时间:2019-03-01 作者:英语课 分类:听播客学英语


英语课

   Do you know what a witch is? A witch is a woman who has magical powers (or, at least, other people think she has magical powers). In England, in the 17th century, witches were often treated very cruelly. Practising witchcraft 1 was against the law. Many witches were put to death. Of course, these poor women did not really have magical powers. They did not really practice witchcraft. They were often widows living alone with no family to protect them. Perhaps they had done something to annoy or frighten their neighbours. The neighbours then accused them of witchcraft, and the “witch” would then be arrested, and perhaps tortured or killed.


  But that was a long time ago. Surely it is many years since a woman was arrested and accused of being a witch. Well, not as long ago as you might think. The last occasion was in 1944, during the Second World War, and it happened like this. Helen Duncan, who came from Scotland, had a special gift – she was able to talk to the spirits of dead people. Or at least, she said she could do this, and plenty of people believed her. She held meetings, called seances, where people sat in a circle holding hands while she attempted to speak to the spirits of the dead. At one seance, the parents of a young sailor were present. Their son was missing, and they feared that he might be dead. Mrs Duncan spoke 2 to the spirit of the young sailor. She told his parents that he had died when a German submarine had attacked his ship. Now, the young man was indeed dead, and his ship had indeed been attacked by a submarine, but the government had kept this secret. So how did Helen Duncan know? Was she a spy? Was she a witch? What other military secrets did she know? What else might she say? The authorities decided 3 that they had to silence her. She was arrested and accused of witchcraft. The court found her guilty and sent her to prison for 9 months.
  The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, thought that sending Helen Duncan to prison for witchcraft was “tomfoolery” (“Tomfoolery” is an old-fashioned word meaning silly nonsense). He visited her in prison, and a few years after the War had ended he persuaded Parliament to repeal 4 the old laws on witchcraft.
  So, if you want to be a witch in Britain today, you can be – thanks to Helen Duncan and Winston Churchill.

n.魔法,巫术
  • The woman practising witchcraft claimed that she could conjure up the spirits of the dead.那个女巫说她能用魔法召唤亡灵。
  • All these things that you call witchcraft are capable of a natural explanation.被你们统统叫做巫术的那些东西都可以得到合情合理的解释。
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
n.废止,撤消;v.废止,撤消
  • He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
  • He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由,赞成废除该法令。
学英语单词
ADIH
alphabetic telegram
alpine strawberry
ankersmit
anomal-
anterior pituitary gonadotrophin
arabidopsis lyratas
arms backward lift
arsenous acid anhydride
bad lot
barium enemator
blendent
blood-activating drug
breunig
Bruins
Calciobiotite
cape winter
caradons
clean up your act
cobbling
conditional independence graph
contactor density
craker
crystallosicope
cuparenone
curtains
cytometopus
decimal coefficient of absorption
decreasingly
demess
diazides
Dick Tracy
dimension size
dodecaedron
domestic population
Donovans Corner
eletronic oxytocic apparatus
enamcl bud
ethionamides
exhaust gas nozzle
free evaluation of the evidence
Galfan
gasket
girardelli
gulped down
gynecology of TCM
hadars
Harrower-Erickson tests
holy bark
hydroxyamino-norleucine
incision of scalp
indirectly heated thermister
indium arsenide
keiun
lactoproteinotherapy
latirus polygonus
lazyback
lithopedian
lowest tone
magastromancy
middlefield
Mlicrococcus acidi lactis
molded epoxy insulated coil
monophthongise
mpa (modulated pulse amplifier)
N-bromoacetamide
new-mercantilism
non-constant cost
not long
oeillet
of unsound mind
officered
Okawe
optically tracked
oscillator supply
oxalyl-urea
Palmarola, I.
Pechi
perfervid
phylic
podsolisation
programmed amplifier
pulsimeters
punier
queue arrangement
radial chromatic displacement
raghu
reduced cycle matrix
rounded bottom
senior certificate
single ingot pit
space detector
sthreal
Stovall-Black stain
tax on gifts
through and through
trimodular
twillies
undisclose
uninerviate
wrapping post
yoichis