英语听力精选进阶版 7205（在线收听）

Background: 考古学家在对古罗马下水道的一番研究后，发现了两千年前古罗马人的生活规律，同时也对他们的饮食习惯和常发病症有了更进一步的了解。

This unconventional journey into the past took the team down into an ancient sewer below the town of Herculaneum. Along with neighbouring Pompeii, it was one of the settlements buried by the Vesuvius volcanic explosion of 79AD.

In a tunnel 86 metres long, they unearthed what's believed to be the largest deposit of human excrement ever found in the Roman world. The scientists have been able to study what foods people ate and what jobs they did, by matching the material to the buildings above, like shops and homes.

This unprecedented insight in to the diet and health of ancient Romans showed that they ate a lot of vegetables. One sample also contained a high white blood cell count, indicating, say researchers, the presence of a bacterial infection. The sewer also offered up items of pottery, a lamp and even a gold ring with a decorative gemstone. But it's the human remains that have most astonished the archaeologists, all going to prove that where there's muck, there's memory.

Glossary 词汇表

unconventional 非传统的 

a sewer 下水道 

a settlement 住宅区 

to unearth （考古）出土 

excrement 粪便 

to match 配对 

a high white blood cell count 白血球指数高 

a bacterial infection 细菌感染 

human remains 人体残骸 

muck 堆肥，淤泥

Questions and Answers

1. How was the town of Herculaneum destroyed? 

It was buried after the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD.

2. What have the researchers discovered about the Roman diet? 

The Romans ate a lot of vegetables.

3. Give an example of another item found in the sewers. 

Pottery, a lamp or a gold ring.

4. True or false? One sample showed that the person it came from might have been ill at the time. 

True. One sample showed a large number of white cells which is an indication of an infection.