纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 039女史箴图(5)

Now that message must have been especially important at the time that the poem that this scroll¹ is based on was written, and at the time it was painted, because these were times of social chaos². So what the message is, is that the woman, even one with great beauty, must always evince humility³, she must always abide⁴ by rules, and never forget her position in relationship to her husband and family; and by doing so, she is a positive and active force in promoting social order."

既然这样的传统在当时一定有着极为重要的地位,画卷是以诗的基础上用画的形式表现,因为那个年代社会正值混乱时期。因此当时这种已根深蒂固的思想是即女性不论美丑，都应谦逊守礼，牢记自己在家中的地位，服从丈夫。这样才能对社会起到积极作用。

Advisers⁵ to the powerful have always attempted to guide their leaders, both male and female. Charles Powell knows very well how to advise artfully and loyally one powerful woman in particular: he was Margaret Thatcher⁶'s foreign policy advisor⁷ in the 1980s, and he frequently worked with her on China:

而君主的大臣们一直试图引导辅佐各自的男女领导人们。查尔斯·鲍威尔对于如何，特别是对于女强人巧妙建议,展现忠诚了如指掌:他在20世纪80年代曾担任玛格丽特·撒切尔的外交政策顾问,他经常和她就中国问题展开讨论:

"Well this magnificent object tells a story of a very powerful woman. And powerful women in modern history are actually quite rare-really powerful women. Margaret Thatcher was an exception, an exception I don't think is going to be repeated any time soon in this country.

这件伟大的物品讲述了一个非常强大女性的故事。而现代历史上的女强人其实非常罕见,我指的是那种真正强势的女人。然而玛格丽特·撒切尔是特例,她的特别我想对这个国家任何都不用赘述。

It shouldn't be difficult to approach superiors:after all, if one's chosen to be an advisor to somebody, then you've got to give them your honest advice and be fearless in doing so. So the idea that advisers are simply courtiers who say what the leader wants to hear is not true at all.

不过应对上级不应该很难:毕竟,如果一个人被选作某人顾问,你需要的是展现你的诚实建议并且对于这样做无所畏惧。所以顾问像那些朝臣们一样说的都是上级想听的一点也不真实。

But it is true that Margaret Thatcher benefitted from the fact that most of her cabinet ministers were public-school-educated British men, brought up not to be rude to a lady and to defer⁸ to the other sex, and perhaps sometimes this unconsciously qualified⁹ their willingness to go head-to-head with her on difficult issues.

但真实的是玛格丽特·撒切尔受益于这样一个事实:她的大部分内阁部长都是受公立学校教育影响的英国男性,对于这样一位女领导并未表现粗鲁,甚至有时他们这种无意识能够帮到她解决棘手难题。

1 scroll   

n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡

参考例句：

• As I opened the scroll,a panorama of the Yellow River unfolded.我打开卷轴时，黄河的景象展现在眼前。
• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements.他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 humility   

n.谦逊，谦恭

参考例句：

• Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多。
• His voice was still soft and filled with specious humility.他的声音还是那么温和，甚至有点谦卑。

4 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

5 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

6 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

7 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

8 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

9 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。