剑桥大学校园英语情景对话02：城市与大学（mp3+中英）

Z; What are you reading?

Z.你在读什么呢，安娜？

A: Oh, a book about the history of Cambridge. I'm reading the part named “Town and Gown”.

A:我在看一本关于剑桥历史的书，正读到“市镇与学袍’’的部分。

Z： What does this phrase mean?

Z:这是什么意思？

A: “Town” and “gown” are referring to the two distinct communities of a university town: “town” being the non-academic population and “gown" metonymlcally being the university community.

A:市镇与学袍是指大学城里面截然不同 的两个群体。市镇”指的不槁学术 研究的普通市民，而"学袍当然是 指大学了。

Z: I see. Just like some ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge and St. Andrews.

Z.我明白了。一些古老的大学所在地就 是这样的大学城，比如牛津、剑桥和圣安德鲁斯等等？

A: You’re right. Sometimes, the term is also used to describe modem university towns.

你说的对。有时候，这个也用来指代 现在的大学城。

Z: Perhaps this term came into being when the oldest universities in the world began to form. I guess it was in the Middle Ages?

也许这个词是伴随着世界上最古老的几所大学的成立而产生的吧，是中世纪时

A： Yes. During that time, students admitted to the European universities often held minor clerical status and donned garb similar to that worn by the clergy. These vestments evolved into the academic long black gown, worn along with hood and cap.

A:是的。那时候，欧洲的大学生们常常会被安排一个无关紧要的神职，他们经常穿 着和神职人员相似的衣服。那种衣服经过长时间的演变，就渐渐变成了长长的黑 色学士袍，外加上垂布和一顶帽子。

Z: We can see that the hood nowadays is often adorned with different colors; maybe that is the way to designate from which college the young scholars come from.

Z:现在的垂布经常会用不同的颜色来装饰，也许这就是用来分辩那些年轻的学者分别来自哪个学院的一种方法吧。

A： Besides, by their distinctive clothing, the students were set apart and distinguished from the citizens of the town; hence the phrase “town and gown”.

A:此外，因为这种特别的服装，学生们就和市桌'们区别开了。所以才有了 "市镇和 学袍”这个说法。

Z: Now that kind of gown has become a tradition in the universities. University students all over the world wear gowns like that at special occasions, for example, the degree ceremony and so on.

Z:现在，这种服装已经成为了大学里的一项传统。世界各地的大学生在特殊的场含 都会穿这种学袍，比如说在毕业典礼上。

A： That’s true. Now you understand this phrase, and do you want to know more about it?

A:对啊。现在你知道这个说法的意思了吧，想不想了解更多关于“市镇和学袍?_的 事情啊？

Z: I’d like to. Tell me more about it!

Z:快讲讲吧。

A: OK. The town and gown rivalry is mentioned in the book, too.

A:好的。书里面还提到了市镇和大学之间的对立。

Z： Rivalry? You mean they do not get along well with each other?

Z:对立？你是说他们之间的关系不好吗？

A： Yes. Conflict was inevitable in the medieval university towns where two separately governed bodies with different priorities and loyalties shared the same restricted space.

A:对。中世纪的大学城里，这两个独立团体身处同一片土地，却有着不同权益和 信仰，免不了会发生冲突。

Z： Sounds reasonable. Moreover, violence was commonplace in medieval life, not only between scholars and townsmen but among ordinary citizens.

Z:说的有道理。再说，暴力事件在中世纪十分普遍，不仅仅是在学者与市民之间， 市民之间也常常会发生。

A： It also happened between scholars from different regions of Europe who attended the universities. Violent confrontations between town and gown erupted on a recurring basis.

A:来自欧洲不同地区的学者之间也会起冲突。市镇与大学之间的冲突更是会反复发 生。

Z: I heard that The University of Cambridge was originally set-up after a fight between the townspeople of Oxford and scholars from the University of Oxford forced many scholars to flee to a new location.

Z:我听说，剑桥大学就起源于牛津市民和牛津大学之间的一场争端，许多牛津的学 者不得不逃到一个新的地方。

A: That is mentioned in the book. That was in 1209，and several decades later, the tension between the scholars at Cambridge and the towns people forced the King to grant special privileges and protection to Cambridge University.

A:书里面也提到了这一点。那是在1209年了。几十年后，剑桥学者和市民之间的 矛盾又激化了，国王不得不亲自出面授予大学一些特权，对其进行保护。

Z: As urban universities increase in size and complexity, the conflict between them may become more and more severe.

Z:随着大学的面积不断扩大，结构越来越复杂，他们之间的冲突就越来越激烈。

A: That's for sure. To a large extent, “town versus gown" disputes have moved from the streets into the courts and city hall.

A:这是肯定的。有时候，市镇和大学之间的织争甚至会从大街上转移到法院和市 政厅。

Z: Did they ever pay regard to the town-gown connection?

Z:他们难道从来都不考虑市镇和大学之间的紧密联系吗？

A: No idea. Universities boast that their existence is the backbone of the town economy, while the towns counter with claims that the institution is “robbing” them of tax revenue.

A:我也不知道。大学会说是城市经济的支柱，而城市反而会指责大学抢走了他们的一部分税收。

Z： The same thing may happen today, however the situation is much better than before since violence seldom happened.
 

Z:这在今天也可能发生，可是情况已经比原来好多了，至少暴力事件很少出现。