Lesson 50 - British Canals
In mediaeval times rivers were the veins of the body politic as well as economic. Boundaries between states or shires, they were crossed by fords which became the sites of towns, or by bridges which were often points of battle. Upon rivers the people of that time depended for food, power and transport. In our day fish are caught in the sea and brought to us by rail and lorry; only the angler still thinks fresh-water fish important, and pollution of rivers drives him into smaller and smaller reaches in which to practise his sport. But in earlier times, when sea fish were eaten only by those who lived on the sea coast, when meat was obtainable only for part of the year, and when fasts were frequent and universally practised, river fish played an important part in the national life. Every abbey and great man's house had its fish pond, and across the rivers great and small stretched the fish weirs, usually made of stakes and nets or basket-work. Between the owners of the fisheries and the bargemaster who needed an unimpeded passage continuous war was fought, till the importance of fresh-water fish lessened as the practice of fasting ceased to be universal, as meat became available all the year round, and as the transport of sea fish inland became practicable.
Rivers were also the most important source of power. Every stream had its mills, not only for grinding corn, but for all the other industrial processes of the time, such as fulling* cloth or driving the hammers of ironworks. Placed down the bank wherever a head of water could be got, these mills were to be found on the tiny stream that ran through a village, or on the bigger river that was also used for navigation. An artificial cut was made from the river to bring the water at proper height to the water-wheel, and, in order to make sure of a supply of water at all seasons, the mill-owner usually built a weir across the river to hold back the water and so form an artificial reservoir. If the river were navigable, the centre of such a weir was made of planks held vertically by cross beams so that they could be removed when it was necessary to pass a barge, or was fitted with a single pair of gates. Such weirs were called staunches or flash-locks; they did not disappear from the bigger rivers till present times, and may still be seen in the Fens. * Cleansing and thickening.
参考译文——英国的运河
在中世纪，河流可谓是政治和经济的命脉。河流成为州或郡的分界线，河流上的浅滩则成为城镇所在地，横跨河流的桥梁则是兵家必争之地。当时的人们依靠河流获取食物和能源，实现交通。在我们这个时代，鱼是在海里捕获后通过铁路和卡车运输过来，只有垂钓者还会认为淡水鱼很重要，河流的污染迫使他进入越来越小的水域练习他的运动。但在以前，海鱼只被生活在海边的人食用，肉类只能在一年中的一部分时间获得，禁食被频繁和普遍实行，所以河鱼在国民生活中扮演着重要的角色。每所修道院和显贵要人的宅邸都有自己的鱼塘，大小河流的对岸都有鱼堰，鱼堰通常由木桩、渔网或篮子组成。在渔场主和需要畅通无阻航行的驳船主之间，持续不断的争斗一直在进行，直到淡水鱼的重要性随着禁食的做法不再普遍、肉类全年都有供应以及海鱼内陆运输变得可行而降低，争斗才逐渐平息。
河流也是最重要的能源。每条溪流都有自己的磨坊，不仅用于碾磨玉米，还用于当时的所有其他工业过程，如清洗、增厚布料或敲打铁厂的锤子。磨坊只需一股水源就成，有些磨坊位于穿过村庄的小溪上，有些磨坊则坐落在通向海洋的大河之上。在河流中人工拦截水流，可将水以适当的高度输送到水车。为了确保四季供水，磨坊主通常在河流上修建一道堰以拦截水流，从而形成人工水库。如果河流可通航，则该堰的中心由垂直安装在横梁的木板构成，以便在需要通过驳船时将木板移除，让驳船通过。通过安装一对闸门也可实现同样的功能。这种堰被称为“锁水堰（staunch）”或“快锁堰（flash-lock）”，直到现代，它们才从大河中消失，但是在沼泽中仍然可以看到。
注：博主基于百度翻译校译而成
参考资料：
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