【走近兵馬俑】

40年前，兵馬俑的奇跡之門(mén)被打開(kāi)，"世界第八大奇跡"出現(xiàn)在眾人眼前。為慶祝秦兵馬俑發(fā)現(xiàn)40周年，China Daily手機(jī)報(bào)推出口語(yǔ)特別策劃"走近兵馬俑"，在帶您穿越歷史長(zhǎng)河、探索這些人類(lèi)智慧與藝術(shù)結(jié)晶背后故事的同時(shí)，講述孕育這段歷史的神秘土壤——西安的前世今生，并向您介紹相關(guān)詞匯、句式的地道英語(yǔ)表達(dá)。

[第三期]

Are the warriors naked?

兵馬俑都是'裸男'嗎？

口語(yǔ)君：兵馬俑都是全裸的？！對(duì)于這種不靠譜的傳聞，想想也是醉了……其實(shí)，真想只有一個(gè)！是神馬呢？且聽(tīng)陶小德分解：

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F: I heard that the Terra-Cotta Warriors are naked, but the ones I saw at a museum were wearing armor and clothing. So is the naked story a myth?

聽(tīng)說(shuō)兵馬俑都沒(méi)穿衣服，可我在博物館看到的那些都穿了盔甲或衣服啊。那么，有關(guān)它們"裸著的"傳聞是杜撰的嘍？

M: Well, it's really more about a bad translation than myth. There are no naked warriors. But the originals were painted in bright colors, and the paint has been lost to the passing centuries and the excavation process.

嗯，與其說(shuō)是杜撰，不如說(shuō)是一種錯(cuò)誤的解讀。根本沒(méi)有不穿衣服的兵馬俑。兵馬俑上原本繪有鮮艷的色彩，不過(guò)經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)世紀(jì)的磨礪，及在出土過(guò)程中，顏料都脫落了。

F: Oh, I didn't know that. So it's impossible to see them with their original colors?

哦，這我還真不知道。這么說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在我們不可能再看到兵馬俑的本色了？

M: Many of them have those original pigments, but they disintegrated when the statues were excavated. That's one reason the government asked the archaeologists to slow down their work. The experts are hoping to find a way to save the original paint on the warriors that have not been exposed to the air.

很多兵馬俑身上至今仍保留著原本的色彩，但當(dāng)它們被挖掘出來(lái)時(shí)，那些顏色就脫落消失了。這也是為什么政府讓考古學(xué)家放慢發(fā)掘速度的原因之一。目前，專(zhuān)家希望找到一種方法，能夠保住那些尚未出土的兵馬俑上的原始色彩。

[口語(yǔ)點(diǎn)睛]

口語(yǔ)君：myth作名詞除了神話的意思外，還可以指"很多人相信，但其實(shí)并不存在或錯(cuò)誤的事物"(=fallacy)。例如： It is time to dispel the myth of a classless society. (是時(shí)候消除存在無(wú)階級(jí)社會(huì)的誤傳了。) 又如：Contrary to the popular myth, women are not worse drivers than men. (與廣為人知的誤傳相反，女司機(jī)并不比男司機(jī)差。)

[口語(yǔ)天天練之兵馬俑顏色大起底]

口語(yǔ)君：看過(guò)上面的介紹，口語(yǔ)君終于松了口氣。假如地宮里千萬(wàn)威武的秦朝勇士都走西方雕塑裸露風(fēng)，光是想想都讓人覺(jué)得，這畫(huà)面太美，不忍直視……言歸正傳，今天的口語(yǔ)天天練，我們就從數(shù)字、顏色的表達(dá)開(kāi)始，舒活舌頭大聲念起吧：

1. The statues of the infantry soldiers range between 5 foot 8 inches and 6 foot 2 inches; the commanders are 6 and half feet tall.

兵馬俑步兵俑高在5英尺8英寸到6英尺2英寸間，司令官高度為6.5英尺。

2. Terracotta Figures were found to be painted in red, green, blue, yellow, purple, brown, white, black, pink, vermilion, etc.

人們發(fā)現(xiàn)陶俑上繪有紅、綠、藍(lán)、黃、紫、棕、白、黑、粉、朱紅色等顏色。

3. The pigments were artificially produced from cinnabar, charcoal, malachite and azurite as well as barium copper silicate.

這些顏料是用朱砂、木炭、孔雀石、藍(lán)銅礦和硅酸銅鋇人工制成的。

4. The terracotta figures have gone through a natural process of 2,200 years decay, the lacquer cracks and peels off once the warriors were exposure to the air, taking any remaining pigment with it.

在經(jīng)歷了2200年自然腐蝕后，這些陶俑一旦暴露在空氣中，上面的涂料便立即裂開(kāi)脫落，殘存的顏料也隨之掉落。

（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 丁一）