坚守伦敦最后的煤气路灯

Audie Cornish （Host）： In the United Kingdom， the company British Gas employs 30，000 workers. Five of them could be said to carry a metaphorical torch that has been burning for 200 years. They are the lamplighters， tending to gas lamps that still line the streets in some of Londons oldest neighborhoods and parks. NPRs Ari Shapiro joined them on their nightly rounds.

Ari Shapiro （Byline）： I wish I could tell you that these men were dressed in top hats and waistcoats. But as the sun went down around 4 oclock last night， Iain Bell and Garry Usher arrived wearing regular blue and gray jackets with the British Gas logo. They look like standard， 21st century utility workers.

Garry Usher： I was originally doing the central heating installation for British Gas.

Shapiro： About 15 years ago， Garry Usher found out he was being assigned to the lamplighters crew. He told his boss thats ridiculous. London doesnt use gas lamps anymore.

Usher： I thought he was taking the， the mickey， actually.

Shapiro： You thought he was totally…

Usher： I was…

Shapiro：…Fooling you？

Usher： Yeah， exactly， just trying to pawn me off onto another area.

Shapiro： But， in fact， London still has about 1，500 gas lamps. The group British Heritage decided to preserve them after almost all the others were replaced by electric lamps. These look almost exactly the same as when they were first installed two centuries ago， just a little taller to accommodate modern traffic. Usher leans a ladder up against a lamppost and opens the small glass door at the top of the lamp. Inside， a little ticking clock triggers the flame to go on and off at the right time each night. These clocks must be wound by hand.

Usher： I manually turn it round.

Shapiro： The flame jumps up and catches on little silk nets. Theyre covered with a substance called lime， which produces a bright white light. A couple centuries ago， Londons West End theaters realized how useful lime could be to illuminate a stage. Usher： They used to have a bit of this lime—quicklime—put a flame through it and it shown a really bright light across—on their star—and so the star was the person that was in the limelight. And thats where that comes from.

Shapiro： So we are literally standing in the limelight， steps from the river Thames， a stones throw from Big Ben.

（Soundbite of Big Ben）

Shapiro： Iain Bell is British Gas operations manager and a history buff. He describes what this area wouldve looked like before the lamps arrived.

Iain Bell： The streets wouldve been pitch-black. They wouldve been smoggy. Theyd be quite dangerous because the only light the public would have had would have been a candle.

Shapiro： If you wanted to walk to the local pub， you could hire a child know as a link boy to light your way with a torch.

Bell： Some of the link boys werent as nice as you would expect them to be. They actually would mock you， so they would take you down a dark lane and then youd be set upon and robbed.

Shapiro： So when streetlights arrived， everything changed. At first， people were afraid of the lamps—and rightfully so， says Bell. The gas pipes were poorly made from shabby materials.

Bell： Were talking wood. Were talking mud wrapped around it， so there was a lot of leaks. There was a lot of fires. There was a lot of explosions. So thats—the public were terrified. Shapiro： Even today， diggers often come across the remains of old wooden pipes. Today， the gas lamps that are still standing are protected by law. If one is knocked down， its replaced with an exact replica. They cast a calming， mellow light， maintained by these few remaining lamplighters—literal keepers of the flame.

（Soundbite of song， “Old Lamplighter”）

奥迪·科尼什（主持人）：在英国，英国燃气公司有三万雇员，其中有五位可以说接过了已经燃烧200年的象征性的“火炬”。他们是灯夫，工作是管理那些仍然竖立在英国最古老的街区和公园的煤气灯。美国国家公共广播电台的阿里·夏皮罗在他们夜间例行巡视时采访了他们。

阿里·夏皮罗（撰稿人）：我希望我能告诉你们，这些人戴着礼帽、穿着马甲。但是，昨晚大约4点，当太阳下山后，伊恩·贝尔和盖瑞·亚瑟穿着常规的带有英国燃气公司标志的蓝色和灰色夹克衫来到这里。他们看上去就是标准的、21世纪公用事业公司的工人。

盖瑞·亚瑟：我一开始是在英国燃气公司从事集中供暖设备的工作。

夏皮罗：大约15年前，盖瑞·亚瑟发现他被选派到灯夫工作组。他告诉他的老板，那太荒谬了，（因为）伦敦不再用煤气灯了。

亚瑟：实际上，我觉得他在戏弄我。

夏皮罗：你觉得他完全是……

亚瑟：我……

夏皮罗：……在和你开玩笑？

亚瑟：是的，就是那样，想要把我调到另一个领域去。

夏皮罗：但是，事实上，伦敦仍然有大约1500盏煤气灯。在其他煤气灯几乎都被电灯取代后，大不列颠遗产这一团体决定保护它们，维持它们的旧模样。它们看起来几乎和两个世纪以前刚刚安装好的时候一模一样，只是变得高了一些，为的是适应现代交通的改变。亚瑟将梯子靠在灯杆上，爬上梯子，打开顶部的一小扇玻璃门。在那里面，一个小小的闹钟控制着灯火在每晚适当的时间点燃和熄灭。这些钟必须手动上发条。

亚瑟：我用手转一圈。

夏皮罗：火焰往上窜，触到薄丝网。丝网上覆有石灰，由此产生白色的亮光。几个世纪以前，伦敦西区的戏院意识到石灰对于照亮舞台有多重要。

亚瑟：他们以前只用一点这种石灰——生石灰——在它周围点火，周围就会显出明亮的光投射到他们的明星上——所以明星成为众人注目的焦点。那就是那个俗语（in the limelight）的出处。夏皮罗：所以我们其实站在石灰光下，距泰晤士河几步之遥，离大本钟也很近。

（大本钟的钟声）

夏皮罗：伊恩·贝尔是英国燃气公司的运营经理，是一位历史爱好者。他给我们描述了这一地区在路灯安装之前是什么模样。

伊恩·贝尔：街道漆黑一片，烟雾弥漫，也相当危险，因为人们拥有的唯一的路灯可能就是一支蜡烛。

夏皮罗：如果你想要步行到本地的酒吧，你可以雇一个被称为连线小子的小孩儿用火炬给你照亮去路。

贝尔：一些连线小子并不是你想象的那么友善。他们实际上可能会嘲笑你，带你到黑暗的小巷里，然后袭击你、打劫你。

夏皮罗：所以，当路灯出现后，一切都变了。起初，人们害怕路灯——贝尔说，这也合常理。（因为）煤气管是用劣质材质制成的。

贝尔：我们现在讨论的煤气管当年是木质的，外面被泥土包裹着。煤气会经常泄漏，会引发大火或爆炸，所以那就是人們感到恐慌的原因。

夏皮罗：甚至到现在，挖掘机经常挖到这些旧的木质管道的残骸。如今，仍然竖立着的煤气灯受到法律的保护。如果一盏煤气灯被撞倒了，它会被一个复制品所替代。它们投放着宁静柔和的光，由这几个灯夫（也就是守卫火焰的人）维护着。

（歌曲《老灯夫》片段）