Oxford¹ 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 junction²’.

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 Harry³ Potter’s entrance to Hogwarts, but the king in question is King George IV (who reigned⁴ 1820-1830), and the cross, a monument that was demolished⁵ in 1845. St Pancras was born around 289, and beheaded for his Christian⁶ 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。

Baker⁷ 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 maker⁸ of cakes of pastries⁹, 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。

Bank

班克站

Bank is named after the Bank of England. Incidentally, it was voted the most disliked tube station in 2013.

班克（英语中”银行“的音译为”班克“）取自英格兰银行。顺便一提，2013年班克被投票选为最受人讨厌的地铁站。

Canary Wharf¹⁰

金丝雀码头站

Canary Wharf takes its name from a warehouse¹¹, built for the Mediterranean¹² and Canary Islands fruit trade.

金丝雀码头的名字取自一间仓库，仓库是为地中海和金丝雀岛屿水果贸易而建的。

Hainault

海诺特站

This unusual name comes from the Old English ‘Hyneholt or ‘Henehout’ and means ‘wood belonging to a religious community’.

这个不同一般的名字来自古英语的Hyneholt或者Henehout，意为“宗教社区的树木”。

Hanger¹³ Lane

汉格巷站

The lane is named after Hanger Hill. hanger comes from the Old English hangra, ‘a wood on a slope’.

这条巷子根据汉格山命名，"汉格"来自古英语hangra，意为“斜坡上的树林”。

Swiss Cottage

瑞士小屋站

This area owes its unusual name to a local inn. The Swiss Tavern¹⁴, built in 1803-4, was in the style of a Swiss chalet – later renamed to the humbler Swiss Cottage.

这块地区名字独特是因为当地的一家小旅馆。“瑞士酒店”建于1803至1804年间，是瑞士小木屋风格，“瑞士小屋”这个名字要低调很多，是后来重新命名的。

Turnpike Lane

登碧里站

It’s a historical term for a toll¹⁵ gate, though was originally a spiked¹⁶ barrier – thus a sense of pikemeaning ‘a spiked staff or stick’.

收费站史称"登碧里"，尽管最初指带刺的障碍物，因而pike有“带刺拐杖或棍子”之意。