美国国家公共电台 NPR New Jersey Museum Holds A Stash Of 221-Year-Old Madeira Wine

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Happy Friday. Time for a drink.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Bill Schroh has a bottle that he may or may not open for happy hour.

BILL SCHROH: It has a very clear label. It says Lenox Madeira, Robert Lenox of Philadelphia. And it has a date saying bottled 1796.

MCEVERS: You heard that right - 1796.

SHAPIRO: This bottle of fortified¹ Portuguese² wine is 221 years old. Three cases of the wine were discovered in an old house on the campus of Kean University in New Jersey³.

MCEVERS: The house was once owned by John Kean, a revolutionary patriot⁴. His descendants lived in the house for generations before it became Liberty Hall Museum.

SCHROH: So we have a very large historic house. It has 50 rooms and lots of stuff in it.

SHAPIRO: That's Bill Schroh again. He works at the museum. He says museum staff have been going room to room, renovating⁵ and repairing the house. And last year, they took on the wine cellar.

SCHROH: All the bottles off the shelves, all the cases, all the shelving we repainted. We fixed⁶ a lot of the woodwork. But then we discovered that some of the cases were still nailed shut. And that's when we found the discovery of the Madeira from 1796.

MCEVERS: Madeira is kind of like sherry. And it was a favorite of the upper class back in the 1700s. It apparently⁷ was even used to toast the Declaration of Independence. The Portuguese wine was imported because there weren't any vineyards yet in colonial America. It's a hardy⁸ wine that made the trip better than other varieties.

SCHROH: And how it came over - it came over in large barrels or large glass jars called demijohns, which were of great ballasts on the bottom of ships. And then you basically bottled it yourself once it got here.

SHAPIRO: This wine was imported and bottled by Robert Lenox, a banker and financier in Philadelphia. And then it was sold to the well-to-do Kean family.

SCHROH: John Kean's widow - her name was Susan Kean. She purchased the wine to celebrate the election of John Adams as our second president.

MCEVERS: And now that we are under our 45th president, the bottles are back on the table - well, maybe. That's up to John Kean's descendants.

SCHROH: We have not opened a bottle yet. That's really up to Mr. John Kean, who's the owner of the bottles. I'm hoping he opens the bottle, but we haven't opened a bottle yet. And it could still be good. We don't know. From the research that we've done, as long as the wax seal - because these are all wax-sealed as well as corked⁹ - is not broken, there's a good chance that it still might be a decent-tasting Madeira.

SHAPIRO: If Bill Schroh does open a bottle, we'll look forward to hearing how it tastes.

(SOUNDBITE OF HOT CHIP SONG, "STARTED RIGHT")

1 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

5 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

9 corked   

adj.带木塞气味的，塞着瓶塞的v.用瓶塞塞住( cork的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Our army completely surrounded and corked up the enemy stronghold. 我军把敌人的堡垒完全包围并封锁起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He kept his emotions corked up inside him. 他把感情深藏于内心。 来自《简明英汉词典》