Medieval siege 中世纪攻城战-2

In the year 1304, Edward Longshanks, more formally known as King Edward I of England, mounted the greatest siege of his reign¹ against the Scots and their castle at Stirling. The attack dragged on. Impatient for victory, Edward ordered 50 carpenters to immediately begin building a monstrous² new weapon. So powerful, it would breach³ the strong walls of Stirling Castle. Details about the weapon design are tantalizingly⁴ vague, except that it was nicknamed Wallwolf, and its appearance outside the walls terrified the garrison⁵. Was it the atomic bomb of the Middle Ages?

With one blow, Wallwolf leveled a section of wall, successfully concluding the siege of Stirling Castle. What kind of a weapon was Wallwolf?

What are we doing? Are you, you won't to go up there now? Do you think you'd better take a pair of pliers up in case that......?

Hew⁶ Kennedy is a Shropshire landowner and medieval armor expert. Ten years ago, he became intrigued⁷ by a picture of a machine drawn⁸ by Leonardo da Vinci. It appeared to be a device for throwing dead horses, called a trebuchet. Inspired by the power of the machine that could hurl⁹ such heavy missiles, Hew decided¹⁰ to try building one himself-a quest, which eventually led to this piano-flinging contraption, a mechanized catapult made from a laminated beam, scrap¹¹ metal, telephone poles and steel cable.

In essence, a trebuchet is a giant seesaw¹² with a very heavy weight at one end and a much lighter¹³ missile attached to the other. As the heavier weight drops, the lighter projectile's swept by its sling¹⁴ towards the enemy. Hew is convinced that Warwolf, Edward's great wall busting¹⁶ siege engine, must have been a trebuchet.

If you chuck a thing that heavy at a stone wall, it will shatter it. Stone missiles are a lot more effective than grand pianos.

To test out Hew's confidence in the destructive capability¹⁷ of a medieval trebuchet, NOVA is preparing some hard sandstone balls weighing 250 pounds, and a wall is made of sandstone and lime mortar¹⁸. In construction and design, it is based on the upper section of a typical castle wall of the 13th century. Hew wants to build a trebuchet capable of knocking it down. But at a range of 200 yards it will require precision as well as brute¹⁹ force.

From the wind persistence²⁰ point of view, it's much more .....I don't know, it could go further

Michael Prestwich, a medieval historian, will ensure that Hew's next trebuchet will be based on an authentic²¹ 13th century design.

And I suppose when it's got to the top of its trajectory²², it starts coming down again. And it really looks quite frightening.

Yeah

But I am glad I wasn't standing²³ underneath²⁴ it.

It would bust¹⁵ up a building all right, wouldn't it?

It's the first time I,ve seen a full-scale trebuchet in operation, to see the high trajectory of it, and the way the missile and the sheer speed with which it falls. It's a fantastic sight.

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

3 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

4 tantalizingly   

adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度

参考例句：

• A band of caribou passed by, twenty and odd animals, tantalizingly within rifle range. 一群驯鹿走了过去，大约有二十多头，都呆在可望而不可即的来福枪的射程以内。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
• She smiled at him tantalizingly. 她引诱性地对他笑着。 来自互联网

5 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

6 hew   

v.砍；伐；削

参考例句：

• Hew a path through the underbrush.在灌木丛中砍出一条小路。
• Plant a sapling as tall as yourself and hew it off when it is two times high of you.种一棵与自己身高一样的树苗，长到比自己高两倍时砍掉它。

7 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

8 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

9 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

12 seesaw   

n.跷跷板

参考例句：

• Prices have gone up and down like a seesaw this year.今年的价格像跷跷板一样时涨时跌。
• The children are playing at seesaw.孩子们在玩跷跷板。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 sling   

vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓

参考例句：

• The boy discharged a stone from a sling.这个男孩用弹弓射石头。
• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。

15 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

16 busting   

打破，打碎( bust的现在分词 )； 突击搜查（或搜捕）； （使）降级，降低军阶

参考例句：

• Jim and his wife were busting up again yesterday. 吉姆和他的妻子昨天又吵架了。
• He figured she was busting his chops, but it was all true. 他以为她在捉弄他，其实完全是真的。

17 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

18 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

19 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

20 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

21 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

22 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

23 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

24 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。