环球英语 — 98：Ancient Writings: Their Importance ...

　　Voice 1
Thank you for joining us for today’s Spotlight¹ program. I’m Rebekah Schipper.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
In July 2006, scientists found what they called, “one of the most important discoveries in archaeology² in many years.”
What did they find?
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on the discovery of two different ancient writings with similar importance.
Voice 1
In July 2006, a worker was digging near a bog³, or wetlands , in Ireland. While digging, he saw something strange. He saw pieces of vellum, animal skin that people wrote on in the past. He could see writing on the vellum. The writing was not in English. The worker could not read it. But, he thought it looked very old. He knew that people do not use vellum to write on anymore. He believed the writing may be important. So, he marked the place. When he returned he brought a team of scientists with him. One of the scientists was Dr. Pat Wallace. Dr. Wallace works for the National Museum of Ireland.
Voice 3
“Nobody has found anything like this for centuries.”
Voice 2
The worker had discovered an ancient text, or writing. Written on the animal skin was a copy of the Book of Psalms⁵, from the Christian⁶ Bible. The scientists believe that people recorded this Book of Psalms in the year 800.
Voice 1
When scientists first looked at the writing, they recognized Psalm⁴ Eighty-three [83]. In this Psalm, God is listening to the people of Israel. Other nations are looking to destroy Israel. And Israel is looking to God for help. Part of that Psalm says, “Your name is the Lord. Let them know that you alone are the Most High God over the whole earth.”
Dr. Wallace was extremely happy about the find.
Voice 3
“In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamed of a discovery as rare as this. When we saw it in the bog, we were able to read one of the psalms in the Latin language. It is not so much the pieces that are important. But it is what the pieces represent that is of such great importance. This discovery says something about the great richness of the Early Christian people of Ireland.”
Voice 2
This ancient copy of the Book of Psalms was a wonderful discovery. It made scientists think of a similar discovery in Qumran in 1946.
Voice 1
Lonely. Dry. Rocky. This describes the land of Qumran. Qumran lies just north of the Dead Sea. And it is the place where a small shepherd boy made an important discovery.
Voice 2
In 1946 a small Bedouin shepherd boy was watching his sheep. To the side of him were great walls of rock. Looking up he could see many small caves, or openings in the rock.
Voice 1
As the boy followed along behind his sheep he began to throw stones. One after the other he tossed⁷ the stones high into the air. Sometimes he tried to throw his stones into the caves. One particular stone flew through the air right into one of the caves. And the boy heard a loud CRACK!
Voice 2
The boy wanted to see what had made the sound. He climbed up the rocks to the cave. Inside he found a few containers made of earth. Inside the containers the boy discovered pieces of animal skin with words written on them. He did not know it at the time. But, the boy had found the oldest copies of the Bible’s Old Testament⁸. Every book was included, except for the book of Esther. People called this discovery the Dead Sea Scrolls¹⁰.
Voice 1
Scientists believe the scrolls were written by the Essene people between 200 B.C. and 68 A.D. The Essenes were a Jewish group. They believed in God. And they followed the laws God had given them - the laws in the first five [5] books of the Bible. Most likely they copied the books of the Bible onto the animal skins. They wanted to keep a record of the Bible. Scientists found over eight hundred [800] scrolls in eleven [11] different caves.
Voice 2
Most of the scrolls were written in the Hebrew language. But some were written in Aramaic--the common language for the Jews living at that time in Palestine. Many of the scrolls were in pieces. But, the longest scroll⁹ is just over eight [8] metres long. All of the pieces are now kept safe in museums.
Voice 1
Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the writing found in Ireland are important finds. First, they are some of the oldest copies of the Old Testament Bible. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written in the second [2nd] century! And second, the words and meaning are almost exactly the same as later copies of the Old Testament.
Voice 2
For example, scientists compared two [2] copies of the book of Isaiah. They compared the Dead Sea Scrolls to a later copy of the Old Testament called the Masoretic Text. This copy belonged to a group called the Masoretes. They had copied the Old Testament a thousand [1000] years after the Dead Sea Scrolls. Before the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Masoretic Text was the oldest copy of the Old Testament. The scientists decided¹¹ to compare Isaiah, chapter fifty-three [53]. And they found the two copies to be ninety-five percent [95%] the same! Only seventeen [17] words were different.
Voice 1
But, what does this all mean? Well, the discovery of these two [2] ancient writings from Ireland and Qumran proves that the Old Testament was correctly passed and copied through many years and generations of people. What Christians¹² believe today about the Bible is the same as what people have believed for many many years. The truth of God’s word is as true today as it was yesterday. And it will continue to be as true tomorrow as it is today.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

3 bog   

n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖

参考例句：

• We were able to pass him a rope before the bog sucked him under.我们终于得以在沼泽把他吞没前把绳子扔给他。
• The path goes across an area of bog.这条小路穿过一片沼泽。

4 psalm   

n.赞美诗，圣诗

参考例句：

• The clergyman began droning the psalm.牧师开始以单调而低沈的语调吟诵赞美诗。
• The minister droned out the psalm.牧师喃喃地念赞美诗。

5 psalms   

n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的)

参考例句：

• the Book of Psalms 《〈圣经〉诗篇》
• A verse from Psalms knifed into Pug's mind: "put not your trust in princes." 《诗篇》里有一句话闪过帕格的脑海：“不要相信王侯。” 来自辞典例句

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 tossed   

v.（轻轻或漫不经心地）扔( toss的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）摇荡；摇匀；（为…）掷硬币决定

参考例句：

• I tossed the book aside and got up. 我把书丢在一边，站了起来。
• He angrily tossed his tools and would work no longer. 他怒气冲冲地扔下工具不肯再干了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

9 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

10 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。