铁处女 - 人类历史上最残酷的刑罚：英语精读讲义

It's the Middle Ages and times have been tough for a peasant like yourself.

这是中世纪，对你这样的农民来说，日子一直很难熬。

Drought and the subsequent poor harvest have devastated your people and widespread famine is around the corner. 習語

干旱以及随之而来的歉收重创了你们，眼看大范围饥荒就要来临。

To make matters worse, taxes have been raised because your rulers are warring with other rulers. 表達脈絡

更糟的是，因为统治者们正互相征战，税赋又提高了。

You've had enough of watching on as your children starve, 講解

你再也无法忍受眼睁睁看着孩子挨饿，

but in the absence of Twitter, 短語搭配

可那时又没有 Twitter，

seeking social justice will mean rounding up real people and stating your case. 短語搭配

要寻求社会公正，你就得把真人召集起来，当面说出诉求。

Before you know it, though, 表達脈絡

可还没等你反应过来，

you've been reported by someone and have quickly been suspended from peasant duties.

就有人告发了你，你很快便被“暂停”了农民的差事。

Your interrogators aren't interested in malnourished kids and dying crops,

审问你的人对营养不良的孩子和枯死的庄稼毫无兴趣，

and as they stretch your body on the rack, 文化背景

当他们把你的身体绑上刑架拉伸时，

you admit to more than you ever did,

你承认的罪行远比自己真正做过的多，

which was only get some folks together to talk about unfairness.

而你做的不过是召集几个人，谈谈世道有多不公平。

You've been branded a traitor, 用詞

你被打成了叛徒，

treasonous,

被说成犯了叛国罪，

and the worst is going to happen to you.

而最可怕的事即将降临到你头上。

So, there you are,

于是，你就这样站在那里，

a brave warrior of social justice

成了一名勇敢的社会正义斗士，

who only wanted some respite from the demands of high taxes during a very hard time for peasants.

其实只想在农民最艰难的时期，稍稍摆脱沉重税赋的压迫。

It doesn't really matter that you didn't kill anyone or start a riot. 表達脈絡

你没杀过人，也没发动骚乱，这根本不重要。

What matters is you've been accused of plotting an Occupy the Lord's Manor movement.

重要的是，有人指控你密谋发起“占领领主庄园”运动。

Having been stretched on the rack, 語法

在刑架上被狠狠拉伸后，

you admitted to being somewhat disgruntled about watching your children die in front of you

你承认，眼睁睁看着孩子死在面前，确实让你有些不满，

and not being able to get your hands on that most cherished commodity, 習語

而且你还弄不到那种最宝贵的东西——

bread.

面包。

You hardly started a peasants revolt,

你远远算不上发动了农民起义，

but a mere peasant get-together to discuss the drawbacks of serfdom

可区区一次讨论农奴制弊端的农民聚会，

really got the nobility all hot and bothered. 習語

却把贵族们吓得坐立不安。

They're all too familiar with peasant revolts of the past, 短語搭配

他们太熟悉过去那些农民起义了，

and any kind of insubordination will be dealt with seriously.

任何形式的抗命都会被严厉处置。

That meant a medley of tried and tested cruel and unusual punishments for you 短語搭配

这意味着，一套久经验证、残酷而怪异的刑罚大杂烩正等着你，

as you informed your torturers of your guilt

因为你已经向施刑者“供认”了自己的罪行，

and took a few other peeved peasants down with you. 短語動詞

还顺带拖了几个同样愤懑的农民下水。

You might be broken,

你也许已经被折磨得不成人形，

but you're not dead,

但你还没死，

and the nobility wants to make an example of you. 習語

贵族们想拿你杀鸡儆猴。

What's on offer?

他们会怎么处置你？

Well, as they would like to make an example of you,

嗯，既然他们想拿你当反面教材，

they want to make your death a public spectacle.

就要把你的死亡变成一场公开表演。

Maybe after seeing you scream,

也许听过你的惨叫后，

the man in the street will think twice about complaining about being taxed into starvation. 習語

街上的普通人下次再抱怨苛税把人逼到饿死前，就会三思了。

The nobility have a brainstorming meeting and try to think of some especially gruesome punishment for you.

贵族们开起头脑风暴会，试图为你想出一种格外骇人的刑罚。

"Burned at the stake in full public view," 文化背景

“当众把他绑在火刑柱上烧死。”

says one of the wealthy adjudicators.

一位富有的裁决者说道。

"So passé," someone retorts. 用詞

“太老套了。”有人反驳。

Burning is so 13th century.

火刑是13世纪的老古董了。

Come on, guys,

拜托，各位，

let's try and think outside the box. 習語

咱们得跳出框框想点新花样。

Another man puts up his hand and looks like he might have a good answer.

另一个男人举起手，看起来像是有个好主意。

He says,

他说：

"Hanged, drawn, and quartered, 文化背景

“先绞死、拖行，再五马分尸，

but then we eviscerate him and stick his head on a pike."

然后取出他的内脏，把脑袋插到长矛上。”

He looks crestfallen when his boss replies,

老板回答后，他顿时一脸失落：

"Gilbert,

“Gilbert，

you know very well we did that last month.

你很清楚，我们上个月才这么干过。

It's hardly original now, isn't it?"

现在一点都不新鲜了，不是吗？”

"Okay, I've got one,"

“好吧，我有个点子。”

says a guy right at the back,

坐在最后面的一个家伙说道，

without hardly looking up, 語法

他几乎连头都没抬，

and with a mean glare in his eyes.

眼里透着凶狠的寒光。

He says,

他说：

"We make a box that looks a bit like a coffin,

“我们做一个有点像棺材的箱子，

but shaped like a human.

但把它做成人形。

We fill this with spikes,

里面装满尖刺，

and when it's closed,

箱子一关上，

all those spikes impale him,

所有尖刺就会把他扎个对穿，

and maybe he'll leave some gaps where the blood will flow out.

或许还能留几道口子，让血从那里流出来。

You know, it could look pretty cool."

你懂的，看起来可能会很酷。”

The boss rubs his whiskers and thinks for a while.

老板捋着胡须，想了一会儿。

"Yeah, that might be sufficiently brutal.

“嗯，这应该够残忍了。

I like the streams of blood thing,

我喜欢鲜血成股流下来的设计，

very Romanesque."

很有罗马式风格。”

The scenario we've just outlined,

我们刚才描绘的这幕场景，

of course, didn't happen,

当然并没有真的发生，

and we don't need to tell you that people didn't speak like that back in the Middle Ages.

而且不用我们说，你也知道中世纪的人并不会这样讲话。

What is true about that conversation is that the Iron Maiden,

这段对话中真正有依据的是，铁处女这种刑具，

as well as being the name of a British heavy metal band 語法

同时也是英国重金属乐队 Iron Maiden 的名字，

who wrote songs with the names such as The Number of the Beast,

这支乐队写过《The Number of the Beast》等歌曲，

was indeed a box with spikes on the inside.

而它确实是一个内壁布满尖刺的箱子。

It looks something like the box an Egyptian mummy would be kept in,

它看起来有点像存放埃及木乃伊的箱子，

something called a sarcophagus.

那种东西叫作石棺。

You can still find Iron Maidens in museums today.

如今在博物馆里，你仍然能看到铁处女。

They captured the imagination like no other contraption 短語搭配

没有哪种刑具能像它一样激发人们的想象，

simply because they look so barbaric.

只因为它看起来实在太野蛮了。

Any upset peasant who'd even heard about one of these

任何一个心怀不满、哪怕只是听说过这种东西的农民，

would run to the hills if he thought the nobles were after him. 講解

只要以为贵族盯上了自己，都会立刻逃进山里。

The burning question, though, 習語

不过，真正迫切的问题是：

is where and when were they used,

它们究竟在何时何地被使用过，

and on whom were they used?

又被用在了谁身上？

This part has troubled historians for years,

这个问题困扰了历史学家多年，

but that hasn't stopped numerous websites just stating they were used

但这并没妨碍无数网站一口咬定它们确实被用过，

and including no more information.

却不给出任何更多信息。

First of all,

首先，

we aren't doing a show today on something we've just made up

我们今天可不是要讲一个凭空捏造的东西，

or found on a dubious website that likes to say,

也不是讲某个可疑网站上找到的玩意儿，那些网站最爱说：

"You won't believe what happened next." 文化背景

“接下来发生的事，你绝对想不到。”

Iron Maidens exist,

铁处女是真实存在的，

and they have been around for quite some time.

而且已经存在相当长一段时间了。

A few of them are now artifacts that people can take selfies with in museums.

如今，其中一些成了博物馆藏品，游客还能和它们自拍。

At the same time,

但话说回来，

Google Glass and T-Mobile exist,

Google Glass 和 T-Mobile 也确实存在，

and no one uses them much either.

同样也没多少人使用它们。

Okay, so the first time anyone mentioned an Iron Maiden being used,

好吧，第一次有人提到铁处女被实际使用，

much like the one we're talking about today,

而且样子与我们今天所说的这种相仿，

was when a German philosopher by the name of Johann Philipp Siebenkees talked about one. 短語搭配

是德国哲学家 Johann Philipp Siebenkees 提起它的时候。

He wrote that in 1515

他写道，在1515年，

a coin forger in Nuremberg had gone to bed for eternity in one. 習語

纽伦堡的一名伪币制造者在铁处女里永远“长眠”了。

How did he know this?

他是怎么知道的？

He was writing in the late 18th century,

他写下这件事时已是18世纪末，

and no one seems to know how he knew about Iron Maidens.

而且似乎没人知道他从哪里得知了铁处女的故事。

Well,

不过，

he also studied ancient history,

他也研究古代史，

and stories have been passed down from ancient times regarding people being put to death in a rather uncomfortable box. 講解

而从古代流传下来的故事中，确实有人被装进一个极不舒服的箱子里处死。

Maybe the philosopher embellished those boxes in his account.

也许这位哲学家在记述中给那些箱子添油加醋了。

For good reason,

人们对此表示怀疑，完全情有可原，

there are skeptics because after he wrote about those things,

因为在他写下这些事以后，

people started making them.

大家才开始制造铁处女。

In the 19th century,

到了19世纪，

making Iron Maidens was all the rage, 習語

制造铁处女一度风靡一时，

and that's why there are so many of them around today in museums.

所以今天的博物馆里才会有这么多。

If you're from the US,

如果你来自美国，

you can see one for yourself in the San Diego Museum of Man.

你可以亲自去圣迭戈人类博物馆看一具。

The earliest iteration of the Iron Maiden was actually made in Nuremberg in 1802

最早版本的铁处女其实是1802年在纽伦堡制成的，

after Siebenkees's account.

时间就在 Siebenkees 的记述发表之后。

That one was destroyed in the Second World War.

那一具在第二次世界大战中被毁了。

Why would people start making them in the 19th century and not using them?

人们为什么从19世纪才开始制造铁处女，却又不用它们呢？

One of the reasons that kept popping up, 短語動詞

其中一个反复出现的解释，

according to scholars,

据学者们所说，

was linked to propaganda.

与宣传有关。

If people in the 19th century were told, 語法

如果有人告诉19世纪的人：

"This is how people were punished in the Middle Ages,"

“中世纪就是这样惩罚人的。”

they would think,

他们就会想：

"Wow,

“哇，

we have it so good today. 習語

我们今天的日子真是太好了。

Hanging is like a slap on the wrist." 習語

绞刑简直就像轻轻拍一下手腕。”

It's thought Siebenkees made the entire thing up, 短語動詞

人们认为，整件事都是 Siebenkees 编出来的，

and there was no coin forger who got punctured inside a spike-spangled sarcophagus.

根本没有哪个伪币制造者在一具镶满尖刺的石棺里被扎成筛子。

It seems other countries just ran with the lie 習語

看来，其他国家只是顺势把这个谎言传了下去，

and also used the Iron Maiden as a way to make people realize that the past was brutal

同样利用铁处女，让人们意识到过去有多残酷，

and the present was just peachy perfect and humane. 語氣意圖

而当下又是多么美好、完美且人道。

So, there you go.

事情就是这样。

In the Middle Ages and after,

在中世纪及其后的年代，

there were methods of torture we find utterly repellent today,

的确存在一些令今天的我们无比反感的酷刑，

and there were gruesome ways people were executed,

人们也确实曾以骇人的方式处决犯人，

but the Iron Maiden was an invention of more civilized people who wanted to paint their predecessors on planet Earth as savages. 習語

但铁处女其实是更“文明”的人发明出来的，好把地球上的前人描绘成野蛮人。

And since you're definitely not a savage,

既然你肯定不是野蛮人，

do the civilized thing and watch another great episode of The Infographics Show.

那就做件文明的事，再看一期精彩的 The Infographics Show 吧。

We've picked out two for you,

我们已经为你挑好了两期，

so click on this episode here or this one over here.

点击这里的这期，或者那边的那期就行。