纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 043沙普尔二世银盘(1)

Many of you will recognise the resounding¹ opening music of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey-Richard Strauss's symphonic poem,Thus Spake Zarathustra'-but these days most of us are pretty unsure about what Zarathustra actually did speak, or even who he was. Which is perhaps surprising, because Zarathustra, or, as he is more widely known, Zoroaster, was the founder² of one of the great religions of the world. For centuries, along with Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it was one of the four dominant³ faiths of the Middle East. It was the oldest of the four, the first of all the text-based religions, and it profoundly influenced the other three.

你们很多人都对电影《2001太空漫游》中被使用的这段开场音乐非常熟悉,这是出自理查德施特劳斯的交响诗《查拉图斯特拉如是说》，但极少有人知道查拉图斯特拉究竟说过什么，甚至不知道他到底是谁。这恐怕有点让人吃惊，因为他曾创立了世界上最伟大的宗教之一，并有一个更为人熟知的名字—琐罗亚斯特。数百年来，琐罗亚斯特教与天主教、基督教、伊斯兰教并列中东四大宗教，而且是其中最古老的，是第一个将教义用文字记录下来的宗教，对其余三大宗教有着极为深远的影响。

There are still significant Zoroastrian communities all over the world, especially in the religion's homeland, Iran. Indeed, the Islamic Republic today guarantees reserved seats in its parliament for Jews, Christians-and Zoroastrians. In the Iran of two thousand years ago, Zoroastrianism was the state religion of what was then the Middle Eastern superpower.

如今全世界仍有许多琐罗亚斯特教徒的社群，尤其是在它的发源地伊朗。事实上，今天的伊朗伊斯兰共和国仍保证在国会中为犹太教徒、基督徒与琐罗亚斯特教徒保留特别席位。而在2000年前，伊朗是中东地区的强国，祆教是其国教。

My object today is a dramatic visualisation of power and faith in that Iranian empire. It's a silver dish from the fourth century, and it shows the king apparently⁴ out hunting-but in fact, he's keeping the world safe from chaos⁵.

本文将要介绍的是一个来自公元4世纪的银盘，它略显夸张地表现出伊朗帝国的势力与信仰，盘上的国王狩猎图蕴含着国王维护世界稳定之意。

1 resounding   

adj. 响亮的

参考例句：

• The astronaut was welcomed with joyous,resounding acclaim. 人们欢声雷动地迎接那位宇航员。
• He hit the water with a resounding slap. 他啪的一声拍了一下水。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 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。