纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 053洛泰尔一世水晶雕刻（1）

053：EPISODE 53 - The Lothair Crystal 洛泰尔一世水晶雕刻

The Lothair Crystal, depicting¹ Susannah and the Elders (855 - 869 AD), probably from Germany

Royal divorces generally mean political trouble. The marital² problems of Henry VIII plunged³ England into decades of religious strife⁴ and, as we all know, when Edward VIII wanted to marry a divorced woman there was a constitutional crisis that cost him his throne. The object in this programme is associated with a king whose protracted⁵ attempts to divorce his queen were, on the contrary, intended to safeguard the kingdom. His failure to do so probably killed him and it certainly led to the termination not only of his line but of his kingdom as well. The object, an engraved⁶ rock crystal, tells us his name. Written in Latin, it reads: "Lothair, King of the Franks, caused me to be made".

王室成员的离婚通常会引发政治纷争。亨利八世的婚姻问题曾让英格兰数十年陷于宗教冲突I爱德华八世想迎娶一位离过婚的女士，导致宪制危机，并付出退位的代价。本节的这件物品也与一位国王的婚姻有关，他以延续王国为名处心积虑地想和妻子离婚，最终失败。这件事很可能最终要了他的命，他的血脉与王国也都因此终结。这件水晶雕刻上的拉丁文铭文中有他的名字：“奉法兰克国王洛泰尔之命制作。”

1 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

2 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

3 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

4 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

5 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》