【跟着英剧练发音】A Histry Of Britain - 10

 文本：

Will probably not. Sooner or later they would have noticed that the top of the head is sliced off, scooped¹ out, like a boiled egg of breakfast, to hold sacrificial offerings. And then they would have remembered stories of Rome told about the grisly brutality² of the Druids. Perhaps they would have even taken note of the stories told by the northern savages³ themselves, of decapitated heads who were said to speak mournfully to those who had parted them from the rest of their body, warning of vengeance⁴ to come. And then they would have thought, "Well, perhaps not." "Perhaps we don't want to have much to do with an island of talking heads." So why did the Romans come here, to the edge of the world, and run the gauntlet of all these ominous⁵ totems? Well, it was the lure⁶ of treasure, of course, all those pearls that Tacitus was convinced lay around Britain in heaps. But even more seductive was what Roman generals craved⁷ the most, the prestige given to those who pacified⁸ the barbarian⁹ frontier. And so, in the written annals of Western history, the islands now had not only a name, Britannia, but a date. In 55 BC Julius Caesar launched his galleys¹⁰ across the Channel. Julius Caesar must have supposed that all he had to do was land his legions in force and the Britons, just cowed by the spectacle all of the glittering helmets and eagle standards, would simply queue up to surrender. They would understand that history always fought on the side of Rome. Trouble was, geography didn't.

译文：

 大概不会，因为他们终会注意到，雕像的头顶处被切开挖掉了。如同一颗煮蛋，专为放置祭祀品而设。而随后，他们也许会忆起罗马人口中的德鲁伊教是何等暴虐残忍，或许他们甚至会注意到，北方蛮族亲口讲述的故事。被砍下的头颅悲戚地向让他们身首异处的刽子手哀号着，警示着复仇即将到来。而后他们大概会想 "应该不算艺术品"，"我们可不想与遍布着会说话头颅的岛有任何瓜葛"。那么，究竟是什么驱使罗马人以身犯险，来到这满布不详图腾的世界之端的呢?当然少不了对宝藏的渴望。塔西佗所坚信的 那盈千累万的财富。但更具魅力同时罗马将军最渴望的是平定蛮夷、开疆扩土带来的无限荣耀。因此，在西方编年史中，不列颠尼亚已不仅是岛屿的名字，还标刻着一个年代。公元前55年，凯撒大帝带兵横穿英吉利海峡。凯撒大帝定是认为他只需带领大批罗马军团登陆，耀眼的铠甲与威武的鹰旗，自会让不列颠人闻风丧胆，不费吹灰之力便能让他们列队投降。罗马人自知自己占尽天时，却未料到他们毫无地利之便。

1 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

3 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

4 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

5 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

6 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

7 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

8 pacified   

使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平

参考例句：

• The baby could not be pacified. 怎么也止不住婴儿的哭声。
• She shrieked again, refusing to be pacified. 她又尖叫了，无法使她平静下来。

9 barbarian   

n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的

参考例句：

• There is a barbarian tribe living in this forest.有一个原始部落居住在这个林区。
• The walled city was attacked by barbarian hordes.那座有城墙的城市遭到野蛮部落的袭击。

10 galleys   

n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房

参考例句：

• Other people had drowned at sea since galleys swarmed with painted sails. 自从布满彩帆的大船下海以来，别的人曾淹死在海里。 来自辞典例句
• He sighed for the galleys, with their infamous costume. 他羡慕那些穿着囚衣的苦工。 来自辞典例句