纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 061刘易斯棋子（8）

 

And perhaps these queens had something to be glum¹ about. In medieval chess, the queen doesn't actually have much power, she can move only one diagonal space at a time. Her modern sister, on the other hand, is the most powerful person on the board. In the world of chess, feminism came early.

But apart from the queen, surprisingly little has actually changed in chess since medieval times, least of all the formidable mathematics of the possible moves. And this sedentary, cerebral² game has always aroused passionate³ emotion. The writer Martin Amis has long been fascinated by both aspects:

"The maths of chess is very interesting in that after four moves, each of the possibilities are already in the billions. It is the supreme⁴ board game. All I can say of my achievements on the board is I'm not a complete mug, but very occasionally you do glimpse a combination, that a great player would be seeing all the time. And suddenly the board looks tremendously rich, it seems to bristle⁵ with possibilities. And combative⁶ will is what you see in all the great players. They've all got the killer⁷ instinct."

也许她们确实有忧郁的理由。在中世纪，国际象棋中王后的作用不大，一次只能斜着走一格，无法与现代国际象棋中的王后所占据的最重要的位置相比。除了王后之外，别的棋子都没有大变化，尤其是就各种走法的缜密推算而言。这项活动虽然需要久坐，也耗费脑力，但总能激起人们的热情。这两方面都吸引着作家马丁·埃米斯：

国际象棋的推算十分有趣，各走四步之后便出现了数十亿种可能性。它是顶级的棋类游戏。在极偶然的情况下，你才得以一窥优秀棋手一直了然于胸的布局；棋盘会在眨眼间变得无限丰富，充满了各种可能性。所有伟大的棋手都十分好战，并拥有杀手的直觉。

 

1 glum   

adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• He was a charming mixture of glum and glee.他是一个很有魅力的人，时而忧伤时而欢笑。
• She laughed at his glum face.她嘲笑他闷闷不乐的脸。

2 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

3 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

6 combative   

adj.好战的；好斗的

参考例句：

• Mr. Obama has recently adopted a more combative tone.奥巴马总统近来采取了一种更有战斗性的语调。
• She believes that women are at least as combative as are.她相信女性至少和男性一样好斗。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。