比剑桥大学古老的多的剑桥郡

　　The Cambridge of Brooke， Byron， Newton and Rutherford， of the summer idyll of punts，' bumps'， cool willows and May Balls.

　　Yet Cambridge was important long before the University existed. Here， at the meeting of dense forests to the south and trackless， marshy Fens to the north， was the lowest reliable fording place of the River Cam， or Granta. In the first century BC an Iron Age Belgic tribe built a settlement on what is now Castle Hill. Around AD40 the Romans took over the site and it became the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester with the legions in Lincoln and beyond. The Saxons followed， then the Normans under William the Conqueror， who raised a castle on a steep mound as a base for fighting the Saxon rebel， Hereward the Wake， deep in the Fens at Ely. The motte of William's castle still stands and Ely Cathedral is visible from the top on a clear day.

　　The first scholars didn't arrive in Cambridge until 1209 and another 75 years passed before Hugh de Balsham， Bishop of Ely， founded Peterhouse， the first college. Clare （1326）， Pembroke （1347）， Gonville and Caius （1348）， Trinity Hall （1350） and Corpus Christi （1352） were established in the first half of the fourteenth century. Ten more colleges were founded during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries， including Christ's （1505）， King's （1441）， Queens' （1448）， Jesus （1496）， St. John's （1511）， Trinity （1546）， and Emmanuel （1584）。

　　这个城市的背后充满了番红花和水仙，在里市区500码的地方有着广阔的绿地和放牧的牧场。这个城市还拥有着Brooke，拜伦，牛顿，卢瑟福，夏日的田园诗，清爽的柳树和一年一度的毕业舞会（May Balls）。当然，剑桥郡要比剑桥大学古老的多。直到1209年剑桥郡才出现第一位学者，75年以后出现了Hugh de Balsham， Bishop of Ely，建立了Peterhouse，第一所大学。