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The Toilet: From Chamber Pots to Water Closets 马桶：从便壸到冲水马桶

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

What invention has most affected daily life over the years? Numerous conveniences have influenced history, but when nature calls, you’re sure to guess the answer right away! That’s right – the toilet is one of the greatest, yet most underpraised, inventions of them all.

多年来哪一项发明对我们的日常生活影响最大？虽然有太多的便利设施已经影响了历史，但是想要上厕所时，你一定立刻就猜得到答案！没错──马桶是这些便利设施中最伟大的发明之一，虽然它得到的掌声也最少。

The toilet has accompanied the rise and fall of many civilizations – its level of sophistication seeming to mirror society’s development. For example, remains dating to 2,500 BC show that there were toilets both in ancient India and ancient Egypt, complete with covered drains that removed excreta with running water. As these civilizations disappeared, so too did their advanced toilet designs.

马桶伴随了许多文明的兴衰，它的精密程度似乎反应了社会的发展状况。比如说，一些可追溯至公元2500年前的遗迹显示，古印度及古埃及就有马桶了，这些厕所有完备的排水设备可用流水把排泄物冲掉。这些文明消失时，它们先进的厕所设计也随之而去。

For centuries in Europe, defecation often occurred outdoors, feces were dumped on the streets, and rivers often became polluted with sewage. The sheer vulgarity of this bestial public emptying of the bowels and the overwhelming stench of it all likely drove Sir John Harrington to develop the flushing toilet for Queen Elizabeth in 1596. It took two hundred years, however, for his design to become widely used.

几百年来在欧洲上厕所通常都在户外解决，在街上排放排泄物，而且排泄物也常常污染了河流。这些完全像野兽般公然排便的粗野行为及散发的恶臭，可能就是让约翰哈林顿在1596年为伊丽莎白女王设计冲水马桶的原因。然而他的设计却花了两百年才广被使用。

The late nineteenth century saw Queen Victoria’s genteel reign and the British Empire dictating civilized notions to the world. The toilet, accordingly, came into vogue. It was even given its own area in the household, which evolved into what we now call the bathroom.

十九世纪末期，伊丽莎白女王厉行教化政策，大英帝国也对全世界强力灌输文明的观念，因此马桶就流行了起来。屋子里甚至也有放置马桶的地方，这个地方就演变成现在我们称之为厕所的地方了。

Vocabulary

单词发音

chamber [ˋtʃembɚ] pot 便壶，夜壶

nature calls 【婉】小便; 大便 when someone says - nature calls - they mean they have to go to the bathroom

underpraised 没有得到应有的赞赏的

sophistication [sə͵fɪstɪˋkeʃən] n.（科技产品的）复杂；精密

complete [kəmˋplit] adj. 兼有的；附带的[F][（+with）]

drain [dren] n. 排水设备

excreta [ɛkˋskritə] n. 排泄物（如尿、粪、汗）waste matter, such as sweat, urine, or feces, discharged from the body

defecation [͵dɛfəˋkeʃən] n. 排便  the elimination of fecal waste through the anus

feces [ˋfisiz] n. 排泄物

sewage [ˋsjuɪdʒ] n. 污水；污秽物

vulgarity [vʌlˋgærətɪ] n. 粗俗；粗野的动作 the quality of lacking taste and refinement

bestial [ˋbɛstʃəl] adj. 兽类的

bowel [ˋbaʊəl] n. 肠子

stench [stɛntʃ] n. 恶臭 a strong, foul odor; a stink

flush [flʌʃ] v. 用水冲洗

genteel [dʒɛnˋtil] adj. 彬彬有礼的；有教养的 refined in manner; well-bred and polite

dictate [ˋdɪktet] v. 命令; 发号施令; 强行规定 to issue orders or commands

vogue [vog] n. 流行；风行

evolve [ɪˋvɑlv] v. 发展；进化

Sentence of the Day

Don’t flush it all away.

不要让它付诸流水。

课文讲解

Marc’s friend Emily has just emerged from the restroom at a restaurant:  马克的朋友爱蜜莉刚在餐厅上完厕所。

E: Glad that’s been flushed away!

好高兴终于上完了！

M: Remember that documentary we watched last week? Hundreds of years ago, you would have been crapping into a pot that some unlucky soul would have had to deal with.

记得上礼拜我们看的那部纪录片吗？几百年前，你可能会在便壸上拉屎，而某个倒霉鬼还得拿去倒掉呢。

E: There must have been an awful stench everywhere in those days. Let’s raise a glass to Alexander Cumming and his perfection of the technology of flushing.

那时一定到处都臭气冲天吧！我们来举杯向亚历山大卡明表示一下敬意，感谢他大大地改善了冲水技术。

M: The narrator mentioned that Cumming’s design successfully suppressed foul odors, too.

该纪录片的讲述者提到卡明的设计也成功地掩盖了恶臭。

E: It was a few years, though, before the introduction of London’s sewage system, so I guess all the feces still had to be manually removed.

不过他的发明是在伦敦引进下水道系统的前几年才完成的，所以我猜所有的排泄物仍得靠人工移除。

M: That’s right. London’s sewage system was constructed in the late 1880s and is still in operation today.

没错，伦敦的下水道系统是在1880年代末期建立的，至今仍在使用。

E: Didn’t it take cholera ravaging the city before people realized that a drainage network was necessary?

是不是因为之前霍乱肆虐这个城市，才让人们了解到下水道系统是必备的？

M: Yes. Can you imagine what it was like when the contents of chamber pots were thrown into the street below?

没错。你能想象把便壸内的排泄物往下丢到街上是什么样的情景吗？

E: Or in Roman times when it was common for nobles to relieve themselves in front of others while socializing!

或是想象在古罗马时代，常会见到贵族在从事社交活动时于众人面前大小便！

M: Fortunately, as society has developed, people have increasingly limited such distasteful activities to a private sanctuary where everything gets whisked away.

幸好，随着社会的发展，人们已渐渐将这种令人不快的事限制在私人处所中解决，且在那里所有的东西都会冲得一干二净。

E: Remember the old saying “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

别忘了「洁净几乎等同神圣」这句古谚。

M: Meaning, if you take care of your physical hygiene, your mind will soar.

意思是说，如果照顾好个人的身理卫生，你的心灵就会向上提升。

－by Nick Wheeler

Vocabulary

单词发音

crap [kræp] v.【粗】拉屎 to defecate

soul [sol] n. 人

narrator [næˋretɚ] n. 叙述者，讲述者

foul [faʊl] adj. 恶臭的

ravage [ˋrævɪdʒ] v. 毁灭；蹂躏 to cause extensive damage to

drainage [ˋdrenɪdʒ] n. 排水系统，排水设备；下水道

distasteful [dɪsˋtestfəl] adj. 使人不愉快的；讨厌的

sanctuary [ˋsæŋktʃʊ͵ɛrɪ] n. 避难所; 躲避处

whisk [hwɪsk] away 快而轻地掸去，拂去; 匆匆送走  take away quickly and suddenly

cleanliness is next to godliness 【谚】整洁近于美德; 意思是一个人的身体和品行（身心）是否清洁，其重要性仅次于对上帝是否忠诚。something that you say which means that except for worshipping God, the most important thing in life is to be clean

godliness [ˋgɑdlɪnɪs] n. 神圣；虔信，虔敬

hygiene [ˋhaɪdʒin] n. 卫生

Sentence of the Day

Necessity is the mother of invention.

需要为发明之母。