The history of 1)toilets 马桶的历史

小小刘

From Sewage to New Age 从污水到新世纪

【标题单词】

1) toilet (n.) 冲水式马桶，厕所

【副标题单词】

sewage (n.) （下水道中的）污水

1.
The world's first 1)flushing toilet was used around 1700 B.C., on the 2)Isle of Crete. If only the Cretans had 3)passed their toilet design on to others, the history of the world might have been changed. Unfortunately, the toilet was lost for more than 3000 years before being 4)reinvented in England during the sixteenth century.

世界上第一个冲水马桶大约出现于西元前一千七百年的克里特岛。如果克里特人曾将他们的马桶设计传授给其他民族，世界历史可能会改写。不幸的是，马桶失传了三千多年，直到十六世纪时英国才再度发明它。

【本段单词】

1) flush (v.) 冲水
2) isle (n.) 小岛
3) pass ... on to (v.) 将……传给……
4) reinvent (v.) 再度发明

2.
The Romans were the first group of people after the Cretans to improve on the "go-behind-a-tree" method of personal 1)hygiene that 2)dominated the world at the time. They highly valued cleanliness and bathing, and were 3)pioneers in the use of hot and cold water in bathrooms. They were also the first to use 4)lead to make longer pipes, which could carry water more 5)efficiently.

当时全世界的人大都以「躲到树后面」来解决个人卫生问题，罗马人是继克里特人之后第一批改良这种处理方式的民族。他们非常重视清洁与沐浴，而且率先在浴室内使用冷热水。他们也最早使用铅来制造长水管，改善输水效率。

【本段单词】

1) hygiene (n.) 卫生
2) dominate (v.) 主宰，支配
3) pioneer (n.) 先锋
4) lead (n.) 铅
5) efficiently (adv.) 有效率地

3.
The first 1)sewers appeared in Rome around 700 B.C. By today's standards they were pretty 2)primitive, as most people still had to 3)dispose of their waste by hand. Only the very rich could afford to have a pipe connected directly to their home, but at least there was a flow of water to 4)remove everyone's waste.

下水道则最早出现于西元前七百年的罗马。以今日的标准而言，那种下水道相当原始，因为大多数人仍然必须用手处理他们的排泄物。只有家财万贯的人才有办法将排水管直接接入家中，但至少大家的排泄物都能用水流冲走。

【本段单词】

1) sewer (n.) 下水道
2) primitive (a.) 原始的
3) dispose of (v.) 处理
4) remove (v.) 移走，除去

4.
Unfortunately, after the 1)collapse of the Roman 2)Empire in the 5th century A.D., the 3)barbarians who 4)overran countries like England were not particularly interested in personal hygiene. The early 5)Christians actually considered it 6)immoral to be clean. An early Christian writer, Saint Benedict, said, "for those that are well, and especially the young, bathing shall seldom be permitted." It was clearly not a 7)period for rapid advances in toilet design.

不幸的是，罗马帝国在西元第五世纪瓦解之后，在英国等国家横行的野蛮民族对于个人卫生并不特别感到兴趣。早期的基督徒甚至认为清洁是不道德的。一位早期的基督教作家圣本笃说过：「对健康特别是年轻的人来说，不应该经常允许他们沐浴。」在那种时代，马桶的设计显然不会有快速的进展。

【本段单词】

1) collapse (v.) 崩溃，瓦解
2) empire (n.) 帝国
3) barbarian (n.) 野蛮人
4) overrun (v.) 横行，遍布
5) Christian (n.) 基督徒
6) immoral (a.) 不道德的
7) period (n.) 时期

5.
It wasn't until a thousand years later that Sir John Harrington produced the first "necessary," for use by him and his godmother. The "necessary" was a flushing toilet similar to the ones used 3000 years before by the king of Crete. As Harrington's godmother was Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was famous for "taking a bath every month, whether she need to or not," the idea might have been expected to finally 1)catch on. It didn't.

直到一千年之后，约翰·哈灵顿爵士才制造出第一个「必需品」，供自己及其教母使用。这个「必需品」就是冲水式马桶，与三千年前克里特国王所使用的类似。由于哈灵顿的教母就是英国女王伊莉莎白一世，而且她又以「不论需要与否，每个月都沐浴一次」著称，所以原应可以预期冲水马桶会因此流行起来。事实上却没有。

【本段单词】

1) catch on (v.) 流行

6.
"Modern" countries had apparently learned very little from the Romans. In most cities there was still a complete 1)lack of even a basic sewage system. There was no real point in developing a toilet if the waste simply dropped out of a hole in the wall of your house. Even in the mid-nineteenth century, 2)residents of London and other cities were still throwing chamber pots of waste out of their windows into the street. Hats were still much more common (and useful) than toilets.

当时的「现代」国家显然并未向罗马人学到多少。大多数的城市仍然连基本的污水处理系统都没有。如果废物只是从自家墙壁上的洞口冲出去，开发出冲水马桶就没有真正的意义。甚至到了十九世纪中期，伦敦与其他城市的居民仍然将夜壶中的排泄物倒到窗外的街道上。在当时，帽子仍然比马桶普遍得多（也有用的多）。

【本段单词】

1) lack (n.) 缺乏
2) resident (n.) 居民

7.
Only after governments 1)legislated for 2)proper sewage systems for every house did toilets improve 3)dramatically. In 1885, Thomas Twyford 4)patented the first all-5)ceramic toilet in England. After that, dozens of patents were 6)granted every year for improvements to Twyford's basic design. Within fifty years, most homes, at least in the U.S. and Europe, had 7)access to 8)communal toilets which flushed into a sewer.

直到政府制定法律，规定每幢房屋都必须安装适当的污水处理系统，马桶才开始大幅改善。1885年，托马斯·土威福在英国取得第一个全陶瓷马桶的专利，其后每年都有数十项改善土威福基本设计的专利授出。在五十年之内，大多数的家庭都可使用公共马桶，把废物排入下水道，至少在美国与欧洲是如此。

【本段单词】

1) legislate (v.) 立法
2) proper (a.) 恰当的
3) dramatically (adv.) 戏剧化地，大幅地
4) patent (v.) 取得专利权
5) ceramic (a.) 陶器的
6) grant (v.) 授予
7) access (n.) 接触，管道
8) communal (a.) 公共的

8.
This was real progress, but toilets were still missing one thing: toilet paper. In most toilets stood a 1)bucket of salt water in which there was a stick with a sponge tied to one end. The user would clean himself with the 2)sponge and return the stick to the bucket for the next person to use. This is where the 3)expression "getting hold of the wrong end of the stick" comes from.

这算是真正的进步，但是马桶仍缺少一样东西：卫生纸。从前大多数的厕所里，都会放置一桶盐水，里面浸泡着一根一端绑着海绵的木棍。上厕所的人可以用海绵清洗，再将木棍放回水桶里，供下一个人使用。这就是「棍子拿错边」这种说法的来源。

【本段单词】

1) bucket (n.) 水桶
2) sponge (n.) 海绵
3) expression (n.) 说法

9.
Most people today have at least one toilet, and lots of toilet paper, inside their homes. The 1)widespread use of toilets is a 2)comparatively recent thing, and one that we should be very thankful for. Apart from the convenience and hygiene, think of the money we save on hats.

今天，大多数人的家中至少都有一个马桶和许多卫生纸。相较之下，广泛使用马桶是到最近才有的事，而且我们也应该为此而心存感激。除了便利与卫生之外，想想看我们省下多少买帽子的钱。

【本段单词】

1) widespread (a.) 广泛的
2) comparatively (adv.) 比较地