最古老的瓶中信被冲上岸：距今已108年

屈联西

一个来自108年前的漂流瓶被冲上了海岸，其中的字条可能是迄今为止最古老的瓶中信。请听 Damien McGuinness 发回的报道。


　　The message in a bottle had been lost for more than a century, bobbing along the waves before Marianne Winkler stumbled across it as she was strolling along the beach while on holiday. At first she didn’t realise how old it was and followed the instructions written on the message to break the bottle. Inside she found a postcard written in English, German and Dutch with information to fill in about where the bottle was found and when along with the offer of a shilling reward if the postcard was returned to the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.


　　Mrs Winkler dutifully sent the postcard back, much to the excitement of the scientists in Plymouth where the research institute still exists today. They worked out that the bottle had probably been thrown into the sea in 1906 as part of an experiment into deep-sea currents.


　　The scientists were thrilled and duly stuck to the century-old promise about a reward, went on eBay and sent Mrs Winkler an old shilling.


bbc_media_english_message_in_bottle_download 自动播放
　　词汇


　　bobbing


　　随波漂流


　　strolling


　　散步


　　shilling


　　先令（英国1971年以前的货币单位，为一镑的二十分之一）


　　dutifully


　　尽职地，忠实地


　　deep-sea currents


　　深海的海流


　　thrilled


　　兴奋不已


　　duly


　　适当地，准确地


　　测验


　　请听报道并回答下列问题。


　　1. Where did Mrs Winkler find the bottle?


　　2. What did she find in the bottle?


　　3. True or false? The reward was money.


　　4. What year was the bottle thrown into the sea?


　　答案


　　1. Where did Mrs Winkler find the bottle?


　　Answer: She found it while she was strolling along a beach.


　　2. What did Mrs Winkler find in the bottle?


　　Answer: She found a postcard with instructions in different languages.


　　3. True or false? The reward was money.


　　Answer: True. The reward was an old British coin called a shilling.


　　4. What year was the bottle thrown into the sea?


　　Answer: 1906, when a shilling was a lot of money! Today it is worth 5 pence (5 jiao).


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