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Immolation. Being burnt at the stake was a classic medieval punishment, typically meted out to women believed to be witches,
火刑。火刑是中世纪的一种经典刑罚，通常用于惩罚那些被认为是女巫的女性，
or most memorably Joan of Arc in 1431 in Rouen France, branded as heretics by Christian inquisitors.
最具代表性的是1431年在法国鲁昂被基督教宗教审判官判为异端的圣女贞德。
Immolation was officially sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church in 1184 as the punishment for heresy,
1184年，罗马天主教会正式批准火刑作为对异端的惩罚，
since it was widely believed that the victim would have no body to enter the afterlife, condemning them to eternal purgatory instead.
因为人们普遍认为受害者没有肉体进入来世，而是被判处永恒的炼狱。
Tied to a stake instead of blaze in large fires, the victims usually died from carbon monoxide poisoning rather than immolation.
受害者被绑在火刑柱上而不是在大火中燃烧，通常死于一氧化碳中毒而不是焚烧。
But those unfortunate enough to be ignited by smaller fires could survive for up to two hours,
但那些不幸被小火点燃的人可以存活长达两个小时，
eventually succumbing to either heat stroke, shock, loss of blood, or passing away after their vital organs had thermally decomposed.
最终死于中暑、休克、失血，或在他们的重要器官热分解后死亡。
There were many horrific variations of this grotesque ceremony, such as the addition of a rope tied around the victim's neck that would strangle them at the same time as they were being incinerated.
这种怪诞的仪式有许多可怕的演变版本，比如在受害者的脖子上绑上一根绳子，在焚烧的同时勒死他们。
While in Germany religious zealots placed burning lumps of sulfur under the armpits of suspected witches, creating a blaze which even water cannot extinguish which made light work of them.
而在德国，宗教狂热分子将燃烧的硫磺块放在疑似女巫的腋下，产生的火焰连水都无法扑灭，使女巫们轻而易举地被杀死。
Amazingly, the practice of witch hunting still continues in parts of Africa such as in Kenya, where in 2008, 11 elderly people were burnt to a crisp after an angry mob were convinced they were all evil warlocks or sorceresses.
令人惊讶的是，猎巫的做法仍在非洲部分地区继续，例如在肯尼亚，2008年，11名老人被烧成灰烬，因为愤怒的暴徒认为他们都是邪恶的男巫或女巫。
Blinding. Removing the eyes of offenders was a punishment doled out by innumerable bygone civilizations, instituted in 303 by emperor Diocletian.
挖眼。挖掉罪犯的眼睛是无数过去文明施予的惩罚，由罗马帝国皇帝戴克里先于303年制定。
The byzantines were particularly enthusiastic practitioners, gouging out the eyes of early Christians with either a red hot iron dagger, tent peg, or nail, which was plunged into the iris.
拜占庭人特别热衷于此种做法，他们用烧红的铁匕首、帐篷钉或钉子挖出早期基督徒的眼睛，然后将其插入虹膜。
Elsewhere, Basil II, a later Byzantine Monarch of the 10th Century, infamously blinded thousands of Bulgarian renegades.
后来10世纪的拜占庭君主巴西尔二世因使数千名保加利亚叛徒失明而臭名昭著。
He made sure that a man for every 100 remained with one eye so that they could lead them to the King of the Bulgars who upon seeing the nightmarish remnants supposedly died of shock instantly.
他确保每100人中有一人只剩一只眼睛，这样他们就可以把他们带到保加利亚国王那里，据说，保加利亚国王在看到这些恐怖的伤口后，立即因休克而死亡。
In modern times although, rare blinding is still legally permitted in Iran under a law, in which the victim has the power to decide whether the assailant should have their eyes taken out.
然而，在现代，伊朗仍然依法允许罕见的挖眼行为，根据该法律，受害者有权决定是否应该挖出袭击者的眼睛。
In a literal interpretation of the old maxim "an eye for an eye", in March 2015, Iranian medics gouged out an eye of a convict, with the express permission of his victim, who was made sightless by an acid attack.
2015年3月，伊朗医务人员在受害者的明确许可下，挖出了一名囚犯的眼睛，受害者因遭受硫酸袭击而失明。
Another example happened at a crackdown on protests that erupted in the Kashmir region in 2016, when the Indian Armed Forces intentionally blinded up to 500 demonstrators,
另一个例子发生在2016年克什米尔地区爆发的抗议镇压中，当时印度武装部队故意使多达500名示威者失明，
including children as young as four, by firing small metal pellets into the faces of unarmed youths, causing partial or full loss of sight for many.
其中包括年仅4岁的儿童，他们向手无寸铁的年轻人的脸上发射小金属弹丸，导致许多人部分或完全失明。
Castration. Castration has featured heavily throughout the ages for ritual reasons such as for the goddess Ishtar 6,000 years ago,
阉割。阉割在各个时代都占有重要地位，用于仪式，例如6000年前为女神伊什塔尔举行的仪式，
and to deter crimes as seen in the 9th century reign of King Alfred of England and Jefferson's 18th century Virginia laws.
以及用于遏制犯罪，如9世纪英格兰国王阿尔弗雷德统治时期和18世纪杰斐逊弗吉尼亚法律。
It could also be used to assert authority over another party, like in 1144 when the Duke of Normandy, in the north of what is now France,
它也可以用来对另一方施加权威，例如1144年，诺曼底的公爵（诺曼底位于现在的法国北部）
ordered the castration of the bishop of Séez and several of his entourage after they elected him as bishop without his consent.
下令对塞埃主教及其随行人员进行阉割，因为他们未经他的同意就选举他为主教。
The missing parts were subsequently presented to the Duke on a platter.
随后，缺失的部分被放在盘子里呈给公爵。
Yet interestingly enough, it wasn't always used in a punitive way and in some cases non-criminals were even encouraged to go under the knife.
但有趣的是，它并不总是作为惩罚，在某些情况下，非罪犯甚至被鼓励接受手术。
From the 16th century, highly prized singers known as Castrati had their nether regions purposefully removed in boyhood often at the bidding of their own parents.
从16世纪开始，备受推崇的阉人歌手在童年时期经常在父母的命令下故意切除下体。
So they could retain the highness of their prepubescent voices as adults.
这样他们就可以在成年后保留青春期前高亢的声音。
A lack of testosterone meant the singer's bones didn't harden, resulting in unusually large ribcages which enable them to hold notes for an extremely long duration.
由于缺乏睾丸激素，阉人歌手的骨骼无法变硬，胸腔比常人大，使他们能够长时间保持音符。
Surprisingly, many western countries such as Canada, Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Denmark, and several U.S. states, including Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, and Texas, to name a few, have laws that permit forced chemical castration on abusers.
令人惊讶的是，许多西方国家，如加拿大、瑞典、德国、挪威和丹麦，以及美国的佐治亚州、爱荷华州、路易斯安那州和德克萨斯州等等，都有法律允许对施虐者进行强制化学阉割。
Although requiring consent, the Czech Republic remains the only EU state to perform therapeutic surgical castrations.
尽管需要同意，但捷克共和国仍然是唯一一个进行治疗性手术阉割的欧盟国家。
But this has been heavily criticized by human rights groups, who argue that patients are sometimes coerced into making this choice, since refusal can lead to longer-term detention.
但人权组织对此提出了严厉批评，他们认为患者有时是被迫做出这种选择，因为拒绝可能会导致长期拘留。
So it seems the medieval world is still alive and well, although that can't be said for the many people unlucky enough to have come into contact with it today.
因此，中世纪世界似乎仍然存在，尽管对于今天不幸接触到它的许多人来说，情况并非如此。
