有趣的、『糟糕的』历史

《糟糕历史》（Horrible Histories）是英国BBC儿童频道录制的一档儿童节目，它用各种夸张甚至荒诞的形式向观众朋友们展示了英国历史上的一些广为人知或鲜为人知的方面，内容丰富，从野蛮的石器时代到古罗马、古埃及、世界大战以及英国历史上的各个王朝，如都铎王朝、乔治王朝和斯图亚特王朝等都有涉及。下面我们选取其中的三个片段看一看。

一、培根和冻鸡

弗朗西斯·培根（Francis Bacon，1561~1626），英国文艺复兴时期著名的散文家、哲学家，我们都读过他的《论读书》，他也是第一个想到用冰冻的方法来防止食物腐烂的人，只是也因在试验过程中受冻而感染肺炎逝世。《糟糕历史》将他的逝世归入了“Stupid death”这一环节，一起来看看。

看视频，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.

这一段的难点主要在于生词，我们一起来看看有哪些生词。

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

layabout n.懒汉，游手好闲的人 a lazy or idle person

gut vt.去除内脏 to remove the entrails from (fish, etc.)

contract vt.感染 catch or develop (a disease)

pneumonia n.肺炎

这里值得提一下的两个单词是gut和contract。gut在这里是作动词用，它也可以用作名词，表示“内脏；胆量（常用复数）；直觉”，常用表达有listen to your gut（听从你的内心）和have the guts to do sth.（有勇气做某事，敢做某事）。contract在这里用作动词，我们知道它还可以用作名词，表示“合同”，它作动词用时也有“收缩；订立合同”之意。

(扫二维码看视频)

二、法老和豌豆公主

为了王位不惜兄弟相残的事不独中国历史上有，外国也一样。因为在古埃及，女性也能继承王位，所以王室不仅兄弟相残，姐妹也不相容，《糟糕历史》改写了豌豆公主的故事，用戏谑的方式反映了这一情况。

看视频，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.

先来看看有哪些生词。

wink n.& v.眨眼 to close and open one eye quickly, usually as a signal to someone（not sleep a wink 意为“没合眼，一下都没睡着”，也可以表达为 not get a wink of sleep）

mattress n.床垫，褥子

pharaoh n.法老

embrace vt.拥抱 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.处决

throne n.王座，王权

bump off 干掉 to murder sb.

生词都熟悉之后，你可能还会有些地方听不清楚，比如：

1.The beautiful _____________________________ woman空格处是什么单词呢？似乎听到youngy，还有giption，这是什么词？两个词都不存在。那会是什么呢？前面提到了Today is The Princess and the Pea，the Ancient Egyptian Version.，所以这里会不会是Egyptian？那么前面的youngy呢？其实就是young Egyptian，辅音字母结尾的单词和元音字母开始的单词在一起，连读了，虽然g原本不发音，可是连读的时候还是发音了。

2.because family members were always _____________________.这个空格处又是什么呢？我们听到了重读的throne，前面的词被轻读了，而且不是我们常见的用法，所以很难想到会是after一词。一般我们看到after，都只想到“在……之后”这层意思，对它另外的用法并不熟悉，即“寻找，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，有一个习惯用语我们可以了解一下：Better safe than sorry.它是It’s better to be safe than sorry.的缩略形式，意思是“小心一点总比到时候后悔好”。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

英国都铎王朝的第二任国王亨利八世因为推行宗教改革、使英国教会脱离罗马教廷控制而在历史上享有威名，但很多时候大家记住他却是因为另一件事：他一生娶了六位王后，其中两位被他下令斩首。《糟糕历史》用了一首通俗有趣的歌描述亨利八世的六次婚姻，我们一起来看一下。

看视频，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

先来熟悉一下生词。

behead vt.砍头

flirt vt.调情

chop vt.砍

fall for 迷恋，喜欢；上当，受骗

behave vt.举止端正

生词都熟悉之后，我们发现歌词的意思还是很难理解，因为这里牵涉到很多历史背景知识，文化背景也是影响我们理解英语的很大一个因素，我们先来了解一下亨利八世和他的六位妻子之间的故事。

亨利八世的第一位王后凯瑟琳是西班牙国王之女，原本是亨利八世的哥哥亚瑟的妻子，亚瑟早夭，为了睦邻友好以及留住凯瑟琳的丰厚嫁妆，亨利八世娶了她，她为亨利八世生了个女儿玛丽（即后来的血腥玛丽），却没有诞下任何男继承人，而亨利八世此时又爱上了安妮·博林，所以毅然决然地和她离了婚。

安妮·博林出身贵族，曾是凯瑟琳的侍女，亨利八世对她的痴情一如世间平凡男子，在给她的情书中自称仆人，为了和凯瑟琳离婚然后娶她，甚至不惜和罗马教廷决裂，因为罗马皇帝查理五世是凯瑟琳的亲侄子，教皇也不敢开罪。从某种程度上说，英国的宗教改革是一场为离婚而发起的运动。只是安妮也未能给亨利八世诞下男继承人，只生了个女儿，就是后来的伊丽莎白一世，亨利八世再次移情别恋，爱上了她的侍女简·西摩，就以通奸罪下令将安妮斩首。

简·西摩于是成了亨利八世的第三位妻子，她倒是为亨利八世生下了一位男继承人——爱德华王子，只是她因难产死去。据说简·西摩是亨利八世的真爱。

亨利八世的第四位妻子克里维斯的安妮是神圣罗马帝国克里维斯公爵的姐姐，公爵信奉新教，是亨利对抗罗马教廷的重要盟友。他派了画家去给安妮画像，画得很美，于是亨利同意结婚。但安妮抵达英国后，亨利对其外貌大为失望，很快就和她离婚了，所以歌词中有I fell for the portrait一说。

凯瑟琳·霍华德年轻貌美，是亨利八世的第五位妻子，也是第二个被他以通奸罪斩首的王后，所以歌词中说她 no way to behave（品行不端）。

亨利八世的第六位妻子是温柔聪慧的凯瑟琳·帕尔，此时亨利八世已经垂垂老矣，所以她最后活了下来，并在亨利八世死后再婚了。

了解了这些背景知识，再听一遍，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