing¹⁶ the entire restoration.

GEORGELIN: You have people everywhere in France working to restore the stained windows, working to find the stones, working for the organ and here to build the framework, the spire¹⁷ and so on.

BEARDSLEY: To meet the five-year deadline, says Georgelin, they're combining these old methods with the most advanced computer design technology. We're restoring a medieval cathedral, he says, but Notre Dame will also be a cathedral for the 21st century. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Saint-Laurent-de-la-Plaine.

1 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

2 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 resounds   

v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音

参考例句：

• When the Christmas musical box, music resounds, Christmas old man swinging. 圣诞音乐盒，音乐响起时，圣诞老人会摆动。 来自互联网
• In the epilogue, the Silk Road resounds with the song of friendship. 尾声：丝绸之路上洋溢着友谊之歌。 来自互联网

7 planks   

（厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点

参考例句：

• The house was built solidly of rough wooden planks. 这房子是用粗木板牢固地建造的。
• We sawed the log into planks. 我们把木头锯成了木板。

8 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

9 nave   

n.教堂的中部；本堂

参考例句：

• People gathered in the nave of the house.人们聚拢在房子的中间。
• The family on the other side of the nave had a certain look about them,too.在中殿另一边的那一家人，也有着自己特有的相貌。

10 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

11 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

12 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

13 aligns   

使成一线( align的第三人称单数 )； 排整齐； 校准； 公开支持（某人、集体或观点）

参考例句：

• HASP SRM fully aligns with the software product lifecycle. HASPSRM完全遵循软件产品的生命周期。
• Significant employee aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders. 员工大量持股可以使员工与股东的利益协调一致。

14 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

15 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

16 imbuing   

v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的现在分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等）

参考例句：

17 spire   

n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点

参考例句：

• The church spire was struck by lightning.教堂的尖顶遭到了雷击。
• They could just make out the spire of the church in the distance.他们只能辨认出远处教堂的尖塔。