家族史Family history

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Catherine…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是凯瑟琳。
And I’m Neil.Do you realise, Catherine, that we are related to each other?
我是尼尔。你知道吗，我们之间有些联系。
Don’t be silly, Neil. I think I’d know if you were in my family.
别傻了，尼尔。你要是我们家的人，我肯定会知道的。
Well, we’ll talk more about that later in the show,but I should say at this point that today we’re discussing genealogy – or the study of family history. And I think it’s pretty fascinating stuff.Do you ever watch the TV programme Who do you think you are, Catherine? You know, where celebrities find out about their family history?
之后我们再谈这个。现在我要说的是，今天我们将讨论宗谱，也就是研究家族史的学科。我觉得这是很令人着迷的东西。你看过《你以为你是谁》这个节目吗？节目中一些名人找寻自己的家族史。
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of them. For example, one celebrity – who was very proud of his working class London roots – or origins– discovered that he’s actually a direct descendent of an English king!
我看过几集。例如，一个名人为自己工人阶级的伦敦血统感到很骄傲，结果发现自己是货真价实的英国国王的直系后代。
Well, that’s quite a discovery! The thing is though, Catherine, what if there isn’t anything exciting in your family history– no mysteries, no skeletons in the closet…
这确实是个大发现！但如果你的家族史没有什么有意思的事，怎么办？没有神秘之处，没有隐藏的秘密。
Well, I reckon if you go back far enough Neil, there’s always something exciting or unexpected in anybody’s family history. And skeletons in the closet by the way, means secrets!Now, I think it’s time for today’s quiz question.Researching family history often involves reading old documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates,and these can be difficult to decipher – or understand.So what’s the name for the study of ancient handwriting?Is it…a) Scriptography?b) Palaeography?Or c) Scribology?
好吧，我觉得如果你追溯的足够远，任何人的家族史都会有一些有意思或不可思议的事。顺便说一下，skeletons in the closet 是指秘密。我觉得是时候看今天的问题了。调查家族史通常涉及到阅读古老文献，如出生、结婚或死亡证明，这些通常很难破译，或者说很难理解。所以研究古代手稿的学科叫什么？a) Scriptography？b) Palaeography （古文书学）？还是c) Scribology？
Well, it must be a) Scriptography.
一定是a) Scriptography。
And we’ll see if you’re right or not later on in the show.Now, why do you think most people look into their genealogy, Neil?Is it just curiosity?
我们之后再看你回答得是否正确。你觉得为什么大多数人喜欢调查他们的宗谱呢？只是出于好奇吗？
Well, Catherine, we all love a good mystery story – especially if it’s connected with our own family. And these days, it’s easy to do research online because many old paper documents have been digitised and are available online.
我们都喜欢富有神秘感的故事，尤其是和自己的家人有关时。最近，在网上调查很容易，因为有很多古老的纸质文献被数码化，在网上都查得到。
BBC presenter Mike Williams investigated his own family history.And here, he’s talking about his great-grandfather’s story. And if you listen carefully you can hear him rustling the real paper documents!
BBC主持人麦克·威廉姆斯调查了他自己的家族史。接下来他会讲述他曾外祖父的故事。如果你认真听，你可以听到他翻纸质文献时的沙沙作响声。
The Williamses are my father’s side and on my mother’s the Heino’s – it’s a name that we think comes from Finland.If I look at this document here – it’s a copy of the census of England and Wales 1911 - you can see my grandfather, the son, and his father – the head of the household – Michael Heino, or Michel Heino,who, the family law has it, jumped ship and ended up in Liverpool.
威廉姆斯一族是我父亲这边的家人，我的母亲一族姓海诺，这个名字我们觉得是来自芬兰。如果我看这个文献，英格兰和威尔士1911人口普查的复印版。可以看到我的外祖父，和他父亲（也就是我的曾外祖父）迈克尔·海诺，这个家庭的当家人，跳下了船，开始了在利物浦的生活。
What’s a census, Catherine?
census是什么意思呢？
It’s an official count of people in a population.So Mike Williams’s great grandfather appeared on the 1911 census for England and Walesbut because of his surname the family think he might originally have come from Finland.
是关于人口的官方数字。所以麦克·威廉姆斯的曾外祖父出现在了英格兰和威尔士1911年人口普查记录中，但因为他的姓，他认为也许祖上来自芬兰。
The exciting event in Mike Williams’ history – passed down through family lore – which means knowledge passed on from one generation to the next– is that his great-grandfather jumped ship.
麦克家族历史中的这个有趣的故事，一直通过家庭传说的形式流传下来，也就是说故事一代一代流传，即他的曾外祖父下了船。
Which means he left the ship he was working on without permission to do so.
也就是说他未经允许离开了他工作的船只。
And he started a new life in England. I suppose quite a few people have immigration stories in their family histories – sometimes without knowing it.
然后在英格兰开启了新生活。我觉得有很多人他们的家族史上都有移民的历史，有时他们并不知道。
Actually that’s something that many people are fascinated by– and has also become easier to investigate these days now companies offer to test the DNA in your saliva for as little as a hundred dollars.
事实上这也是人们为什么痴迷于调查家族史的原因。如今，调查家族史也变得很容易，一些公司可以测试你唾液中的DNA，有时只需花费一百美元。
And then they come up with results saying you’re related to Alexander the Great or Brad Pitt…Remember I said that we were related? Well, let’s now listen to Else Churchill, from the Society of Genealogists here in London, who explains what I meant.
然后他们会说你和亚历山大大帝有联系，或和布拉德·皮特有联系。还记得我之前说的吗，我们两个也是互相有联系的。现在我们听听伦敦系谱学家协会的埃尔斯·丘吉尔怎么解释我说的意思。
There’s what you might call the gateway ancestor– and the idea of history and genealogy is that’s normally somebody that is so well documented that their descendants are well known – in England it’s something like Edward III. And we’re all probably descended from Edward III. Is it nice to have royal ancestors?Well, millions of people are descended from Edward III, and so in that sense, that’s where the connection might be. So the chances are an awful lot of people are distantly connected to each other.
有一种说法叫gateway祖先，这是历史和系谱学上的一种说法，通常是指一个人，有充分文字记载他的后代很有名，在英国，爱德华三世就是这样的祖先。我们也许都是爱德华三世的后代。有这样一个王室祖先是不是感觉不错？上千万人都是爱德华三世的后代。所以这种意义下，人和人之间会存在一些联系。所以，很可能很多人彼此之间有远方亲戚的关系。
Else Churchill says it’s likely that millions of us are distantly related to a gateway ancestor like King Edward III of England.And that means that all those people related to Edward III are also distantly related to each other.So it seems that paying a company a hundred dollars to reveal that you’re related to Edward III is a waste of money.
埃尔斯说，很可能上千万人之间都因为gateway祖先，例如英国爱德华三世国王的关系而产生联系。这就意味着凡是和爱德华三世有关的人，彼此之间都有遥远的联系。似乎给一个公司一百美元，结果说你和爱德华三世有关，这很浪费钱啊。
Yes, in the sense that it’s you and millions of other people.And in fact, we’re all related to each other somehow, via Edward III or someone else.
没错，在这种意义下，你和上千万人都有联系。事实上，我们也会因为爱德华三世或其他人而彼此联系。
And another popular finding for British people is to say that you’re descended from the Vikings, and again this is true for many people so it isn’t particularly meaningful.
对英国人来说，另一个流行的发现是说你是维京人的后代。同样的，很多人都是如此，所以也就没什么特别的意义了。
If you’re descended from a person or a group it means they are among your ancestors.
如果你是某个人或某个族群的后代，这意味着他们都是你的祖先。
Now, remember I asked: what’s the name for the study of ancient handwriting?Is it…a) Scriptography? b) Palaeography? Or c) Scribology?
还记得我之前问的问题吗，研究古代手稿的学科叫什么？a) Scriptography？ b) Palaeography？还是 c) Scribology?
I said a) Scriptography. And I’m pretty confident that’s the right answer.
我选的是Scriptography。我很自信，这就是正确答案。
Well, Neil, you’re pretty confident but unfortunately it was wrong! The correct answer is b) Palaeography.Palaeography is the study of ancient and historical handwriting,including the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts.
你确实很自信，但很遗憾，这不是正确答案。正确答案是b) Palaeography（古文书学）。古文书学是研究古代手稿的学科，包括破译、阅读和注明历史手稿的日期。
Oh well, here are the words we learned:
好了，我们来看看今天学到的单词：
genealogy
宗谱，系谱学
roots
根源
skeletons in the closet
秘密
decipher
破译
census
人口普查
family lore
家庭传说
descended from
起源于
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。别忘了下次再会。
Bye!
再见！