公共英语三级
John Lubbock, a British member of the Parliament, led to the first law to safeguard Britain´ s heritage--the Ancient Monuments Bill. How did it happen?
By the late 1800s more and more people were visiting Stonehenge for a day out. Now a World Heritage Site owned by the Crown, it was, at the time, privately owned and neglected.
But the visitors left behind rubbish and leftover food. It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones´ foundations, weakening them. One of the upright stones had already fallen over and one had broken in two. They also chipped pieces off the stones for souvenirs and carved pictures into them, says architectural critic Jonathan Glancey.
It was the same for other pre-historic remains, which were disappearing fast. Threats also in-cluded farmers and landowners as the ancient stones got in the way of working on the fields and were a free source of building materials.
Shocked and angry, Lubbock took up the fight. When he heard Britain´ s largest ancient stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire was up for sale in 1871 he persuaded its owners to sell it to him and the stone circle was saved.
"Lubbock aroused national attention for ancient monuments, "says Glancey. "At the time places like Stonehenge were just seen as a collection of stones, ancient sites to get building materials. "
"Lubbock knew they were the roots of British identity. He did for heritage what Darwin did for natural history. "
But Lubbock couldn´t buy every threatened site. He knew laws were needed and tabled the Ancient Monuments Bill. It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners, a radical idea at the time.
For eight years he tried and failed to get the bill through parliament. Finally, in 1882, it was voted into law. It had, however, been watered down; people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government. But what it did do was plant the idea that the state could preserve Britain´ s heritage better than private owners.
Pressure started to be put on the owners of sites like Stonehenge to take better care of them.
According to the text,Stonehenge in the late l800s was__________.
A.a royal property
B.utterly neglected
C.legally protected
D.a public property
英国议员约翰•路博克引导通过了第一部保护英国文化遗产的法律——《古代遗迹法案》。这件事是如何发生的呢?
到19世纪末,越来越多的人都选择花一天的时间到巨石阵遗迹参观。现在由皇室所有的世界文化遗产巨石阵,在当时,是私人所有且缺乏保护。
游客离开后留下了大量的垃圾和食物。这滋生了大量的老鼠,它们在石柱的基座上打洞导致石柱变得脆弱。一个立柱已经坍塌,还有一个断成两截。游客们还会削下石头做纪念,或在石柱上刻上画,建筑批评家约翰逊•葛兰西说道。
这种情况在其他迅速消亡的史前遗迹上也有出现。威胁还来自农民和地主们:这些古代的石头挡了耕作的道路或者成为了免费的建筑材料。
路博克对此又惊又怒,他决定要抗争。1871年,当他听说位于威尔特郡埃夫伯里的英国最大的古代石环要出售的时候,他说服了卖家将石环卖给他从而保护了这个遗迹。
“路博克引起了全国对古代遗迹的关注,”葛兰西说。“当时,像巨石阵这样的地方仅仅被看成是一大堆石头的集合,是能获得建筑材料的古地点。”
“路博克知道这些地方是英国身份的根。他对遗迹的贡献正如达尔文对自然历史的贡献。”
但是路博克无法买下所有受到威胁的遗址。他明白要借助法律并将《古代遗迹法案》摆上台面。这个法案建议政府从漠不关心的私人业主手上将受到威胁的史前遗迹接管过来,这在当时是个激进的想法。整整八年,他不断尝试也没能让议会通过这条法案。最终在1882年,这个法案经投票成为了法律。然而,内容已经缓和了很多;人们必须自愿将自己所有的古代遗迹交给政府。但这个法案将政府可以比私人更好地保护英国的文化遗产的想法植入人们的脑海。像巨石阵的拥有者也感受到压力,需要对遗迹进行良好的维护。
【精析】细节题。根据第二段最后一句“…it was,at the time,pri-vately owned and neglected.”中“neglect”一词可知,当时对巨石阵的态度是“忽略的”,与B项相符,故选B。
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A.rats weakened its foundation
B.farmers cut it to build houses
C.visitors carved pictures into it
D.visitors chipped pieces off it
A.push people to learn history
B.ensure government function
C.enforce ancient site protection
D.push visitors to behave properly
A.severe
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