到过伦敦的朋友会发现伦敦的地铁站有很多乍一听感觉很奇怪的名字。看看伦敦地铁名字的起源无异于挖掘其各个地名的来历。
不懂英国的文化历史确实会摸不着头脑。如果懂得英国的历史文化,便会发现伦敦地铁站的怪名字其实都大有来头。
Oxford Circus
牛津马戏团站
The oldest sense of circus is ‘a large building, surrounded with rising tiers of seats, for the exhibition of public spectacles’but, in this instance, it is simply a ‘circular open space at a street junction’.
circus最古老的意思是“一幢大楼,由层层座椅围绕着,可以作展览和公开表演之用”。但这里就是“十字路口圆形空地”的意思。
King’s Cross St Pancras
国王的十字圣潘克洛斯站
This tube station services King’s Cross and St Pancras National Rail stations. The former is now perhaps best known for being Harry Potter’s entrance to Hogwarts, but the king in question is King George IV (who reigned 1820-1830), and the cross, a monument that was demolished in 1845. St Pancras was born around 289, and beheaded for his Christian faith when he was 14 years old.
这个地铁站监管国王的十字和圣潘克洛斯国家火车站。前者即哈利波特通往霍格沃茨的车站,广为人知;但引人热议的国王是指乔治四世(1820-1830执政);而十字毁于1845年。圣潘克洛斯出生于约莫289年,14岁时因其基督信仰而被斩首。
Angel
天使站
It’s named after a former coaching inn on the Great North Road called the Angel, dating from the 17th century.
这个站名来源于大北方之路过去一家名为“天使”驿站,可以追溯到17世纪。
Baker Street
贝克街站
The most famous resident of Baker Street is, of course, Sherlock Holmes. You might think that it was named after a maker of cakes of pastries, but its namesake is actually William Baker, a builder who laid out the street in the second half of the 18th century.
贝克街最著名的居民自然是夏洛克·福尔摩斯。或许你觉得这名字是根据蛋糕点心师傅取的,但事实上,街名来自建筑师威廉·贝克,18世纪下半叶,贝克对这条街做了布局规划。