中文导读 一个封存了近两千年的衣柜，能告诉我们什么？文章先点出这次发现的特别之处：里面没有黄金和名画，只有一个家庭的日常用品；接着交代衣柜在哪里、木头早已腐朽的情况下考古人员如何复原它；然后列出柜内物品，并说明秤砣可能暗示主人从事贸易；再重点介绍最受关注的儿童项链 crepundia 及其意义；最后讨论留下的钱币引出的疑问，以及主人身份为何仍不确定。阅读时可留意 may、suggest、could 等词如何区分“发现了什么”和“可能说明什么”，以及 however、but 引出的转折。
正文 For almost 2,000 years , a wooden wardrobe in Pompeii kept its secrets . Archaeologists have now studied what was inside . What they found was not gold or great art , but the ordinary things of one household : makeup tools , cooking pots , a pile of coins and a child’s necklace . Together , these objects offer a rare personal picture of life in the Roman city before Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79.
本段译文 近两千年来，庞贝的一个木衣柜一直守着自己的秘密。如今，考古人员研究了柜中之物。他们找到的不是黄金或伟大的艺术品，而是一户人家的普通物件：化妆工具、炊具、一堆钱币和一条儿童项链。这些物品合在一起，为了解公元 79 年维苏威火山喷发前这座罗马城市的生活，提供了一幅难得的、带有个人色彩的画面。
The wardrobe stood in a room of a house on Via dell’Abbondanza , once one of the busiest streets in Pompeii . The front of the house was first dug up in 1912, but experts are only now studying some of its rooms as part of a wider restoration project . The wood itself did not survive . Instead , the team rebuilt the wardrobe’s shape from the hole it left in the volcanic material , and from objects that fell from its shelves when the roof came down .
本段译文 这个衣柜位于丰裕街（Via dell'Abbondanza）一座房屋的一个房间里，这条街曾是庞贝最繁忙的街道之一。这座房屋的正面早在 1912 年就已被发掘，但专家们直到现在才在一项更大范围的修复工程中研究其中的一些房间。木头本身没有保存下来。考古团队是根据它在火山物质中留下的空洞，以及屋顶坍塌时从柜架上掉落的物品，重建出衣柜的形状。
Inside were tweezers , a small glass perfume bottle , an incense burner and a bronze lamp . There were also bronze , glass and clay pots , 38 bronze coins in a woven container , and a wooden box of lead weights . The weights suggest that someone in the house may have worked in trade
本段译文 柜子里有镊子、一个小玻璃香水瓶、一个香炉和一盏青铜灯。还有青铜、玻璃和陶土制成的器皿，装在一个编织容器里的 38 枚青铜币，以及一个装着铅秤砣的木盒。这些秤砣表明，屋里可能有人从事贸易。
The find that has drawn the most attention , however , is the necklace . It has at least 20 tiny charms made of bone , glass and crystal including images of the gods Bes and Mercury . Romans called this kind of necklace crepundia . It was given to young children for protection , and its charms made a noise , which helped parents keep track of them . Many people kept such necklaces as adults . Gabriel Zuchtriegel , the director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park , said they could remind people of parents who lived far away , because many people in the Roman world moved around the Mediterranean
本段译文 不过，最受关注的发现是那条项链。它上面至少有 20 枚用骨头、玻璃和水晶制成的小护身符，其中包括贝斯神和墨丘利神的形象。罗马人把这种项链称为 crepundia。它被送给年幼的孩子以求保护，护身符还会发出声响，帮助父母留意孩子的去向。许多人成年后仍保留着这样的项链。庞贝考古园区主任加布里埃尔·祖赫特里格尔说，由于罗马世界的许多人在地中海一带四处迁移，这些项链能让人想起远在他乡的父母。
The coins and personal objects also raise a question . Zuchtriegel said the fact that they were left behind may mean the owners had to flee at short notice . But nobody knows what happened to them . They may have escaped and never returned , or died in the disaster , like about 15 to 20 percent of the city’s people .
本段译文 这些钱币和私人物品也引出了一个疑问。祖赫特里格尔说，它们被留下来，可能意味着主人不得不仓促逃离。但没有人知道他们后来怎样了。他们也许逃了出去却再也没有回来，也许死于这场灾难——城中约 15% 至 20% 的居民就是这样遇难的。
Even the owner’s name is uncertain . The house has been linked to a man called Cornelius Maximus , but the writing that supported this idea can no longer be seen . As Zuchtriegel put it , “We cannot reconstruct with certainty the identity of those who lived in the house , but these fragments bring us closer to their daily lives .”
本段译文 就连房主的名字也不确定。这座房屋曾被认为与一个名叫科尔内利乌斯·马克西穆斯的人有关，但支持这一说法的文字如今已无法看到。正如祖赫特里格尔所说：“我们无法确切地重建这座房子里住过的人的身份，但这些碎片让我们更接近他们的日常生活。”
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