堅守倫敦最后的煤氣路燈

Audie Cornish （Host）： In the United Kingdom， the company British Gas employs 30，000 workers. Five of them could be said to carry a 1）metaphorical torch that has been burning for 200 years. They are the 2）lamplighters， tending to gas lamps that still line the streets in some of London’s oldest neighborhoods and parks. NPR’s Ari Shapiro joined them on their nightly 3）rounds.

Ari Shapiro （Byline）： I wish I could tell you that these men were dressed in top hats and 4）waistcoats. But as the sun went down around 4 o’clock last night， Iain Bell and Garry Usher arrived wearing regular blue and gray jackets with the British Gas logo. They look like standard， 21st century 5）utility workers.

Garry Usher： I was originally doing the central heating installation for British Gas.

Shapiro： About 15 years ago， Garry Usher found out he was being assigned to the lamplighter’s crew. He told his boss that’s ridiculous. London doesn’t use gas lamps anymore.

Usher： I thought he was taking the， the mickey， actually.

Shapiro： You thought he was totally...

Usher： I was...

Shapiro： ...Fooling you？

Usher： Yeah， exactly， just trying to 6）pawn me off onto another area.

Shapiro： But， in fact， London still has about 1，500 gas lamps. The group British Heritage decided to preserve them after almost all the others were replaced by electric lamps. These look almost exactly the same as when they were first installed two centuries ago， just a little taller to accommodate modern traffic. Usher leans a ladder up against a lamppost and opens the small glass door at the top of the lamp. Inside， a little ticking clock triggers the flame to go on and off at the right time each night. These clocks must be 7）wound by hand.

Usher： I 8）manually turn it ’round.

Shapiro： The flame jumps up and catches on little silk nets. They’re covered with a substance called 9）lime， which produces a bright white light. A couple centuries ago， London’s West End theaters realized how useful lime could be to 10）illuminate a stage. Usher： They used to have a bit of this lime—11）quicklime—put a flame through it and it shown a really bright light across—on their star—and so the star was the person that was in the 12）limelight. And that’s where that comes from.

Shapiro： So we are literally standing in the limelight， steps from the river Thames， a stone’s throw from Big Ben.

（Soundbite of Big Ben）

Shapiro： Iain Bell is British Gas’ operations manager and a history 13）buff. He describes what this area would’ve looked like before the lamps arrived.

Iain Bell： The streets would’ve been 14）pitch-black. They would’ve been smoggy. They’d be quite dangerous because the only light the public would have had would have been a candle.

Shapiro： If you wanted to walk to the local pub， you could hire a child know as a link boy to light your way with a torch.

Bell： Some of the link boys weren’t as nice as you would expect them to be. They actually would mock you， so they would take you down a dark lane and then you’d be 15）set upon and robbed.

Shapiro： So when streetlights arrived， everything changed. At first， people were afraid of the lamps—and 16）rightfully so， says Bell. The gas pipes were poorly made from 17）shabby materials.

Bell： We’re talking wood. We’re talking mud wrapped around it， so there was a lot of leaks. There was a lot of fires. There was a lot of explosions. So that’s—the public were terrified. Shapiro： Even today， diggers often come across the remains of old wooden pipes. Today， the gas lamps that are still standing are protected by law. If one is knocked down， it’s replaced with an exact 18）replica. They cast a calming， 19）mellow light， maintained by these few remaining lamplighters—literal keepers of the flame.

（Soundbite of song， “Old Lamplighter”）

奧迪·科尼什（主持人）：在英國，英國燃氣公司有三萬雇員，其中有五位可以說接過了已經燃燒200年的象征性的“火炬”。他們是燈夫，工作是管理那些仍然豎立在英國最古老的街區和公園的煤氣燈。美國國家公共廣播電臺的阿里·夏皮羅在他們夜間例行巡視時采訪了他們。

阿里·夏皮羅（撰稿人）：我希望我能告訴你們，這些人戴著禮帽、穿著馬甲。但是，昨晚大約4點，當太陽下山后，伊恩·貝爾和蓋瑞·亞瑟穿著常規的帶有英國燃氣公司標志的藍色和灰色夾克衫來到這里。他們看上去就是標準的、21世紀公用事業公司的工人。

蓋瑞·亞瑟：我一開始是在英國燃氣公司從事集中供暖設備的工作。

夏皮羅：大約15年前，蓋瑞·亞瑟發現他被選派到燈夫工作組。他告訴他的老板，那太荒謬了，（因為）倫敦不再用煤氣燈了。

亞瑟：實際上，我覺得他在戲弄我。

夏皮羅：你覺得他完全是……

亞瑟：我……

夏皮羅：……在和你開玩笑？

亞瑟：是的，就是那樣，想要把我調到另一個領域去。

夏皮羅：但是，事實上，倫敦仍然有大約1500盞煤氣燈。在其他煤氣燈幾乎都被電燈取代后，大不列顛遺產這一團體決定保護它們，維持它們的舊模樣。它們看起來幾乎和兩個世紀以前剛剛安裝好的時候一模一樣，只是變得高了一些，為的是適應現代交通的改變。亞瑟將梯子靠在燈桿上，爬上梯子，打開頂部的一小扇玻璃門。在那里面，一個小小的鬧鐘控制著燈火在每晚適當的時間點燃和熄滅。這些鐘必須手動上發條。