Words to Know

sacrifice [5sAkrIfaIs] n. 牺牲
=forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim
e.g. His parents made sacrifices to pay for his education.
他的父母为供他上学而作出了牺牲。

fort [fC:t] n. 堡垒
=a fortified place or position stationed with troops
e.g. Now there are many soldiers stationed in that fort.
现在那个堡垒驻扎了很多士兵。

ruins [5ru:In] n. 废墟
=the remains of something destroyed, disintegrated, or decayed
e.g. We saw the ruins of the church.
我们看见了这座教堂的废墟。

steep [sti:p] a. 陡峭的
=abrupt; cliffy; precipitous
e.g. There was a steep climb on the road out of town.
城外的公路有一段陡坡。

nowadays [5naJEdeIz] ad. 当今；如今
=during the present time; now
e.g. Nowadays, advertisements can be found everywhere in any big city.
现在,在任何一个大城市里,到处都可以看到广告。

rebel [5rebEl] n. 谋反者
=one who rebels or is in rebellion
e.g. He is a rebel but not a revolutionist, contemptuous yet envious of the rich.
他是一个反叛者却不是一个革命者，蔑视却羡慕富人。

monastery [5mRnEstErI] n. 修道院
=a community of persons, especially monks, bound by vows to a religious life and often living in partial or complete seclusion
e.g. He hid in a monastery for many years.
他在修道院里藏了多年。

dreadful [5dredfJl] a. 可怕的
=inspiring dread; terrible
e.g. Earthquake is a dreadful disaster.
地震是种可怕的灾难。

forbidding [fE5bIdIN] adj.
(1)可怕的, 企图或威胁阻止进展的
=tending or threatening to impede progress
e.g. There are many forbidding rapids in this river.
这条河有很多可怕的急流。
(2)令人生畏的，具有构成威胁的方面的
=having a menacing aspect
e.g. The sky is full of forbidding thunderclouds.
天空布满了令人生畏的雷雨云。

Qumran [5kJmrB:n]:
a village in Jordan northwest of the Dead Sea, the site of the ascetic ([E5setIk] 禁欲主义者) community (2nd c. B.C.-1st c. A.D.) by whom the Dead Sea Scrolls were written.

Herod [5herEd] (73-4 B.C.):
king of Judaea [dVU:`dIE] (37-4 B.C. in Southern Palestine). With Roman backing, he established a brutal tyranny. He ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, the mass slaughter of the children of Bethlehem [5beWlihem] (a town in northwestern Jordan, near Jerusalem: birth place of Jesus), with the intention of killing the infant Jesus. 希律王

Palestine [5pAlIstaIn]:
here referring to an ancient country in southwest Asia, on the east coast of the Mediterranean, the Holy Land for Jews (as the land promised them by God) and for Christians (as the place of Christ's birth, life, and death) and a place of pilgrimage for Moslems.

Christ:
Jesus Christ [5dVi:zEs 5kraIst], the founder and leader of Christianity. Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in southern Judaea during the last years of Herod the Great. Since the latter died in 4 B.C., the actual date of Jesus' birth was probably about 5 B.C., or even earlier. His infancy was spent in Egypt, where Mary, his mother, had taken refuge from the jealousy of Herod. The latter, upon hearing of Jesus' birth and of his being heralded a king, was insanely suspicious and tried to rid himself of the potential rival by massacring the infants of Bethlehem.

Jerusalem [dVe5ru:sElEm]:
here referring to the capital of Jewish Palestine, which was utterly destroyed when the Romans captured it in 70 A.D.

Phrases & Expressions

extend an invitation to sb. 向某人发出邀请
e.g. We have extended an invitation to the mayor.
我们已向市长发出了邀请。

extend [Ik5stend] v. 发出(邀请)；给予
=make available; provide
e.g. The bank has promised to extend your company credit.
银行已经答应向你们公司提供信用贷款。

hang over… 挂在…之上
e.g. Great trouble hangs over the little town because its only factory has closed down.
因为唯一的工厂倒闭，小镇上空笼罩着危机。

go up in flames 为火所焚毁
e.g. Someone dropped a cigarette end into a can of petrol and the whole garage went up in flames.
有人把烟头扔到了一罐汽油里，导致整个车库被烧毁。

run dry 干涸
e.g. The little pond ran dry.
这个小池塘干涸了。

set fire to… 点火烧…
e.g. The demonstrators set fire to the mayor's house.
示威者点火烧了市长家的房子。

have no hope of doing sth. 无望做某事
e.g. He has no hope of realizing his wish.
他没有希望实现他的愿望。

face certain death 必死无疑
e.g. The prisoner knew that he was facing certain death.
囚犯知道他必死无疑。

break through… 突破…
e.g. At last, those physicians and specialists broke through in their fight against heart disease.
那些内科医生和专家们终于在同心脏病的斗争中取得了突破。

be brought to life 得到再现
e.g. In the movie, the Roman Empire was brought to life.
在电影中，古罗马帝国得到了再现。

the Dead Sea:
a salt lake between Israel and Jordan, the lowest lake in the world

the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Hebrew ([5hi:bru:] 希伯来语) and Aramaic ([ArE5meIIk] 阿拉米语) documents dating from the 2nd century B.C. to 70 A.D. discovered (1947 and 1952) in Qumran caves west of the Dead Sea, containing fragments of almost all the books of the Old Testament and works written by and for an ascetic community. The scrolls have thrown new light on the text of the Old Testament, and on the history, literature and religion of the time of Jesus. 死海古卷



scroll [skrEJl] n. 纸卷
=an ancient book or volume written on such a roll
e.g. He found a precious painted scroll in that little shop.
他在那家小店发现了珍贵的画轴。

the great temple:
here referring to the third Temple of Jerusalem, built by Herod about 20 B.C., destroyed in 70 A.D. The site is now occupied by the Moslem shrines of the Dome of the Rock (岩顶圆顶寺) or the Mosque of Omar (欧玛尔清真寺).

Difficult Sentences

It was lonely and it was safe, hanging over the steepest part of the rock. The palace was fixed to the actual sides of the rock at three levels.
宫殿悬于岩石最为陡峭之处，孤零零的却很安全。它分三层，仿佛镶嵌在岩石的峭壁上。

The workers were tied together with ropes and let down over the cliffs as they worked. Digging in those ruins the young people were sharing the dangers of the men who first built the palace.
工人们全都用绳索绑在一起下垂到悬崖上干活。那些年轻人在挖掘废墟时跟最初建造宫殿的人们冒着同样的生命危险。

Then the Romans began building a great bank of earth against the side of the hill at Masada; soon the height of the bank reached the height of the walls of the fort.
于是罗马人开始绕着马萨达山坡筑起一圈高大的土围子，其高度很快便赶上了城堡的围墙。

As the wooden walls went up in flames and the arrows shot through the air, the defenders were driven back into the fort inside.
当木墙在烈火中燃烧，罗马人的弓箭划空而至时，守卫者们被迫退到城堡里面。

In some of these the pots were still on the fire waiting for the evening meal. In others, the bones of whole families lay together. One pile of bones may have been the remains of the ten men chosen to do the final killing.
在一些小木棚中，锅还搁在炉子上等待着主人进晚餐。在另一些木棚中，全家的尸骸堆在一起。有一堆尸骸可能是选来作最后杀戮的十名男子的。