第2903期:The city streets beneath our feet

Stand outside Chancery Lane Tube station in London and you'll probably notice the regular commuters, trendy cafes and the odd tourist. Look up and you'll see the Staple Inn, built in 1585, and one of the last remaining Tudor timber-framed facades in London. But deep below your feet, there's more history lurking.

站在伦敦 Chancery Lane 地铁站外，您可能会注意到定期通勤的人、时尚的咖啡馆和奇怪的游客。 抬头一看，您会看到建于 1585 年的 Staple Inn，也是伦敦仅存的都铎式木结构外墙之一。 但在你的脚下深处，还潜藏着更多的历史。

Nestled between Furnival Street and Fulwood Place in this area of London are a network of tunnels even deeper than The London Underground. Built between 1940 and 1942, the tunnels were constructed as part of the war effort as an air-raid shelter, designed to protect civilians and soldiers from bombs dropped in the war. Later in World War Two, the tunnels were occupied by Special Operations Executive and are even believed to have been the inspiration behind Q branch in the James Bond novels. The tunnels are set to open to the public in the near future.

伦敦这一地区的弗尼瓦尔街 (Furnival Street) 和富尔伍德广场 (Fulwood Place) 之间有一个比伦敦地铁还要深的隧道网络。 这些隧道建于 1940 年至 1942 年间，是作为战争努力的一部分而建造的，作为防空洞，旨在保护平民和士兵免受战争中投下的炸弹的伤害。 第二次世界大战后期，这些隧道被特别行动执行官占领，甚至被认为是詹姆斯·邦德小说中 Q 分支的灵感来源。 这些隧道将于不久的将来向公众开放。

Somewhere that can never open to the public is a secret Victorian street in Bristol. Now considered too dangerous to enter, a local historian climbed down to the street in 1999. He hoped to find gas street lamps, sash window frames and Victorian fire grates frozen in time. Instead, he found thieves had stripped the street, and it was mostly full of rubbish, though some bricked-up shop windows remained. The row of shops was buried in 1879 when a railway was built, and the company raised the road level.

布里斯托尔有一条永远无法向公众开放的维多利亚时代秘密街道。 由于现在被认为太危险而无法进入，一位当地历史学家于 1999 年爬到了街上。他希望能找到及时冻结的煤气路灯、推拉窗框和维多利亚时代的炉排。 相反，他发现小偷已经把街道洗劫一空，街上大部分都是垃圾，但一些砖砌的商店橱窗仍然存在。 1879年修建铁路时，这排商店被掩埋，公司提高了道路水平。

In Scotland, there is an even older piece of history under foot. Mary King's Close in the centre of Edinburgh is a hidden network of preserved streets and homes from the 1600s. Down under the Royal Mile, the alleyways were once bustling and open-air but also dark and rather smelly. Many Old Town Edinburgh streets in the 1600s consisted of high-tenement buildings where the rich occupied the top stories and the poor lived on the ground floors, which were often flooded with sewage. The streets on Mary King's Close were built over in the 1750s and only re-discovered in 2003 during an archaeological investigation. It's now a tourist attraction, so you can go down and see the streets for yourself.

在苏格兰，脚下还有一段更古老的历史。 爱丁堡市中心的玛丽金街 (Mary King's Close) 是一个隐藏的网络，由 1600 年代保存完好的街道和房屋组成。 皇家大道下方的小巷曾经熙熙攘攘，露天，但现在也很黑暗，而且相当臭。 1600年代爱丁堡老城区的许多街道都是高楼大厦，富人住在顶层，穷人住在底层，底层经常被污水淹没。 玛丽金街 (Mary King's Close) 的街道建于 1750 年代，直到 2003 年考古调查中才被重新发现。 现在这里成了旅游景点，可以下去亲自看看街道。

So, when you're out and about in the city, admire what's above ground, but also consider the history that could be hiding beneath your feet.  

因此，当您在城市中行走时，请欣赏地面上的事物，同时也要考虑一下隐藏在您脚下的历史。