BBC英国史

But in many other cases, the pieces speak of real hardship.

但也有其他的东西 记录了真正的艰辛

They were just the things the mothers found they happened to have on them at the time they had to get rid of the children.

它们只是些 母亲不得不丢弃孩子的时候 碰巧身上所带的物件

Some of these mothers had nothing at the last minute to offer their little babies

有些母亲一无所有 离别的时候 除了一颗坚果

except a nut,a nut meant which was meant to be worn as a pendant.

戴在脖子上的坚果之外 没有别的什么可以赠予孩子了

Look, there's a little hole where the string was supposed to be strung through there.

瞧 这里有个小洞 可以用根绳子穿起来的

Sometimes things which had a little work on them like this beautiful sewn heart there.

有时 一些物件是花了些许心思的 比如这个漂亮的编织心

Or, most desperate of all perhaps,just this flimsy little piece of ribbon.

但大部分都是来自最绝望的母亲的 只是这么一条细小的带子

Imagine a mother on a point saying goodbye for the last time to her baby

想象一下 一个即将与孩子永别的母亲 在分别的最后时刻

just taking a bit of ribbon from her hair or her wrist

只能从头发上或者手腕上扯下一截丝带

and giving it, as she hoped, to her child.

希望能够如其所愿 交到孩子手上

Now, if this wasn't heartbreak enough,

如果这些还不够让人心碎

it only gets worse when you know that none of these things ever found their way to the children.

那么若你得知 这些东西根本就没有如她们所愿 送到孩子手里 又会作何感想

And of course, the Foundling Hospital couldn't hope to work miracles overnight.

当然 育婴堂不能一夜之间制造奇迹

Nearly half the babies died in a hast in the first year,

几乎一半的病童第一年就匆匆夭折

but that was a huge improvement over the usual figures.

但是相比于平常数据 已经有了很大的进步

词汇解析

1、suppose

假定;假设;设想

Suppose someone gave you an egg and asked you to describe exactly what was inside.

假设有人给了你一枚鸡蛋并要你准确描述鸡蛋里面有什么。

Supposing he's right and I do die tomorrow? Maybe I should take out an extra insurance policy.

假设他是对的，我确实明天就会死，那该怎么办？也许我应该再买一份保险。

(根据所知)认为，推断，料想

The policy is perfectly clear and I see no reason to suppose that it isn't working.

这项政策非常清楚明了，我没有理由认为它不会奏效。

I knew very well that the problem was more complex than he supposed.

我很清楚那个问题比他料想的要更复杂。

我看;要我说;我想

I get a bit uptight these days. Hormones, I suppose.

这些天我有点焦躁。我看是荷尔蒙在作怪。

I suppose I'd better do some homework.

我看我最好做做功课。

2、improvement

改进(之处);改善(之处)

the dramatic improvements in organ transplantation in recent years.

近几年器官移植方面取得的巨大进步

There is considerable room for improvement in state facilities for treating the mentally handicapped.

国家现有的用于智障病人治疗的设施还有相当大的改进余地。

更优秀之物;改善的事物

The new Prime Minister is an improvement on his predecessor.

新上任的总理比他的前任要强。

The system we introduced in 1980 has been a great improvement.

我们 1980 年引进的系统有了很大改进。