BBC英国史

For Bede and St Wilfred,it was crucial that the Roman, not the Irish Celtic church that won over Britain.

对比德与圣威尔弗雷德而言 罗马战胜爱尔兰的凯尔特教会赢得不列颠 意义非凡

What they passionately desired was the reconnection of a converted country with its Roman mother.A true homecoming.

他们醉心与让这个皈依它教的国家 再次回归母国罗马的怀抱 一次真正的回归

The authority of the Roman Saxon church though didn't guarantee protection.

然而罗马撒克逊教会却从未保证 保护他们的安全

Bede himself had had forebodings before he died in 735.

比德在735年去世前 就曾有预言

Sure enough, half a century later, in 793,the Anglo-Saxon chronicle reports.

果真在半个世纪后的793年 盎格鲁-撒克逊编年史中记载道

Dire portents appeared over Northumbria.

诺森布里亚弥漫着凶兆

Immense whirlwinds and flashes of lightning and fiery dragons were seen flying through the air.

狂风大作 雷电交加 人们看到火龙在空中飞蹿

A great famine followed.

一次大饥荒随之而来

And a little after that,on the 8th June, the ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.

不久后的六月八日 野蛮人来袭 摧毁了林迪斯法恩修道院

The heathen men were of course, the Vikings.

当然 这些野蛮人便是维京海盗

If you look long and hard enough at any culture you'll find something good about it.

如果你长时间用心研究任何一种文明 定会找到它的优点所在

Historians of the Vikings,understandably distressed at the rape and pillage stereotype,

因此不难理解 人们对海盗"烧杀掳掠"的偏见 会让维京史学家多么苦恼

have asked us lately to think of things other than sail, land,burn and plunder to say about the Vikings.

他们近来呼吁我们将传统的对维京人 航海-登陆-烧杀劫掠的印象抛开

They've said, Look at their metalwork,their ships, the great poetic sagas.

去关注他们的金属工艺 船只和那些壮丽的史诗般英雄传说

Now we know the Vikings did come bearing something other than a nasty attitude.

而如今我们知道维京人的船上装载的 不光是卑劣狼籍的名声

They came carrying amber, fur and walrus ivory.

还有琥珀 皮草以及海象牙

Somehow, though, this vision of the Vikings as rapid-transit, long-distance commercial travellers,

然而不知为何 维京人作为 快捷的远洋旅行商

singing their sagas as they sail to a new market opening,I don't think that would have cut much ice with the priests

一路高歌着英雄传奇前往新市场的形象 我想 并未影响到牧师对他们的印象

here at the cathedral of Bradwell-on-Sea,just a crab scuttle away from the area where I grew up, on the Essex shore.

在我长大的埃塞克斯郡的海滨 海滨布拉德韦尔 这一形象只是昙花一现

词汇解析

1、guarantee

确保；使必然发生

Surplus resources alone do not guarantee growth.

仅有富余的资源并不能确保发展。

a man whose fame guarantees that his calls will nearly always be returned.

其名望能确保他的呼吁几乎总能得到回应的人

保证

A famous old name on a firm is not necessarily a guarantee of quality.

公司悠久的品牌并不能确保商品的质量。

There is still no guarantee that a formula could be found.

还没有把握是否能找到一个配方。

保证…必定发生；承诺做；答应提供

Most states guarantee the right to free and adequate education.

大多数州都保障人们免费享受充分教育的权利。

All students are guaranteed campus accommodation for their first year.

保证安排所有的学生第一年在校内住宿。

2、destroy

毁坏;破坏;毁灭;摧毁

That's a sure recipe for destroying the economy and creating chaos.

那样做肯定会破坏经济、制造混乱。

No one was injured in the explosion, but the building was completely destroyed.

没有人在爆炸中受伤，但大楼遭到了彻底毁坏。

毁掉…的生活;使垮掉

If I was younger or more naive, the criticism would have destroyed me.

如果我再年轻一些，或是再单纯一些，那些批评可能就会把我给毁了。