时间:2018-12-27 作者:英语课 分类:一起听英语


英语课

每个国王都有一个象征权力的东西,今天介绍的就是其中一种.....


Yvonne: Hello, I'm Yvonne Archer 1, this is 6 Minute English and thanks to Alice for


joining me today.


Alice: Hi Yvonne.


 


Yvonne: Hello Alice. Now recently, an artefact - a very old piece of art - which many


historians regard as the world's first ever human rights charter was on loan


for a while from the British Museum to the National Iranian Museum in


Tehran.


Alice: Very interesting.


Yvonne: It is, and it's small, it’s made of clay and is a cylindrical 2 shape. And the Cyrus


Cylinder 3, as it's often called, is two and a half thousand years old!


Alice: That’s very old. Is it still in perfect shape?


Yvonne: I think it is, yes. But before we find out more, you'd better answer today's


question, Alice.


Alice: OK - I’m ready and waiting.


 


Yvonne: Very good. Which country does the British Museum's oldest artefact come


from? 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 2 of 6


a) Benin


b) Iraq or


c) Tanzania


Alice: I’ve got no idea - so I’m going to guess …Tanzania.


Yvonne: OK. And I’ll tell you whether you’re right or wrong later on in today’s “6


Minute English”. King Cyrus of Persia, now Iran, ordered the cylinder to be


inscribed 4 way back in 539 BC. Alice, can you explain how an inscription 5 is


different from writing for us, please?


Alice: Sure. When we write, it's usually on the surface of something with ink - or with


graphite if we’re using a pencil. But King Cyrus's words were 'inscribed', so


they were engraved 6 - or carved - into the surface of the cylinder. And we can


actually feel the writing with our fingers if we touch the inscription, not just


look at it.


Yvonne: And here's BBC Front Row presenter 7, John Wilson, to tell us what is inscribed


on the Cyrus Cylinder:


Insert 1: John Wilson, BBC Front Row


This object records how he liberated 8 the city of Babylon from tyranny, how he freed and


repatriated 9 enslaved people. And how he decreed that all the people of Babylon should


be allowed to practice their own religion and culture.


Yvonne: The little clay object records - or tells us - how King Cyrus liberated the city of


Babylon from tyranny. Now there's a word we don't hear too often! Alice, can


you explain what is 'tyranny' is for us, please? 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 3 of 6


 


Alice: Well, 'tyranny' is a type of behaviour that is cruel, oppressive and very unfair.


For example, we might hear a dictator described as 'tyrannical'. So freeing the


city of Babylon from tyranny is generally thought to have been a good thing.


Yvonne: As we heard, King Cyrus freed the enslaved people and sent them back to their


homes - he repatriated them. And what about that word 'decreed' - that's


another old fashioned and rather formal word, isn't it?


Alice: Yes, it is. If a ruler decrees something, he or she makes it officially known that


it is now law. And King Cyrus of Persia decreed that people should be allowed


to practice their own religion and culture.


Yvonne: The cylinder was on display in Tehran for about seven months and during that


time, about two million people went to see it. Here's what one exhibition


visitor told John Wilson about the artefact:


Insert 2: Woman in National Iranian Museum and John Wilson


Woman: Iran was the centre of the world so many years ago but nowadays, we're left


apart. In our schools and universities, they don't talk about these things.


John Wilson: Because it's part of the pre-Islamic history?


Woman: Yeah.


Yvonne: The woman says that Iran was the centre of the world many years ago.


Alice: So in her view, at one point, Iran was the most important country in the world. 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 4 of 6


Yvonne: Mm. She says they don't talk about things like the Cyrus Cylinder in schools or


universities in Iran because it's an object from a time when the country wasn't


yet the Islamic Republic of Iran.


Alice: Yes, as she puts it, it's part of their pre-Islamic history, which isn’t often


talked about.


Yvonne: Well, despite the fact that Britain and Iran don't engage much politically, they


were able to agree on this exhibition after some discussion. As Neil


MacGregor, director of the British Museum explains, that has been important:


Insert 3 – Neil MacGregor, Director, British Museum


In this context there have been conversations between British diplomats 10 and Iranian


diplomats about human rights. So the exhibition itself doesn’t address these big issues of


the relationship, what it does do is create a space in which difficult conversations can


take place.


Yvonne: OK Alice, it's time to answer today's question! Which country does the British


Museum's oldest artefact come from?


Alice: And I said Tanzania.


Yvonne: And you were right! Hey!


Alice: Incredible. Pure luck! How old is it?


Yvonne: It’s actually 1.8 million years old, and it’s a stone tool that was made by man.


Now as your reward, Alice, you get to remind us of some of today’s language.


Alice: With pleasure: 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011


Page 5 of 6


an artefact


inscribed


tyranny


repatriated


exhibition


 


Yvonne: Now that’s all we’ve got time for - but do join us again soon for more "6


Minute English".


Both: Goodbye! 



1 archer
n.射手,弓箭手
  • The archer strung his bow and aimed an arrow at the target.弓箭手拉紧弓弦将箭瞄准靶子。
  • The archer's shot was a perfect bull's-eye.射手的那一箭正中靶心。
2 cylindrical
adj.圆筒形的
  • huge cylindrical gas tanks 巨大的圆柱形贮气罐
  • Beer cans are cylindrical. 啤酒罐子是圆筒形的。
3 cylinder
n.圆筒,柱(面),汽缸
  • What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少?
  • The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。
4 inscribed
v.写,刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 );内接
  • His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
  • The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 inscription
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文
  • The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损,无法辨认了。
  • He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。
6 engraved
v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的过去式和过去分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中)
  • The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
  • It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美,背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 presenter
n.(电视、广播的)主持人,赠与者
  • Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
  • The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。
8 liberated
a.无拘束的,放纵的
  • The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进,解放了那座城市。
  • The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应,释放出氧气。
9 repatriated
v.把(某人)遣送回国,遣返( repatriate的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The refugees were forcibly repatriated. 难民被强制遣送回国。
  • Ancient artworks were repatriated from the US to Greece. 古代艺术品从美国遣送回希腊。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 diplomats
n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 );有手腕的人,善于交际的人
  • These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
  • The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
adverse weather condition
afterburn
ammonium imines
amphidrome
aptocholecystectomy
as drunk as an owl
basualdo
biscogniauxia formosana
blockheadisms
bring it on!
British Export Board
by the log
Cassia acutifolia
circular economy
core exit pressure
deposition sedimentation
destination task
direct viewingtype
direction of deviation
do justice to a dinner
Dulong and Petit's rule
electrostatic displacemen
ellipticity angle
estrategia
falcn
flow value
furnace atmosphere
future public land mobile telecommunications systems
glacier lake
govanianum
Granadilla foetida
Hematol
high speed plough
Huazhong
huyr
hybrid watch
impeller seals
intensity modulation scan
intrinsic redshift
Jhunjhunu
Lalimbuë(Lalimboee)
leaf tree
Leonurus heterophllus
long - term performance
look on the dark side of things
lundahl
make a victim of
medium grained
Michaelmastide
monoballism
n-max
neurocoeles
non-adiabatic rectification
normal spectral measure space
note for growth habit
numerical reservoir model
nyberg
of little worth
one-dimensional disorder
oxygen ratio
pandemic planning
Penapolis
phase of crystallization
pleurosigma strigosum
politican
postmortem wound
primordians
pristipomoides typus
protentomon
purchasing-manager
radial stay
randomized complete-block design
reiterative
rubus peltatus maxim.
saccoes
sales received in advance
satellite electronic countermeasures system
ship integrated power system
shoot range
soft-server
sopas
spermine
ST_moving-up-or-down_up-and-upward
stage party
stargazy pies
start on
stinky pinky
subcritical reactivity
tax on sales and turnover
touch-screen terminal
treasurydirect.gov
ultraviolet microspectrometry
unfutured
uninterruptible
unremembers
vareniki
Verrucomorpha
very low-density lipoprotein
warve
whole body autoradiograpy
yanbaru