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This week we're sweeping across the vast expanse of Europe and Asia between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries.
本周的我们将横跨九世纪至十三世纪欧亚大陆的广阔区域。
And once again we're not going to be focussed on the Mediterranean:we're dealing with two great arcs of trade-one that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan, rises north into Russia and ends here in Britain, and another in the south, spanning the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Africa.
而再一次我们不会将焦点限于地中海地区：一条始于伊拉克和阿富汗，向北延伸至俄罗斯，最后止于英格兰；另一条则在南边，从印度尼西亚开始，跨越印度洋，直抵非洲。
The week's objects range from today's precious Viking treasure from Yorkshire to a few pottery fragments from a beach in Africa.
本周的这件物品范围是从现今约克郡珍贵无比的海盗宝藏，到非洲海滩的一些陶器碎片。
Between them, they bring to life the travellers, the traders and the raiders who helped to shape this world.
在其中，他们为旅客们带来了生活，贸易商，而且袭击者帮助曾改变这个世界。
When you use the words "traders and raiders", one group of people above all springs to mind: the Vikings.
—提到“商人与劫匪”，浮现在我们脑海里的总是维京人的形象。
Vikings have always excited the European imagination and their reputation has fluctuated violently.
维京人一直刺激着欧洲人的想象力，他们的名声也总是大起大落。
In the nineteenth century, the British saw them as savage bad guys-horn-helmeted rapers and looters.
在十九世纪，英格兰人视他们为野蛮的恶棍，戴着牛角头盔，奸淫掳掠无恶不作。
For the Scandinavians, of course, it was different: the Vikings there were the all-conquering heroes of Nordic legend.
但在北欧人眼中自然并非如此：他们是北欧传奇中所向披靡的英雄。
The Vikings then went through a stage of being seen by historians as rather civilised-more tradesmen and travellers than pillagers-in fact they became almost cuddly.
一度有考古学家认为维京人的文明程度相当高，在本地及外地经商的人比海盗多。
This recent discovery of the Vale of York Hoard makes them seem a bit less cuddly and looks set to revive the aggressive Vikings of popular tradition, but now with a dash of cosmopolitan glamour.
不过最近发现的约克郡宝藏则给他们的形象减分不少，民间流行的侵咯者一说再次回归，只是增加了一点四海为家的魅力。
And the truth, I think, is that that's what the Vikings have always been about: glitz with violence.
其实我想，维京人一宜以来的形象都是既暴力又耀眼。
The England of the early 900s was divided between territories occupied by the Vikings-most of the north and the east-while the south and the west were controlled by the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
十世纪初，英格兰一分为二，东、北部被维京人占据，西、南部则是盎格鲁-撖克逊人的韦塞克斯王国。
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