【一起听英语】超自然

你相信超自然生物的存在吗？影片中和小说中的情节总是很吸引人，巫师、吸血鬼他们真的存在吗？

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Michelle: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m

Michelle and joining me today is Neil.

Neil: Hello there.

Michelle: Now it may be well past Halloween but our topic today is a tale of the strange and

supernatural. We’re talking about witches.

But before we start on our mysterious journey, I’ve got a quiz question for you

Neil. Are you ready?

Neil: Yes come on then.

Michelle: How many people across Europe do you think were executed for witchcraft 1 -

that’s the practice of magic - between the years 1500 and 1800? Was it:

a) 10,000 people

b) 20,000 people

c) 50,000 people

Neil: Well, you'd hope it was none of them really – that sounds awful to be executed for

making magic. But let's go with a) 10,000 because I hope it's nobody really.

Michelle: OK, well you’ll find out the answer at the end of the programme. Our scene is set

in Pendle Hill in the north-west of England. Engineers doing maintenance work

there were extremely surprised to find the remains 2 of a seventeenth century house,

which some people believe may be linked to a group of witches.

Neil: Yes, the Pendle witches were a group of people who were famously tried for

murder for witchcraft in the seventeenth century. Ten of them were found guilty

and they were hanged.

Michelle: So Pendle Hill has strong links with witchcraft and folklore 3. And the history of

the area remains a tourist attraction today.

Neil: There’s even a special traffic sign warning witches not to fly low on their

broomsticks or any faster than 30 miles per hour! 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Michelle: And now some people think that the hidden cottage discovered by engineers may

have belonged to one of the Pendle witches.

Neil: But what’s the real story behind these people who were so treated unfairly - or

persecuted 4 - for being witches?

Michelle: Let’s listen to local tourist guide Simon Entwistle talking about the story behind

the Pendle witches. What does he say was their real crime?

Simon Entwistle, tourist guide

Their only crime in life was to be poor really, and they would beg off local people. And if local

people wouldn’t cough up any money, they would curse them and some of them actually

believed they did in fact have witches’ powers.

BBC reporter: Ten villagers were hanged. Simon believes the house just dug up is where they’d

met.

Simon Entwistle: For a historian tour guide like me, it’s like finding Tutankhamen’s tomb, it’s of

such great significance.

Michelle: So did you catch what he said the witches’ only real crime was?

Neil: Yes. He said their only real crime was to be poor.

Michelle: So it’s a really sad story really isn’t it?

Neil: The so-called witches may have begged people for money. And then if people

didn’t give them any, they would curse them. This means to use supernatural

powers to hurt someone.

Michelle: Tourist guide Simon Entwistle said they would curse local people if they

wouldn’t ‘cough up any money’. To cough up is a way of saying to produce

something, normally money.

Neil: But he certainly sounds very excited about the discovery of what could be a

witches’ house. He even says that to him, it’s like finding Tutankhamen’s tomb!

Michelle: And he might be right, because when an archaeologist was brought in, he found

the bones of a cat which had apparently 5 been mummified.

Neil: Mummification is a way the ancient Egyptians preserved a person’s, or in this

case animal’s body, after they had died. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Michelle: And even more strangely, the mummified cat was found hidden in one of the

walls of the house.

Neil: And of course witches are often associated with magical animals, especially cats.

Michelle: Let’s hear from archaeologist Frank Giecco. Does he think that the evidence

points to a witch having lived in the house centuries ago?

Frank Giecco, Archaeologist

So here’s the cat, in all its glory.

BBC reporter: When an archaeologist was brought in, he found the remains of a mummified cat

sealed into a wall.

How old is that?

Well the hallway was blocked about two hundred years ago, judging by the bricks in it. The

building’s definitely going back to the 17th Century so that fits in with the period. But we’ve got

no evidence to actually concrete connect this up with the witches; that’s just a stab in the dark.

Michelle: So what do you think Neil? Does it sound like there’s much evidence for the

cottage having belonged to witches?

Neil: Well, he said there’s no real evidence connecting the house to witches. But he did

say that the building goes all the way back to the seventeenth century, which is

around the time of the witches’ trial in Pendle Hill. And of course there’s that

mummified cat found hidden in a wall. Very strange!

Michelle: It all sounds very intriguing 6 doesn’t it? But you’re right, the archaeologist thinks

there’s no real evidence connecting the house to the Pendle witches. And he uses

an interesting expression. He says it’s a stab in the dark, meaning it’s a guess or

speculation 7.

Neil: But whether the new discovery is connected to witches or not, Pendle Hill still has

an eerie 8 story to tell.

Michelle: Absolutely. Now Neil it’s time to find out if you got your quiz question right. I

asked you how many people across Europe were executed for witchcraft between

1500 and 1800? And what was your answer?

Neil: I said a) 10,000. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011

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Michelle: Well, I can tell you that unfortunately you were wrong. The answer is c) 50,000

people, which is quite shocking really.

Neil: That's awful! 50,000!

Michelle: Could you remind us of today’s words please Neil?

Neil: We had:

supernatural

witchcraft

tried for murder

folklore

persecuted

curse

to cough up

a stab in the dark

eerie

Michelle: Thanks very much Neil. And thank you for listening. Bye.

Neil: Goodbye.