5个你在学校学过但其实是错误的“事实”：英语精读讲义

Number five,

第五，

Vikings.

维京人。

What would a Viking be without his trusty battle helmet and its impressive horns? 語法

如果没有可靠的战斗头盔和引人注目的牛角，还能叫维京人吗？

The answer is a more historically accurate Viking.

答案是：那才是历史上更真实的维京人。

Think for a moment about what wearing headgear like that into battle would mean.

试想一下，戴着那样的头盔上战场意味着什么。

The horns are just easy targets for your opponent to hit and knock off your helmet. 短語動詞

牛角只会成为对手容易击中并打掉你头盔的目标。

Or if you strap on your helmet, 短語動詞

或者如果你把头盔绑得很紧，

now your opponent has a convenient lever with which to drag you to the ground 語法

你的对手现在就有了方便的杠杆，能把你拖倒在地，

and something to hold onto while slitting your throat. 短語動詞

甚至在割喉时有个顺手抓着的地方。

Horned helmets are a terrible idea,

带角的头盔是个糟糕的主意，

which is why archaeologists have never found them at Viking battle sites 表達脈絡

这就是为什么考古学家从未在维京人的古战场发现过它们，

and there's no evidence that they were ever used. 短語搭配

也没有任何证据表明它们曾被使用过。

It was poets and artists, 語法

其实是诗人和艺术家，

people not known for caring about facts and reality, 語氣意圖

那些以不关心事实和真相而著称的人，

who gave the Vikings their silly hats during the late 1800s,

在19世纪末给维京人加上了这些愚蠢的帽子，

long after the Vikings could correct their misconceptions.

早已是在维京人无法纠正这种误解很久之后了。

Number four,

第四，

Lady Godiva.

戈黛娃夫人（Lady Godiva）。

The story of this 11th century English noblewoman is that her mean husband,

这位11世纪英国贵妇的故事是，她那刻薄的丈夫，

the earl,

伯爵，

raised taxes on the townspeople of Coventry,

增加了考文垂镇居民的税收，

which Lady Godiva and not surprisingly the locals thought were too high.

戈黛娃夫人和当地居民理所当然地认为这太高了。

She badgered her husband and he conceded in exasperation to lower the taxes if she rode through the town naked,

她不断纠缠她丈夫，他恼羞成怒地让步说，如果她裸体骑马穿过小镇，就降低税收，

assuming that she never would, 表達脈絡

他本以为她永远不会这么做，

but she did.

但她却真的做了。

Because people don't like taxes,

因为人们不喜欢交税，

even though they're how civilization is purchased,

尽管正是靠税收买来了文明，

Lady Godiva's story lives on, 短語動詞

戈黛娃夫人的故事因此流传下来，

notably in the Godiva logo and in popular songs.

尤其是在Godiva巧克力的标志和流行歌曲中。

But while Lady Godiva was a real person and Coventry is a real town,

但是，虽然戈黛娃夫人确有其人，考文垂也是真实存在的小镇，

there's no record of her nude ride from the time when it happened, 短語搭配

在这事发生的时候并没有她裸体骑马的记录，

so we can safely assume the story is false. 短語搭配

所以我们可以有把握地假设这个故事是假的。

Just as with the Vikings,

就像维京人的情况一样，

again,

再说一次，

poets and artists are to blame who made up the tale long after Lady Godiva's death. 講解

都要怪诗人和艺术家，他们在戈黛娃夫人死后很久才编造了这个故事。

Number three,

第三，

Napoleon.

拿破仑。

Famously,

众所周知，

this tiny tiny general,

这位极其矮小的将军，

perhaps to compensate for his short stature, 短語搭配

也许是为了弥补自己身材矮小的缺陷，

took control of France,

控制了法国，

greatly expanded its influence,

大大扩张了它的影响力，

and dubbed himself emperor. 用詞

并自封为皇帝。

Napoleon's official height was indeed 5 ft 2 in,

拿破仑的官方身高确实是5英尺2英寸，

but at the time French inches were longer than English inches,

但当时的法国英寸比英国英寸长，

so doing the unit conversion,

所以进行单位换算的话，

Napoleon's height should have been reported as 5 7 in England's imperial units, 語法

拿破仑的身高按英国英制单位应该报为5英尺7英寸（约1.70米），

which is short by today's standards 短語搭配

按今天的标准确实有点矮，

but was average or slightly above average in the early 1800s.

但在19世纪初，这是平均或略高于平均水平的身高。

However,

然而，

England,

英国，

with its eternal love of all things French,

凭借其对所有法国事物无尽的“热爱”，

didn't care and went with the Napoleon is so short LOL version of the story in newspapers and cartoons. 短語動詞

根本不在乎，直接在报纸和漫画上大肆宣扬“拿破仑真是太矮了哈哈哈”的版本。

Meanwhile,

与此同时，

Napoleon was busy introducing the metric system to France and the wider world to standardize measurements

拿破仑正忙于向法国和更广泛的世界引入公制，以标准化测量单位，

so this sort of confusion would never happen again.

这样这种混淆就再也不会发生了。

And thankfully,

值得庆幸的是，

the whole world now uses metric,

现在全世界都在使用公制，

mostly, 語氣意圖

大部分国家吧，

sort of.

差不多。

Number two,

第二，

Roman vomit.

罗马呕吐室。

Ah, the Roman Empire.

啊，罗马帝国。

So great and powerful but corrupted by decadence from within.

如此伟大而强大，却被内部的颓废所腐蚀。

And what could be a better symbol of that decadence than the vomitorium, 語法

还有什么比呕吐室（vomitorium）更能象征这种颓废呢？

where Romans,

在这里，罗马人，

after stuffing themselves with delicious foods,

在享用完美食之后，

could vomit them all up again to make room to feast anew. 短語搭配

会把它们全都吐出来，腾出肚子再大吃一顿。

Vomitoria are real,

呕吐室（Vomitoria）是真实存在的，

but this idea of them is not,

但关于它的这种想法却不是，

though the confusion is understandable because their name vomitorium seems to make their purpose so clear.

尽管这种误解可以理解，因为它们的名字vomitorium似乎让其用途显得很明确。

Even if for some reason you know Latin,

就算不知为何你懂拉丁语，

perhaps because you live in a country that insists you waste hundreds of hours of your life learning a dead useless language,

也许因为你住在一个坚持让你浪费几百个小时去学一门已死无用语言的国家，

this knowledge still won't help you because the root word vomitum

这些知识也帮不了你，因为词根vomitum

means to spew forth. 用詞

意思是“喷涌而出”。

So what is it really?

那么它到底是什么呢？

If you've ever been to a big stadium like, 語法

如果你曾经去过大型体育场，比如说，

say, the ones made by the Romans,

像罗马人建造的那种，

you've already used a vomitorium.

你就已经用过呕吐室了。

This is what the vomitoria are,

这就是呕吐室的真面目：

the passageways that let lots of people enter or exit at once.

允许大量人群同时进出的通道。

The people are what spews forth in the vomitoria, 表達脈絡

在呕吐室里“喷涌而出”的是人，

not the contents of the people.

而不是人们肚子里的东西。

Number one,

第一，

Columbus.

哥伦布。

There's so very much wrong with the common retelling of the story of Christopher Columbus 語法

在人们常讲的克里斯托弗·哥伦布的故事中，错得离谱的地方实在太多了，

that it's hard to know where to begin,

以至于很难知道从何说起，

but the biggest misconception is that everyone else thought the world was flat 表達脈絡

但最大的误解是，其他人都认为世界是平的，

but Columbus was the only guy smart enough to know that it's round.

而哥伦布是唯一聪明到知道地球是圆的的人。

It makes a daring story,

这个故事听起来很具冒险精神，

but knowledge of a spherical Earth goes back to at least 5000 BC. 短語動詞

但关于地球是球体的认知至少可以追溯到公元前5000年。

That's 6 and 1/2 thousand years before Columbus set sail. 短語搭配

那是在哥伦布启航前6500年。

And that knowledge was never lost to Western civilization.

而且西方文明从未遗失过这一知识。

In 200 BC,

在公元前200年，

Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference

埃拉托斯特尼计算出了地球的周长，

and his estimate was still well known and being used during Columbus's time.

而他的估算在哥伦布时代仍然众所周知并被使用。

The argument Columbus had with Queen Isabella was not over the shape of the Earth, 語法

哥伦布与伊莎贝拉女王争论的不是地球的形状，

but of its size.

而是它的大小。

Columbus estimated the Earth was much smaller than Queen Isabella and her scientific advisers did, 語法

哥伦布估计的地球尺寸比伊莎贝拉女王及其科学顾问的估计要小得多，

which was why he thought he could make it across the empty Atlantic to India. 短語搭配

这就是为什么他认为自己可以穿过空旷的大西洋到达印度。

But Columbus's size estimate was wrong,

但哥伦布对尺寸的估算是错的，

again, just like Napoleon's height,

再说一次，就像拿破仑的身高一样，

because of mixed up units.

也是因为搞混了单位。

However,

然而，

this mistake did send him west to become the first European to discover America, 語法

这个错误确实让他向西航行，成为发现美洲的第一个欧洲人，

as long as you ignore the hornless Vikings who beat him by 500 years. 講解

只要你忽略早他500年到达那里的没戴牛角盔的维京人。