泥沼中發(fā)現(xiàn)中世紀(jì)圣經(jīng)
Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded（1） the discovery of an ancient book of psalms（2） by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel（3） of his backhoe（4） into a bog（5）。
The approximately（6） 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity（7） College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval（8） document in two centuries.
"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration（9） and facing years of painstaking（10） analysis before being put on public display.
"There's two sets of odds（11） that make this discovery really way out（12）。 First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably（13） more amazing."
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer（14）, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished（15）, blown away."
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Wallace said several experts spent Tuesday analyzing only that page — the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page — and the book's binding（16） and cover, which he described as "leather velum（17）, very thick wallet in appearance."
It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry（18） open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out（19） the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.
Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, including the ornately（20） illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.
1. herald:宣布
2. psalm:贊美詩(shī),圣經(jīng)詩(shī)篇
3. shovel:鏟
4. backhoe:反鏟挖土機(jī)
5. bog:沼澤,泥沼
6. approximately:近似地
7. trinity:三位一體
8. medieval:中世紀(jì)的
9. refrigeration:冷藏
10. painstaking:努力的,極度細(xì)心的
11. odds:可能的機(jī)會(huì)
12. way out:擺脫困境的辦法
13. incalculably:無(wú)數(shù)地
14. bulldozer:推土機(jī)
15. vanish:消失,突然不見(jiàn)
16. binding:裝訂
17. velum:幕,膜
18. pry:探查
19. rule out:排除
20. ornately:裝飾華麗地,語(yǔ)言考究的
周二愛(ài)爾蘭考古學(xué)家宣布一名建筑工人在驅(qū)使挖土機(jī)挖泥塘的時(shí)候發(fā)現(xiàn)了一本古代圣經(jīng)。
此書(shū)有將近20頁(yè),可追溯到公元800到1000年。三一學(xué)院手稿專(zhuān)家伯納德。米汗說(shuō)這是2個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)首次發(fā)現(xiàn)愛(ài)爾蘭中世紀(jì)早期的文稿。
目前此書(shū)被冷藏在愛(ài)爾蘭國(guó)家博物館中,在面世之前將接受長(zhǎng)達(dá)幾年的精謹(jǐn)研究。館長(zhǎng)帕特。華萊士說(shuō):“這真是個(gè)奇跡的發(fā)現(xiàn)。”
“這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)的產(chǎn)生主要有兩個(gè)不可思議的原因。首先,如此脆弱的東西不太可能在泥沼中保存下來(lái),更神奇的是在它被毀壞之前被發(fā)現(xiàn)、挖掘出來(lái)。”
他說(shuō)上周一個(gè)工人為了制作商用陶土,用挖土機(jī)挖掘愛(ài)爾蘭中部的一個(gè)泥塘,結(jié)果在鏟斗前看見(jiàn)了一個(gè)東西。華萊士沒(méi)有確切指明發(fā)現(xiàn)地點(diǎn),因?yàn)橐魂?duì)考古學(xué)家們還在對(duì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)進(jìn)行深度探索。
華萊士說(shuō):“泥塘的所有人事前和我們有協(xié)議,對(duì)于發(fā)現(xiàn)古物和公布發(fā)現(xiàn)都很高興?！?BR> 他說(shuō),至關(guān)重要的是泥塘主人用潮濕的泥土蓋住了書(shū),如果他整夜都讓書(shū)暴露在外,那它一定會(huì)被吹干,隨風(fēng)散了。
書(shū)被發(fā)現(xiàn)的時(shí)候是打開(kāi)的,正好是詩(shī)篇83,用拉丁文描寫(xiě)其他國(guó)家企圖消滅以色列,上帝正在傾聽(tīng)人們的抱怨。
華萊士說(shuō)周二幾位專(zhuān)家分析了這一頁(yè)每行有多少個(gè)字、每頁(yè)有多少行,頁(yè)面的大小和書(shū)的裝訂和封面。華萊士說(shuō)整本書(shū)看起來(lái)像一個(gè)厚重的皮革錢(qián)包。
他說(shuō)大約要花幾個(gè)月的時(shí)間來(lái)研究最安全的翻頁(yè)方式,避免損壞或者毀壞它們。他排除了不翻動(dòng)書(shū)頁(yè),僅使用x光來(lái)研究的方法。
愛(ài)爾蘭已經(jīng)擁有其他幾本中世紀(jì)早期的圣書(shū),包括從19世紀(jì)就在都柏林三一學(xué)院展出的絢麗的插畫(huà)圖書(shū)《凱爾之書(shū)》。
Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded（1） the discovery of an ancient book of psalms（2） by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel（3） of his backhoe（4） into a bog（5）。
The approximately（6） 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity（7） College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval（8） document in two centuries.
"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration（9） and facing years of painstaking（10） analysis before being put on public display.
"There's two sets of odds（11） that make this discovery really way out（12）。 First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably（13） more amazing."
He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer（14）, he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.
"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.
Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished（15）, blown away."
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
Wallace said several experts spent Tuesday analyzing only that page — the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page — and the book's binding（16） and cover, which he described as "leather velum（17）, very thick wallet in appearance."
It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry（18） open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out（19） the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.
Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, including the ornately（20） illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.
1. herald:宣布
2. psalm:贊美詩(shī),圣經(jīng)詩(shī)篇
3. shovel:鏟
4. backhoe:反鏟挖土機(jī)
5. bog:沼澤,泥沼
6. approximately:近似地
7. trinity:三位一體
8. medieval:中世紀(jì)的
9. refrigeration:冷藏
10. painstaking:努力的,極度細(xì)心的
11. odds:可能的機(jī)會(huì)
12. way out:擺脫困境的辦法
13. incalculably:無(wú)數(shù)地
14. bulldozer:推土機(jī)
15. vanish:消失,突然不見(jiàn)
16. binding:裝訂
17. velum:幕,膜
18. pry:探查
19. rule out:排除
20. ornately:裝飾華麗地,語(yǔ)言考究的
周二愛(ài)爾蘭考古學(xué)家宣布一名建筑工人在驅(qū)使挖土機(jī)挖泥塘的時(shí)候發(fā)現(xiàn)了一本古代圣經(jīng)。
此書(shū)有將近20頁(yè),可追溯到公元800到1000年。三一學(xué)院手稿專(zhuān)家伯納德。米汗說(shuō)這是2個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)首次發(fā)現(xiàn)愛(ài)爾蘭中世紀(jì)早期的文稿。
目前此書(shū)被冷藏在愛(ài)爾蘭國(guó)家博物館中,在面世之前將接受長(zhǎng)達(dá)幾年的精謹(jǐn)研究。館長(zhǎng)帕特。華萊士說(shuō):“這真是個(gè)奇跡的發(fā)現(xiàn)。”
“這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)的產(chǎn)生主要有兩個(gè)不可思議的原因。首先,如此脆弱的東西不太可能在泥沼中保存下來(lái),更神奇的是在它被毀壞之前被發(fā)現(xiàn)、挖掘出來(lái)。”
他說(shuō)上周一個(gè)工人為了制作商用陶土,用挖土機(jī)挖掘愛(ài)爾蘭中部的一個(gè)泥塘,結(jié)果在鏟斗前看見(jiàn)了一個(gè)東西。華萊士沒(méi)有確切指明發(fā)現(xiàn)地點(diǎn),因?yàn)橐魂?duì)考古學(xué)家們還在對(duì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)進(jìn)行深度探索。
華萊士說(shuō):“泥塘的所有人事前和我們有協(xié)議,對(duì)于發(fā)現(xiàn)古物和公布發(fā)現(xiàn)都很高興?！?BR> 他說(shuō),至關(guān)重要的是泥塘主人用潮濕的泥土蓋住了書(shū),如果他整夜都讓書(shū)暴露在外,那它一定會(huì)被吹干,隨風(fēng)散了。
書(shū)被發(fā)現(xiàn)的時(shí)候是打開(kāi)的,正好是詩(shī)篇83,用拉丁文描寫(xiě)其他國(guó)家企圖消滅以色列,上帝正在傾聽(tīng)人們的抱怨。
華萊士說(shuō)周二幾位專(zhuān)家分析了這一頁(yè)每行有多少個(gè)字、每頁(yè)有多少行,頁(yè)面的大小和書(shū)的裝訂和封面。華萊士說(shuō)整本書(shū)看起來(lái)像一個(gè)厚重的皮革錢(qián)包。
他說(shuō)大約要花幾個(gè)月的時(shí)間來(lái)研究最安全的翻頁(yè)方式,避免損壞或者毀壞它們。他排除了不翻動(dòng)書(shū)頁(yè),僅使用x光來(lái)研究的方法。
愛(ài)爾蘭已經(jīng)擁有其他幾本中世紀(jì)早期的圣書(shū),包括從19世紀(jì)就在都柏林三一學(xué)院展出的絢麗的插畫(huà)圖書(shū)《凱爾之書(shū)》。