纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 038球赛带(2)

They do represent the real yokes¹ that were worn during the ball game, but those real yokes were of perishable² materials and they probably, in almost all circumstances, have not survived."

它们象征着比赛中人们真正会使用的腰带。不过那些腰带通常都是用不耐久的材料制成的，无法保存下来。

We know a bit about the Central American ball game because it was quite frequently represented by local artists, who over hundreds of years made sculptures of player figures, and models of pitches, with the public sitting on the walls of the court watching the players. Later European visitors wrote accounts of the game, and a number of stadia built specially³ for it still survive today. The Spaniards, when they arrived, were amazed by the actual ball that the game was played with. It was made of a substance entirely⁴ new to Europeans...rubber. The very first view of a bouncing ball must have been extremely disconcerting-this round object, defying gravity and shooting around in random⁵ directions. The Spanish Dominican Friar Diego Duran reported a sighting:

我们对中美洲的球类比赛略知一二，是因为在几百年间，当地艺术家创造了许多跟这种比赛有关的艺术品，如运动员雕像、观众围坐着观看比赛的球场模型等。此外，欧洲来客也曾记录过这些比赛，而且至今在美洲还能找到一些当年专为这些比赛而修建的球场。比赛用球让初到美洲的西班牙人震惊，这是一种对欧洲人来说完全陌生的材质橡胶。一个有弹性的圆球，似乎完全无视地心引力，可以向任何方向弹射: 第一次见到这种物品必定会惊讶万分。西班牙多明我会修道士迭戈?杜兰报道过：

"They call the material of this ball 'hule' (rubber) ... jumping and bouncing are its qualities, upward and downward, to and from. It can exhaust the pursuer running after it before he can catch up with it."

他们把制作这种球的材料称为hule (橡胶）。弹跳性能极佳，能上下左右弹射。追球的人在追到之前，就已经筋疲力尽了。

These balls also became a kind of currency. Spaniards recorded the Aztecs' exacting⁶ tribute payments of 16,000 rubber balls. Not many have survived, but excavations⁷ and finds made by farmers across Mexico and Central America have turned up a few, as well as hundreds of stone belts like ours-and stone reliefs and sculptures showing players with these 'yokes' or belts around their waists.

橡胶球也变成了一种货币。据西班牙文献记载，他们曾向阿兹特克人强行索要过一万六千个橡胶球作为贡品。留存至今的球并不多，但墨西哥和中美洲的农民挖到过一些，同时还有数百件类似本节中文物的腰带，以及一些石头浮雕和雕像，上面的球员都戴着腰带。

1 yokes   

轭( yoke的名词复数 )； 奴役； 轭形扁担； 上衣抵肩

参考例句：

• The rhombic drive mechanism has two "yokes". 菱形驱动机构有两个“轭”。
• Contact pressure increase by 1.5 –5 with same stems and yokes. 即使采用相同的阀杆和轭架，接触压力也能够增加1.5至5倍。

2 perishable   

adj.（尤指食物）易腐的，易坏的

参考例句：

• Many fresh foods are highly perishable.许多新鲜食物都极易腐败。
• Fruits are perishable in transit.水果在运送时容易腐烂。

3 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

6 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

7 excavations   

n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹

参考例句：

• The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
• This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句