有趣的、『糟糕的』歷史

《糟糕歷史》（Horrible Histories）是英國BBC兒童頻道錄制的一檔兒童節目，它用各種夸張甚至荒誕的形式向觀眾朋友們展示了英國歷史上的一些廣為人知或鮮為人知的方面，內容豐富，從野蠻的石器時代到古羅馬、古埃及、世界大戰以及英國歷史上的各個王朝，如都鐸王朝、喬治王朝和斯圖亞特王朝等都有涉及。下面我們選取其中的三個片段看一看。

一、培根和凍雞

弗朗西斯·培根（Francis Bacon，1561~1626），英國文藝復興時期著名的散文家、哲學家，我們都讀過他的《論讀書》，他也是第一個想到用冰凍的方法來防止食物腐爛的人，只是也因在試驗過程中受凍而感染肺炎逝世。《糟糕歷史》將他的逝世歸入了“Stupid death”這一環節，一起來看看。

看視頻，然后完成下面的填空。

—Next.

—Hello, hello.

—Name?

—Francis Bacon.

—(1)____________ of death?

—1626.

—Profession?

—Philosopher and academic.

—Then I’ll just put work-shy layabout.Method of death?

—Ah, well, I was (2)____________ through the snow when suddenly I had a brilliant idea that by freezing food, I could preserve it.I was anxious to try out my theory as soon as possible, so I went to (3)_________________________ and bought a freshly-gutted chicken.I immediately (4)_____________ it full of ice, (5)_______________ inside and out.

—And did it work?

—Oh, yes, yes, yes.The chicken is perfectly preserved.

—Hm.So, er, why are you here?

—Well, during the experiment I got very cold, contracted pneumonia and died.

—From freezing a chicken?

—Yes, yes.

—Oh, you’re dead funny.I love my job sometimes.I do.Ohh...next.

這一段的難點主要在于生詞，我們一起來看看有哪些生詞。

work-shy adj.不愿工作的 not inclined to work

layabout n.懶漢，游手好閑的人 a lazy or idle person

gut vt.去除內臟 to remove the entrails from (fish, etc.)

contract vt.感染 catch or develop (a disease)

pneumonia n.肺炎

這里值得提一下的兩個單詞是gut和contract。gut在這里是作動詞用，它也可以用作名詞，表示“內臟；膽量（常用復數）；直覺”，常用表達有listen to your gut（聽從你的內心）和have the guts to do sth.（有勇氣做某事，敢做某事）。contract在這里用作動詞，我們知道它還可以用作名詞，表示“合同”，它作動詞用時也有“收縮；訂立合同”之意。

(掃二維碼看視頻)

二、法老和豌豆公主

為了王位不惜兄弟相殘的事不獨中國歷史上有，外國也一樣。因為在古埃及，女性也能繼承王位，所以王室不僅兄弟相殘，姐妹也不相容，《糟糕歷史》改寫了豌豆公主的故事，用戲謔的方式反映了這一情況。

看視頻，然后完成下面的填空。

Today is The Princess and the Pea, the Ancient Egyptian Version.The beautiful (1)___________________ woman had not slept a wink, because even though there were twelve mattresses between her and the pea, she could still (2)______________.This could mean only one thing—she really was a princess.When the pharaoh heard this, he (3)______________ her (I’m so proud of you.)and swiftly ordered for her to be executed, which was quite (4)____________________ for a pharaoh to do in Ancient Egypt, because family members were always (5)_________________________.This one had already bumped off a brother, four sisters and fifteen cousins.(Better safe than sorry.)So no one lived happily ever after.The end.

先來看看有哪些生詞。

wink n.& v.眨眼 to close and open one eye quickly, usually as a signal to someone（not sleep a wink 意為“沒合眼，一下都沒睡著”，也可以表達為 not get a wink of sleep）

mattress n.床墊，褥子

pharaoh n.法老

embrace vt.擁抱 hold (someone)closely in one’s arms, especially as a sign of affection;接受，支持 accept or support (a belief, theory, or change)willingly and enthusiastically

execute vt.處決

throne n.王座，王權

bump off 干掉 to murder sb.

生詞都熟悉之后，你可能還會有些地方聽不清楚，比如：

1.The beautiful _____________________________ woman空格處是什么單詞呢？似乎聽到youngy，還有giption，這是什么詞？兩個詞都不存在。那會是什么呢？前面提到了Today is The Princess and the Pea，the Ancient Egyptian Version.，所以這里會不會是Egyptian？那么前面的youngy呢？其實就是young Egyptian，輔音字母結尾的單詞和元音字母開始的單詞在一起，連讀了，雖然g原本不發音，可是連讀的時候還是發音了。

2.because family members were always _____________________.這個空格處又是什么呢？我們聽到了重讀的throne，前面的詞被輕讀了，而且不是我們常見的用法，所以很難想到會是after一詞。一般我們看到after，都只想到“在……之后”這層意思，對它另外的用法并不熟悉，即“尋找，追逐，追求”（to be looking for or in pursuit of something），如：

He’s only after money.

The police are after the thief.

在故事的最后，有一個習慣用語我們可以了解一下：Better safe than sorry.它是It’s better to be safe than sorry.的縮略形式，意思是“小心一點總比到時候后悔好”。如：

Make sure you take an umbrella—I know it’s sunny now, but better safe than sorry.

三、亨利八世和他的六位妻子

英國都鐸王朝的第二任國王亨利八世因為推行宗教改革、使英國教會脫離羅馬教廷控制而在歷史上享有威名，但很多時候大家記住他卻是因為另一件事：他一生娶了六位王后，其中兩位被他下令斬首。《糟糕歷史》用了一首通俗有趣的歌描述亨利八世的六次婚姻，我們一起來看一下。

看視頻，然后完成下面填空。

Divorced, beheaded and died

Divorced, beheaded, survived

I’m Henry the Eighth, I had six (1)________ wives

Some might say (2)_________________

Catherine of Aragon was one

She (3)_______________ a son

I had to ask her for a divorce

That broke her poor heart of course

Young Anne Boleyn she was two

Had a daughter, (4)_________________

I said she flirted with some other man

And off for the chop went dear Anne

Lovely Jane Seymour was three

The love of (5)______________ for me

She gave me a son, Little Prince Ed

Then poor old Jane went and dropped dead

Divorced, beheaded and died

Divorced, beheaded, survived

I’m Henry the Eighth, I had six sorry wives

Some might say I ruined their lives

Anne of Cleeves came at four

I (6)_________________ I saw

Then (7)___________ and cried

She was a horse! I must have another divorce

Catherine Howard was five

A child of nineteen, (8)_____________

She flirted with others, no way to (9)__________

The axe sent young Cath to her grave

Catherine Parr she was last

By then all my best (10)_______________I lay on my death bed, aged just fifty-five

Lucky Catherine the last stayed alive

I mean how unfair

Divorced, beheaded and died

Divorced, beheaded, survived

I’m Henry the Eighth, I had six sorry wives

You could say I ruined their lives

先來熟悉一下生詞。

behead vt.砍頭

flirt vt.調情

chop vt.砍

fall for 迷戀，喜歡；上當，受騙

behave vt.舉止端正

生詞都熟悉之后，我們發現歌詞的意思還是很難理解，因為這里牽涉到很多歷史背景知識，文化背景也是影響我們理解英語的很大一個因素，我們先來了解一下亨利八世和他的六位妻子之間的故事。

亨利八世的第一位王后凱瑟琳是西班牙國王之女，原本是亨利八世的哥哥亞瑟的妻子，亞瑟早夭，為了睦鄰友好以及留住凱瑟琳的豐厚嫁妝，亨利八世娶了她，她為亨利八世生了個女兒瑪麗（即后來的血腥瑪麗），卻沒有誕下任何男繼承人，而亨利八世此時又愛上了安妮·博林，所以毅然決然地和她離了婚。

安妮·博林出身貴族，曾是凱瑟琳的侍女，亨利八世對她的癡情一如世間平凡男子，在給她的情書中自稱仆人，為了和凱瑟琳離婚然后娶她，甚至不惜和羅馬教廷決裂，因為羅馬皇帝查理五世是凱瑟琳的親侄子，教皇也不敢開罪。從某種程度上說，英國的宗教改革是一場為離婚而發起的運動。只是安妮也未能給亨利八世誕下男繼承人，只生了個女兒，就是后來的伊麗莎白一世，亨利八世再次移情別戀，愛上了她的侍女簡·西摩，就以通奸罪下令將安妮斬首。

簡·西摩于是成了亨利八世的第三位妻子，她倒是為亨利八世生下了一位男繼承人——愛德華王子，只是她因難產死去。據說簡·西摩是亨利八世的真愛。

亨利八世的第四位妻子克里維斯的安妮是神圣羅馬帝國克里維斯公爵的姐姐，公爵信奉新教，是亨利對抗羅馬教廷的重要盟友。他派了畫家去給安妮畫像，畫得很美，于是亨利同意結婚。但安妮抵達英國后，亨利對其外貌大為失望，很快就和她離婚了，所以歌詞中有I fell for the portrait一說。

凱瑟琳·霍華德年輕貌美，是亨利八世的第五位妻子，也是第二個被他以通奸罪斬首的王后，所以歌詞中說她 no way to behave（品行不端）。

亨利八世的第六位妻子是溫柔聰慧的凱瑟琳·帕爾，此時亨利八世已經垂垂老矣，所以她最后活了下來，并在亨利八世死后再婚了。

了解了這些背景知識，再聽一遍，是不是都能理解了呢？

Answers

一、1.Year 2.journeying 3.a poor woman’s house 4.stuffed 5.packing it

二、 1.young Egyptian 2.feel it 3.embraced 4.a normal thing 5.after their throne

三、1.sorry 2.I ruined their lives 3.failed to give me 4.the best she could do 5.a lifetime 6.fell for the portrait 7.laid eyes on her face 8.so alive 9.behave 10.days were past