听美文故事记6级单词03-01

12-year-old expert brings top encyclopaedia¹ to book

　　A Schoolboy with a fascination² for Poland and wildlife has uncovered several significant errors in the latest - the fifteenth - edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

　　Lucian George, 12, a pupil at Highgate Junior School in North London, was delving³ into the volumes on Poland and wildlife in Central Europe when he noted⁴ the mistakes.

　　The first was the assertion by the internationally acclaimed⁵ reference book that the small town of Chochim, in which two battles were fought between the Poles and the Ottoman Empire, now lies in Moldova.

　　"Wrong," said Lucian, "Chochim is in Ukraine."

　　Carefully noting the page and column of each error, the boy continued his investigations⁶ of the 32-volume tome like a diligent⁷ sub-editor.

　　In volume 25, page 934, column 2, the encyclopaedia states that the European bison, or wisent, may be found only in the Bialowieza Forest in Poland, which is also incorrect.

　　"The European bison also inhabit the southern mountains of Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, eastern Slovakia and the Romanian Carpathians," Lucian said.

　　Far from being the school swot, Lucian, who spends his evenings watching The Simpsons and chatting on the internet, made the discoveries thanks to his interest in his Polish roots. His mother, Elizabeth, is Polish and every year he spends a month on a farm in Yamy, southwest Poland.

　　"He has always been fascinated by Polish history. On the farm he has long chats with his 90-year-old great-grandmother about how she survived the pogroms of the Nazis⁸."

　　Ten days ago, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was first issued by the Society of Gentlemen in Scotland between 1768 and 1777 in Edinburgh, wrote to Lucian.

　　Anita Wolff, the senior editor, thanked him for "pointing out several errors and misleading statements" and promised that a geography editor was working on a "major revision of our Poland coverage⁹" and would make the changes as requested.

　　In spite of the mistakes, Lucian said he still considered the encyclopaedia to be the single best source of information.

　　The errors, too, while serious, were arguably less egregious¹⁰ than one in the first volume, which declared California to be an island.

　　The Encyclopaedia Britannica was founded in 1768 in Edinburgh by Colin Macfarquhar, a printer, and Andrew Bell, an engraver¹¹, with the first edition published one section at a time over a three-year period.

　　(BBC)

　　12岁男孩给《大英百科全书》挑错

　　一名痴迷于波兰和野生动植物的学童发现最新版（第15版）《大英百科全书》中有几处明显错误。

　　12岁的卢西恩·乔治是伦敦北部海格特小学的学生，他在钻研波兰和中欧野生动植物卷时注意到这些错误。

　　第一处错误是这本受到国际认可的百科全书中说，波兰与奥斯曼帝国曾经两度交战的小镇霍希姆位于摩尔多瓦。

　　“错了，霍希姆在乌克兰。”卢西恩说。

　　每发现一处错误，卢西恩都会仔细标注错误的页码和卷数，他像一位勤奋的助理编辑一样孜孜不倦地研究这部32卷的大作。

　　《大英百科全书》第25卷934页第2栏中写到，欧洲野牛仅在波兰比亚沃维耶扎森林生活，这一点也是错误的。

　　卢西恩说：“欧洲野牛还分布于波兰南部山区﹑俄罗斯﹑立陶宛﹑白俄罗斯、乌克兰、东斯洛伐克及罗马尼亚境内的咯尔巴阡山区。”

　　卢西恩并非一个刻苦读书的孩子，晚上他经常看《辛普森一家》，并上网聊天。他能够有如此发现归功于他的波兰渊源。他母亲伊丽莎白是波兰人。每年他都要在波兰西南部亚弥的农场住上一个月。

　　“他对波兰历史十分着迷。在农场时，他会和90岁的曾祖母长时间闲谈有关她是如何从纳粹大屠杀中生还的事情。”

　　10天前，《大英百科全书》致函卢西恩。该书由苏格兰绅士协会于1768至1777年间在爱丁堡出版。

　　《大英百科全书》资深编辑安尼塔·沃尔夫（在信中）感谢卢西恩“指出了严重的错误和令人误解的陈述”，并允诺一位地理编辑正在对“波兰卷做大修订”，并将按（卢西恩的）要求改正。

　　卢西恩说尽管百科全书中出现了一些错误，他仍然认为这部书是唯一最好的信息来源。

　　这些错误虽然严重，但和第1卷中误把加利福尼亚当成一座岛屿的错误相比，相对轻一些。

　　1768年，印刷工科林·麦克法夸尔和刻版工安德鲁·贝尔在爱丁堡创办了《大英百科全书》。他们花了三年时间陆续将第一版（3卷）出版发行。

1 encyclopaedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。
• This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

2 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

3 delving   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He has been delving into the American literature of 20th century. 他一直在潜心研究美国20世纪文学。 来自互联网
• In some ways studying Beckett is like delving into Shakespeare's words. 在某些方面，研究Beckett的戯好像是深入研究莎士比亚的语句。 来自互联网

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

6 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

7 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

8 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 egregious   

adj.非常的，过分的

参考例句：

• When it comes to blatant lies,there are none more egregious than budget figures.谈到公众谎言，没有比预算数字更令人震惊的。
• What an egregious example was here!现摆着一个多么触目惊心的例子啊。

11 engraver   

n.雕刻师，雕工

参考例句：

• He was a sketcher and a copper-plate engraver. 他也是杰出的素描家和铜版画家。 来自辞典例句
• He was once an engraver in a printing factory. 他以前是印刷厂的一名刻工。 来自互联网