Sift through the mud on the shores of a Canadian river and you'd be lucky to find a lost necklace amid the washed-up bottle caps and beer cans. But take a walk along the edge of London's River Thames, and there's a good chance you'll find a piece of ancient history.
在加拿大河岸泥土中翻找，你只能在被衝走的瓶蓋和啤酒罐中找到一條丟失的項鍊。但是沿著倫敦泰晤士河尋找，你很有可能會發現一段古老的歷史。
The Thames is dubbed as the "mother" river in England. It originates from Cotswolds Hills in the southwest of England, with a total length of 346 km. It runs through London, the capital of England, and more than 10 cities along the river. It plays an important role in the Thames River Basin in British history.
泰晤士河在英國被稱為「母親河」。它發源於英格蘭西南部的科茨沃爾德山，全長346公裡。它流經英國首都倫敦和10多個沿河城市。在英國歷史上，它在泰晤士河流域扮演著重要的角色。
It's this chance to dig up the past that has lured so many history buffs to the shores of London's Thames at low tide, where they hunt for washed-up artifacts in a hobby called "mudlarking." These treasure hunters routinely pluck all manner of mind-blowing items out of the mud, from medieval coins to 2,000-year-old Roman relics, to the remains of pre-historic rhinos and sharks.
正是挖掘歷史的機會，吸引了眾多歷史愛好者在退潮時來到倫敦泰晤士河沿岸，他們以「挖泥」為嗜好，尋找已經被淹沒的文物。這些尋寶者經常從泥土中挖出各種各樣令人興奮的物品，從中世紀的硬幣，到2000年前的羅馬文物，再到史前犀牛和鯊魚的遺骸。
New treasures are revealed on the banks of the Thames twice a day when the river's tide goes out and the water level drops by seven meters. That's when mudlarks – all of whom must be licensed – climb down ladders to the freshly-revealed foreshore and start hunting for historical goodies.
每天兩次，當潮水退去，水位下降7米時，新的寶藏就會出現在泰晤士河的岸邊。這時拾荒者們——都必須有執照——從梯子上爬下來，來到新出現的前灘，開始尋找歷史上的好東西。
Veteran mudlark Jason Sandy says every trip to the foreshore offers a new set of surprises. "You never know what you're going to find," he told CTVNews.ca by phone from London. "Everything is kind of laundered together," Sandy said. "You can have a modern cigarette butt next to a prehistoric flint tool… Every day is a new surprise."
經驗豐富的Jason Sandy說，每一次到海灘的旅行都會帶來新的驚喜。「你永遠不知道你會發現什麼，」他告訴CTVNews「所有的東西都是混在一起洗的，」桑迪說。「你可以發現現代的菸頭和一個史前的燧石工具在一起……每天都有新的驚喜。
One of Sandy's earliest finds, a 2,000-year-old carved bone hairpin from Roman times, is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of London. Sandy has also donated a pin associated with the infamous King Richard III to a visitor's centre and museum in Leicester.
Sandy早的發現之一，是一枚2000年歷史的羅馬時代的骨雕髮夾，現在是倫敦博物館的永久收藏。桑迪還向萊斯特的遊客中心和博物館捐贈了一枚與臭名昭著的理查三世有關的胸針。
Sandy and his fellow mudlarks have a close relationship with the Museum of London, where they are required by law to show all of their discoveries that might be older than 300 years. An agent at the museum records everything, offers some history on the finds, and occasionally requests the best pieces for the museum's collection.
Sandy和他的拾荒同伴與倫敦博物館關係密切，根據法律規定，他們必須展示所有可能超過300年的發現。博物館的一個經紀人會記錄所有的東西，提供一些關於這些發現的歷史，偶爾還會要求為博物館的收藏提供最好的作品。
The museum also keeps a tight leash on mudlarking activities around the Thames, to ensure that the landscape is not torn apart by treasure-hunters. The southern shore is open to anyone with a mudlark's licence from the government, but individuals are not allowed to dig more than a few centimeters down into the mud.
博物館也嚴格控制泰晤士河周圍的拾荒活動，以確保景觀不會被尋寶者破壞。南海岸對任何持有政府公司頒發的拾荒執照的人開放，但個人不得在泥漿中挖掘超過幾釐米。
Restrictions are even tighter along the north shore, where the ancient Romans first founded London, and where some of the oldest artifacts remain. A select group of about 50 mudlarks are allowed to search along this shore and to dig up to a meter deep in search of treasure.
在古羅馬人最早建立倫敦的北岸，限制更為嚴格，那裡保存著一些最古老的文物。大約50位特許的拾荒者才被允許沿著這片海岸搜尋，並挖掘一米深來尋找寶藏。
While Sandy and his ilk have unearthed many historic treasures from the edge of the river, a few mysteries remain. One is the vast quantities of tiny garnets often found on the foreshore. Sandy says no one is certain where these red, semi-precious gemstones come from, but it's a popular topic of speculation among the mudlarking community. "It's quite strange," he said. "Some are gem quality, others are quite rough." If the answers are still in the Thames, Sandy says he's determined to keep looking for them. "
儘管Sandy和他的同類們在河邊挖掘出了許多歷史寶藏，但仍有一些謎團沒有解開。一個是在前海岸上發現的大量微小的石榴石。Sandy說，沒有人確定這些紅色的半寶石來自哪裡，但這在拾荒者人群中是一個流行的話題。「這很奇怪，」他說。「一些具備寶石的質量，其他相當粗糙。如果答案仍在泰晤士河裡，桑迪表示他決心繼續尋找。
"You never know what you're going to find."
你永遠不知道你將會發現什麼
Reference:
http://www.nbnews24.com/2020/11/13/londons-mudlarks-find-castoff-history-along-the-thames/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/mudlarking-history-buffs-dig-up-priceless-treasures-along-london-s-river-thames-1.3424175
https://www.sohu.com/a/225470852_613641
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/99124128
Vocabulary:
1. Necklace—項鍊
2. Dig up—挖掘
3. Mind-blowing—使人興奮的
4. Mudlarks—拾荒者
5. Infamous—聲名狼藉的
6. Unearthed—挖掘
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