【跟着英剧练发音】A Histry Of Britain - 5

 文本：

So Skara Brae was not just an isolatedsettlement of fishers and farmers. Its people must have belonged to some largersociety, one sophisticated enough to mobilise the army of toilers and craftsmenneeded, not just to make these monuments, but to stand them on end. And theywere just as concerned about housing for dead as the living. The mausoleum atMaes Howe, a couple of miles from Skara Brae, seems no more than a swelling¹ onthe grassy² landscape. But this is, as it were, a British pyramid and in keepingwith our taste for understatement, it reserves all its impact for the interior. Imagine them open once more. A detail from a village given the jobof pulling back the stone seals, lugging³ the body through the low opening inthe earth. Up 36 feet of narrow, tight-fitting passageway, lit only once a yearby the rays of the winter solstice. A death canal, constriction⁴, smelling ofthe underworld. Finally the passageway opens up to this stupendous,high-vaulted masonry⁵ chamber⁶. Some of these tombs would have been elaboratelydecorated with carvings⁷ in the form of circles or spirals, like waves or thebreeze-pushed clouds. Others would have had neat little stone stores orcubicles where the bodies would be laid out on shelves.

译文：

看来斯卡拉布雷并不只是渔夫和农民与世隔绝的世外桃源，这些人一定从属于成熟强大的社群。人员组成复杂到足以动员起劳工与工匠所组成的大军，不仅能建造起这些庞然大物，还将其立置起来。而他们对地宫的关注，绝不逊于生前的寓所。在斯卡拉布雷数英里外的麦豪石室，看上去不过是青草间一处隆起地块，其实它堪称不列颠之金字塔，其含蓄与我们的审美情趣不谋而合，将所有华美尽藏于室内。试想将这墓穴再次打开，一个村民受雇，进入将石门封死，匍匐穿进这条深入的地洞，一条长达三十六英尺狭窄，并只有在每年冬至才会沐浴日光的通道，一条紧窄并弥漫着阴森气息的冥界之路。最终，这条通道将我们引向了这巨大的,穹窿形石室。一些装饰华美的陵墓，被雕刻上圆圈或是螺旋的形状，犹如波浪，又如清风掠过的云海一般。另一些则附有精巧的小型石室，便于死者的遗体存放于搁架之上。

1 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

2 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

3 lugging   

超载运转能力

参考例句：

• I would smile when I saw him lugging his golf bags into the office. 看到他把高尔夫球袋拖进办公室，我就笑一笑。 来自辞典例句
• As a general guide, S＄1 should be adequate for baggage-lugging service. 一般的准则是，如有人帮你搬运行李，给一新元就够了。 来自互联网

4 constriction   

压缩； 紧压的感觉； 束紧； 压缩物

参考例句：

• She feels a constriction in the chest. 她胸部有压迫感。
• If you strain to run fast, you start coughing and feel a constriction in the chest. 还是别跑紧了，一咬牙就咳嗽，心口窝辣蒿蒿的！ 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子

5 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》