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approach, go near to. manufacture, make.
bracelet, ornament for the arm. osier, willow.
chequering, mingling with; relieving. pliant, easily bent.
conical, round and pointed. primitive, early; old-world.
coracle, little boat. smouldering, burning slowly.
dusky, dark-coloured. venison, deer's flesh.
foliage, woods; trees.
1. A village, nestling under the shadowy skirts of a great wood in Kent, lies encircled by its wooden paling or stockade. Not far off, among the dark tangles of underwood, or in the caves of rocky hillocks, lurk bears, boars, and wolves, the cries of which as they prowl around the huts by night, startle the sleeping children. In the stream hard by, the beaver swims and builds. Deer of many kinds glance past in the openings of the trees.
2. Chequering the green of the grassy sweep, which stretches out from the village for a mile or so, until the view is again shut in by a dark mass of foliage, wave many patches of yellow grain; and on the rich pasture-land between, dotting it with white and red, numerous sheep and oxen graze peacefully in scattered groups.
3. As we approach the collection of pointed roofs, from which thin lines of blue wood-smoke rise lazily into the summer air, we catch the low sweet notes of a woman's voice, singing an old Celtic air, akin to those which live still in the harp music of Ireland and Wales. Dressed in a tunic of dark-blue woollen cloth, over which is loosely thrown a scarf of red-striped plaid, fastened on the breast with a pin of bronze, she sits at the door of her cabin, grinding corn in a little quern.
A string of dusky pearls adorns her neck, and silver rings glitter on her arms.
A QUERN OR HAND-MILL.
4. At her sudden call, from the low archway which serves as both door and window to the hut, there comes a child, yellow-haired and blue-eyed like her mother. The girl runs quickly to the well for water, which she carries in a clumsy pot of coarse sun-dried clay,beside the tawny surface of which, full of lumps and cracks, the most common red flowe-pot of our gardens would seem beautiful and smooth. When the meal is mixed with water, the wet dough is set on a heated stone to bake.
5. Let us take a peep through the smoke at the inside of the hut, the walls of which are of pliant rods tied together, while its conical roof is of simple thatch. The floor, dug below the surface in the shape of a bowl, is lined with thin slates, in the middle of which some bits of wood lie smouldering in their white ashes. Round blocks of wood serve for seats and table; a few fleeces or deeskins—the bedding of the family—lie piled by the wall, on which hang the long pointless sword of the chieftain and his small round shield. In a corner rest a bronze-headed spear, and a bundle of reed arrows tipped with flint
6. These wooden platters and bowls of yellow clay are of home manufacture; but not that ivory bracelet, those amber beads, or that drinking-cup of glass. They are from Gaul; and proud indeed is the chieftain's wife of owning them, for the possession of such rare foreign treasures entitles her to hold her head high among the matrons of her tribe.
7. While the cake is baking for supper, the wife takes from one of those pretty osier baskets, which serve both as wardrobes and cupboards, a roll of knitted stuff, on which she needs to work hard against the coming winter; for both husband and children look to her for the clothes they wear. Spinner, knitter or weaver, dyer, seamstress, cook, dairy-keeper, corn-grinder, this lady of primitive Britain has her hands quite full of work, although her establishment is not upon the grandest scale.
8. Meanwhile the men of the village are scattered in different directions. The chief, having looked after his sheep and oxen, has taken his spear or quiver, has whistled for his dogs, and is away into the heart of the woods in search of venison or wild boar. One man has launched his light coracle of skin, stretched on a slender wooden frame, and is paddling down-stream with net and line. When the sun sets, the weary sportsmen will come home to a heavy supper of beef or of mutton, hot bread, fresh butter, and curds, washed down with large draughts of mead or of barley ale; and will then sink, almost with the falling night, into a deep sleep upon shaggy skins, covered only with the mantles they wear by day.
9. Dawn sees the whole village astir. But in southern Britain, by the time of Caesar's invasion, hunting had become rather a pastime than the serious business of life. The Britons of the south had ceased, long before that, to be savages. The tending of their flocks and herds; the manuring of their tilled land with chalk marl; the sowing and reaping of their grain; the storing of the unthreshed ears m under-ground chambers, from which the daily supply was pulled by the hand, to be roasted and beaten out with a stick, —these duties occupied much of their working time.
10. Many other things had also to be done. Wicker baskets were woven, probably by the older men and boys, to whose aid the women sometimes came. The moulds have been found into which the Britons ran melted tin and copper, to make heads for their axes and their spears. Heaps of fl int fl akes o various colours—red, yellow, gray, and black—were brought from the quarry to be chipped by skilful hands into shapely arrow-points. And when the cutting was done, a hole had to be bored through the fl int, that the thin thong of hide,which bound the point to the slender shaft, might hold it fi rm and straight
11. Then there was often a canoe to be hollowed out, not with fi re and stone axe only, but probably with hammer and celt.
The supply of pottery, too, needed to be kept up in the village; and so the soldier and hunter of one day might be seen on another up to the shoulders in yellow clay, kneading and modelling, tracing simple patterns of line and dot with a pointed stick on the soft ware, and then, with an artist's pride, placing the rude vessel he had formed with all the simple skill he could command out before the door of his cabin, to dry in the sun.
中文阅读
1. 在肯特郡一片大树林的边缘，树荫掩映着一个篱笆环绕的小村庄。而在不远处的低矮灌木丛旁边，或者山坡上的岩石洞穴里，躲藏着不少黑熊、野猪和大灰狼。宁静的夜晚，它们不时会溜到小木屋周围，徘徊踱步并发出一声声嗥叫，常常把睡梦中的孩子们吓得够呛。在近处的小溪里面，时常有河狸
在机灵地游动，并在岸边筑窝。在树林的开阔处，各种各样的小鹿常从这里蹦跶而过，不时还与你来一次深情对视。
2. 绿油油的草地从小村庄错落有致地延伸开去，差不多到一英里远处，又是杂乱茂密的树林。在这草地上还有一块块金黄的稻田，麦穗正随风翻滚着麦浪；旁边肥沃的牧场上，白色和红色的小野花星星点点，羊群和牛群正安静而悠闲地咀嚼着青青芳草。
3. 在夏日清爽的空气中，淡蓝色的袅袅炊烟正从那些尖尖的屋顶上缓缓升起，如果朝着这些小房子多走几步，我们还能听见一位妇人甜美的声音，正浅吟低唱着古老的凯尔特曲调，风格韵味一如今天爱尔兰和威尔士还依然保留着的竖琴民乐。她穿着深蓝色的束腰羊毛外衣，一条红色条纹格子的披肩落落大方地搭在外衣上，并用一根古铜色的别针固定在胸前。她正坐在她闺房的门槛上，用小石磨
研磨着玉米。一串珍珠项链映衬着她的妩媚，手臂上的银镯子在阳光下闪着银光。
4. 她忽然招呼了一声，从旁边既当门又当窗户的低矮拱道里走出了一个小女孩，长着跟她妈妈一样的黄头发、蓝眼睛。小女孩跑到井边取水，装水用的是一个外形笨拙的粗糙瓦罐，外表是粘土的黄褐色，还布满了包块和裂纹，今天我们花园里任何一个最普通的红色花盆和这比起来，也显得无比精美而优雅。准备好的膳食和水搅拌均匀之后，发好的生面团也就放到加热的石头上开始烤焙了。
5. 现在让我们绕开烤面团香喷喷的烟雾，到小屋里面去看看吧。我们发现，屋子的墙壁是由柔韧的木条捆扎而成，圆锥形的屋顶是由普通的茅草做成的；地面从地表往下挖深了一些，整齐铺着薄石板；屋子中央堆着一小堆还在阴燃的柴火，大半截已经燃成了灰烬；大块的圆木头就是桌子和凳子；墙边铺摊着一些羊皮或者鹿皮，这就是这个家庭睡觉的地方了。墙上挂着屋主人的一柄不太锋利的长剑，以及一个小小的圆形盾牌，这是他作为部落首领的象征。墙角立着一根青铜长矛，还有一捆箭头上镶着打火石的芦苇箭。
6. 屋里的这些木头做的盘子和黄泥巴做的碗，都是家里人自己手工做的；但那些象牙手镯可不是这样，还有那些琥珀制成的珠链，以及琉璃材质的水杯，它们的来路可没这么简单——它们全都来自高卢
。作为部落首领的妻子能拥有它们，也的确算是一份荣耀，因为能拥有如此稀有的外来珍宝，可以让她在整个部落的主妇中间深感优越。
7. 这边当作晚餐的糕点还在烤着，女主人顺手从旁边一堆既当壁柜又当碗橱的精美柳条筐里拿出一卷羊毛纺织线，她得为即将到来的冬天辛勤工作了，她的丈夫和孩子们都指望着她做厚衣服穿呢。纺纱、织布、烫染、缝补、做饭、清洁、打谷，这一堆家务事让这位远古的英国主妇根本没有闲下来的时候，尽管她的家还远谈不上富丽堂皇。
8. 同时村里的男人们也被分为不同岗位，各司其职。部落首领在看管完牛羊之后，便带上他的长矛，背上他的弓箭，吹一声口哨，招呼上他的猎犬，到树林深处搜寻野鹿野猪去了。另一个男人则解开他的皮划小舟，拿一根长木头当船桨，沿着小溪顺流而下，撒网捕鱼去了。每当日落，这些劳作了一天的男人们会回到家里享受一顿丰盛的晚餐，有牛羊肉、有热面包、有新鲜的黄油和奶酪，一边吃还一边喝着大碗的蜂蜜酒或者麦芽酒。然后夜幕降临，他们会在粗糙的皮毛毡毯上美美地睡上一觉，穿了一天的外衣这时就成了他们温暖的被子。
9. 黎明时分，我们也能见到整个村子生机勃勃的早晨。到了恺撒入侵之后，打猎已经不再是不列颠南部居民们的每日要务了，更多的只是一项业余活动，南部的不列颠人至此结束了作为野蛮民族的漫长时代。如今他们一大清早要放牧牛羊，要用白泥灰给耕地施肥，要播种和收割粮食，要在地窖里储存没有脱粒的稻谷。这些保证日常生活的事务，全都要靠他们用双手去完成，也占去了他们每天绝大部分的劳作时间，就像一根无形的棍棒不停地敲打着他们，让他们非常疲惫。
10. 这还没完，还有很多其他的事呢。比如用藤条编制篮筐，当然这可能更多由老年男人和男孩子们完成，妇女们有时也会过来帮忙。我们现在还发现了不列颠人使用的一些模具，他们用这些模具来浇铸融化的锡和铜，以制成斧头和长矛的锋刃。还有红黄灰黑各色的燧石被从采石场开采出来，送到能工巧匠那里切削打磨成锋利的箭头。当这些削磨工作结束以后，还要在燧石箭头上打个孔，穿一根细细的皮革线将箭头和长杆牢牢捆住，以此确保稳固和箭头的笔直。
11. 很多时候还得制作独木舟，不仅要用到火和石斧，可能还需用到榔头和骨刀
。陶器的制作一样是在村子里完成的，因此很可能前一天的士兵或者猎手第二天却在另外一个地方肩并肩地一起捏揉黄土，然后做成模型，再用尖木棍在柔软的表面描上点线构成图案，然后以一个艺术家的自豪感，把他用尽所有才艺才大功告成的粗糙杰作放到小屋门外面，等它晒干。