纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 053洛泰尔一世水晶雕刻（2）

I'm with the Susannah Crystal now. It's a flat disc about four and a half inches (11 cm) in diameter, and carved into it is a Biblical story in eight separate scenes, so if you think of a crystal cartoon, you're pretty close to what we're looking at.

它也被称为苏撒拿水晶，它呈扁平圆盘状，直径约11厘米,上面共雕刻了八幅图画，连成一个《圣经》故事（也有些教派认为是伪经)，像一组水晶连环画。

We are in Babylon, where the beautiful, young Susannah is the wife of a rich merchant. While she is bathing in her husband's orchard¹, two older men intrude² and try to bully³ her into having sex with them. She calls her servants for help, and the furious elders falsely claim that they saw her in the act of adultery. We then see Susannah being led away to almost certain death by stoning, but at that point the brilliant young prophet Daniel intervenes, and challenges the evidence for her conviction. Separating the elders, Daniel asks each of them one searching question, in a classic courtroom drama: under what kind of tree did they see Susannah having sex? The men give conflicting answers, their story is exposed as fabricated, and it is they who are stoned to death, for perjury⁴. In the final scene Susannah is declared innocent and gives thanks to God. We asked Lord Bingham, formerly⁵ Britain's most senior judge, to give us a lawyer's take on the story.

这个故事发生在巴比伦：年轻美丽的苏撒拿是富商的妻子，一天，她在丈夫的果园中沐浴，两个士师闯了进来，想要非礼她。她大声呼叫仆从，两个士师老羞成怒，反而诬告她与人通奸。我们可以看到画面上苏撒拿被带走，并将遭到被石头砸死的惩罚。这时，年轻睿智的先知但以理插手干涉，质疑罪证。他把两个士师隔离开，分别向两人提出了法庭上的经典质问：你们看到苏撒拿在什么树下与人通奸？两人的说法相矛盾，证明罪证是捏造的。最终他们因作伪证被判用石头砸死。最后一幕中，苏撒拿被宣布无罪，她感谢上帝的保佑。我曾请英国前首席大法官兼上议院高级法官宾厄姆勋爵从律师的角度分析这个故事。

1 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

2 intrude   

vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰

参考例句：

• I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
• I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。

3 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

4 perjury   

n.伪证；伪证罪

参考例句：

• You'll be punished if you procure the witness to commit perjury.如果你诱使证人作伪证，你要受罚的。
• She appeared in court on a perjury charge.她因被指控做了伪证而出庭受审。

5 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。