历史上古怪工作.docVIP

历史上古怪工作 　　替人顶罪也能成为职业?驱逐流浪狗居然是教堂的神职之一?搓澡工居然只有贵族才能担当?潜水员身兼数职、必要时还得当水下清洁工?敲人窗户不但不会遭人厌烦反而还可以得到报酬?在不同的社会和时代,这些可都是红极一时、羡煞旁人的抢手职业呢! 　　 　　1. Whipping Boy 　　 　　During the 1600s in England, educating the future king created an interesting problem. Since the monarchs1) blood line was considered divine2), teachers and caretakers couldnt punish the young prince even if he acted like a brat3). The solution was obvious: get another young boy to take the punishment instead of the future king, hence the job of whipping boy. 　　These scapegoats4) were usually chosen from the children of the nobility and educated along with the prince, living in the same quarters and playing together in their spare time. This meant that most of the time the prince was attached to the whipping boy and avoided doing badly so his friend wouldnt be punished. 　　While there is no record attesting5) how well this worked in practice, we do know that some kings later rewarded their whipping boys with land and nobility roles. If nothing else, the promise that one day you might become a duke would probably keep you going through all those undeserved punishments. 　　2. Dog Whipper 　　 　　Another career option during the 1600s was the position of dog whipper. This was a church official whose job was to, no big surprise here, whip dogs. The reason for this wasnt that medieval6) people hated puppies. In fact the problem was that people loved dogs too much and hordes7) of stray8) dogs waiting for food gathered around churches. It was the dog whipper who made sure that these dogs didnt start barking in the middle of a sermon9), and he would chase them away if they tried to attack a well dressed lady. 　　Part of the job benefits were a free whip10), a pair of wooden thongs11) (useful when trying to remove stubborn12) dogs) and a small plot of land sometimes known as the dog acre. Some of the downsides13) were the packs of dogs that could become very angry when someone tried to chase them away. Luckily for everyo