【BBC英国史】Beginnings英国起源(3)

英语自学网

Beginnings 起源（3100 B.C.——1000 A.D.）
And the villagers were real neighbours, living cheek by jowl, their houses connected by walled, sometimes decorated alleyways. It's not too much for a stretch to imagine gossip travelling down those alleyways after a hearty seafood supper. We have, in other words, everything you could possibly want from a village except a church and a pub. In 3,000 BC, the sea and the air were a little warmer than they are now. And once they'd settled in their sandstone houses, they could harvest red bream and mussels and oysters that were abundant in the shallows. Cattle provided meat and milk, and dogs were kept for hunting and for company. During the Neolithic centuries there would have been at least a dozen little houses here, half-dug into the ground for comfort and for safety. A thriving, bustling little community of 50 or 60. But the real miracle of Skara Brae is that these houses were not mere shelters. They were built by people who had culture, who had style. And here's where they showed off that style. The fully equipped, all-purpose Neolithic living room, complete with luxuries and necessities.村民们比邻而居，关系十分亲密。房屋鳞次栉比，有些地方还修有走廊。不难想象，某次海鲜盛宴结束后，邻里间穿行在走廊间闲话家常的情景。作为一个村庄，除了酒吧与教堂，这里应有尽有。公元前3000年，水温与气温略都高于今日，村民们一旦定居于此，便可捕获附近浅滩中丰富的红鲷，贻贝以及牡蛎食用。蓄养家畜供应肉类和奶制品，驯养狗用来打猎和作伴，新石器时期，至少数十个小房屋曾坐落于此，均采用半地下式，兼顾安全与舒适，五六十人组成了这个欣欣向荣的小部落。而斯卡拉布雷真正的奇迹，是他们的房屋绝不仅是简单的庇护所，建造它们的人们自有其文明与时代风格。这里便是展现他们时代风格的地方。一间装备齐全，用途明确的新石器时代起居室，必需品与奢侈品一应俱全。