纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 038球赛带(1)

I'm in the Mexican gallery in front of what looks like a giant stone horseshoe-it's about 20 inches (50 cm) long and about 4 inches (10 cm) thick and is made of a very beautiful grey-green speckled stone. When it first came to the British Museum in the 1860s they thought that it was a yoke¹ for something like a carthorse-but there were two immediate² problems with this theory: first the object is very heavy, it's about five or six stone (35 kg)-too heavy even for a horse's neck-and secondly³, there were no carthorses or draught⁴ animals in Central America until the Spaniards brought them from Europe in the sixteenth century.

在大英博物馆的墨西哥厅，有一件形似大型石制马蹄铁的物品，长约四十厘米，厚十二厘米，由美丽的灰绿色斑点石制成。1860年它刚到大英博物馆时，人们以为它是马匹之类的拉车的轭。但很快疑问便出现了:首先，这件东西重约四十千克，背起来过于沉重;其次，在16世纪西班牙人进入美洲之前，美洲其实没有任何用于负重拉拽的动物。

It was only just over 50 years ago that it was generally understood that these stone carvings⁵ had nothing to do with animals; they were meant to be worn by men. They represent the padded belts made of cloth or basketwork worn to protect the hips⁶ during ancient Central American ball games. Indeed some of these stone belts may have been moulds used to shape lighter⁷ cloth or leather padding, but the one we have in the British Museum is made of solid stone, so heavy that if it was worn it can only have been very briefly⁸. Nowadays it would perhaps be for a quick photo call, but we don't actually know exactly when or how it might originally have been worn.

直到五十多年前，人们制品与动物无关，而是给人类穿戴的。它类似用布的软垫，戴在腰间，在古代中美洲的球类运动中用于保护臀部。有些石头腰带可能只是模具，成品则由较轻的布料或皮革制成。而大英博物馆所藏的这一件也太过沉重，即使戴不了太长时间。我们无法准确了解古人佩戴它的原因何在，也不了解他们在什么情况下会佩戴它，又是如何佩戴的。

We asked the leading expert on these games, Michael Whittington, what he thought these stone belts were for:

中美洲球类运动专家迈克尔惠廷顿认为，这些腰带主要是在仪式使用的:

"I believe these were ceremonial objects.Wearing an object that's 75-100 lbs around your waist during an athletic⁹ competition will slow you down considerably¹⁰, so they probably were worn as part of the ritual ceremonies at the beginning of the game.

我认为这些是仪式用具。在运动比赛中戴着三四十公斤重的东西会让人动作变慢。因此应该是在比赛前的宗教仪式中使用的。它们象征着比赛中人们真正会使用的腰带。

1 yoke   

n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶

参考例句：

• An ass and an ox,fastened to the same yoke,were drawing a wagon.驴子和公牛一起套在轭上拉车。
• The defeated army passed under the yoke.败军在轭门下通过。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

4 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

5 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

8 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

9 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

10 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。