The Worst Christmas Jobs 圣诞特辑 4

Hither, page, and stand by me, If thou know'st it, telling, yonder...)

By the ninth century, the Christian¹ version of Christmas is spreading across Northern Europe. In the Czech Republic, a Christian Saint King Wenceslas goes down in history for his reputation for charity. When Good King Wenceslas looked out in the carol, the poor man who came in sight gathering² winter fuel had a worst job. He was a fagoter. For hundreds of years, fagoters collected firewood to burn or sell for a few coppers³. Fagots were a poor man’s log.

Archaeologists have excavate⁴d mediaeval fagots so we know how they were made. Bundling the twigs⁶ made them slower to burn. But tying them with freezing fingers is a painful business.
Very good.
My very first fagot. Can you help me get it on my back?
Yeah.

I know this, er, must look like there isn’t much to it, but actually once the Enclosures happened and the land everybody could go on was suddenly under private control. This became a very difficult job because either(you take that one...) (top) you had to take the risk of going on to somebody’s land and getting caught or else you bought it off. the landlord, in which case you paid over the odds⁷ for it.

You can do it. Yup!
OK.
Or else you got it on the black market and there are stories of people actually being sent to Australia to the penal⁸ colonies just for collecting fagots. So, you know, maybe in the early Middle Ages it wasn’t so bad but after a while it became something that’s very very scary to do. See you later, Albert.
Yup.


(In his master’s steps he trod, Where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod )

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excavatev. To expose or uncover by or as if by digging: 挖掘, 用挖掘或类似挖掘的办法揭开或移去：
ex: excavate an archaeological site. 挖掘考古现场

Enclosure n. （英国历史上的）圈地运动

buy off v.收买

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 coppers   

铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币

参考例句：

• I only paid a few coppers for it. 我只花了几个铜板买下这东西。
• He had only a few coppers in his pocket. 他兜里仅有几个铜板。

4 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• 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。

5 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 twigs   

细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some birds build nests of twigs. 一些鸟用树枝筑巢。
• Willow twigs are pliable. 柳条很软。

7 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

8 penal   

adj.刑罚的；刑法上的

参考例句：

• I hope you're familiar with penal code.我希望你们熟悉本州法律规则。
• He underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft.他因犯了大窃案受过十九年的苦刑。