Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded(1) the discovery of an ancient book of psalms(2) by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel(3) of his backhoe(4) into a bog(5).

The approximately(6) 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity(7) College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval(8) document in two centuries.

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration(9) and facing years of painstaking(10) analysis before being put on public display.

"There's two sets of odds(11) that make this discovery really way out(12). First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably(13) more amazing."

He said an engineer was digging up bogland last week to create commercial potting soil somewhere in Ireland's midlands when, "just beyond the bucket of his bulldozer(14), he spotted something." Wallace would not specify where the book was found because a team of archaeologists is still exploring the site.

"The owner of the bog has had dealings with us in past and is very much in favor of archaeological discovery and reporting it," Wallace said.

Crucially, he said, the bog owner covered up the book with damp soil. Had it been left exposed overnight, he said, "it could have dried out and just vanished(15), blown away."

The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Wallace said several experts spent Tuesday analyzing only that page - the number of letters on each line, lines on each page, size of page - and the book's binding(16) and cover, which he described as "leather velum(17), very thick wallet in appearance."

It could take months of study, he said, just to identify the safest way to pry(18) open the pages without damaging or destroying them. He ruled out(19) the use of X-rays to investigate without moving the pages.

Ireland already has several other holy books from the early medieval period, including the ornately(20) illustrated Book of Kells, which has been on display at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.

1. herald：宣布

2. psalm：赞美诗，圣经诗篇

3. shovel：铲

4. backhoe：反铲挖土机

5. bog：沼泽，泥沼

6. approximately：近似地

7. trinity：三位一体

8. medieval：中世纪的

9. refrigeration：冷藏

10. painstaking：努力的，极度细心的

11. odds：可能的机会

12. way out：摆脱困境的办法

13. incalculably：无数地

14. bulldozer：推土机

15. vanish：消失，突然不见

16. binding：装订

17. velum：幕，膜

18. pry：探查

19. rule out：排除

20. ornately：装饰华丽地，语言考究的

周二爱尔兰考古学家宣布一名建筑工人在驱使挖土机挖泥塘的时候发现了一本古代圣经。

此书有将近20页，可追溯到公元800到1000年。三一学院手稿专家伯纳德·米汗说这是2个世纪以来首次发现爱尔兰中世纪早期的文稿。

目前此书被冷藏在爱尔兰国家博物馆中，在面世之前将接受长达几年的精谨研究。馆长帕特·华莱士说："这真是个奇迹的发现。"

"这个发现的产生主要有两个不可思议的原因。首先，如此脆弱的东西不太可能在泥沼中保存下来，更神奇的是在它被毁坏之前被发现、挖掘出来。"

他说上周一个工人为了制作商用陶土，用挖土机挖掘爱尔兰中部的一个泥塘，结果在铲斗前看见了一个东西。华莱士没有确切指明发现地点，因为一队考古学家们还在对现场进行深度探索。

华莱士说："泥塘的所有人事前和我们有协议，对于发现古物和公布发现都很高兴。"

他说，至关重要的是泥塘主人用潮湿的泥土盖住了书，如果他整夜都让书暴露在外，那它一定会被吹干，随风散了。

书被发现的时候是打开的，正好是诗篇83，用拉丁文描写其他国家企图消灭以色列，上帝正在倾听人们的抱怨。

华莱士说周二几位专家分析了这一页每行有多少个字、每页有多少行，页面的大小和书的装订和封面。华莱士说整本书看起来像一个厚重的皮革钱包。

他说大约要花几个月的时间来研究最安全的翻页方式，避免损坏或者毁坏它们。他排除了不翻动书页，仅使用x光来研究的方法。

爱尔兰已经拥有其他几本中世纪早期的圣书，包括从19世纪就在都柏林三一学院展出的绚丽的插画图书《凯尔之书》。

中国国际广播电台 译