纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 011古埃及法老德闻的凉鞋标签（4）

It's one of the earliest societies that we can think of as a state in the modern sense, and as one of its earliest leaders,

这个社会人类历史上具有真正现代意义的最早期国家之一，而作为这早期古埃及的法老王之一的国王德闻，

King Den¹ had to address all the problems of control and co-ordination that a modern state has to confront today.

也必须想办法如何去控制与调协整个王国，这些也是今天一个现代国家都会面对到的问题。

You might not expect to discover how he did it from the label on his shoes, but Den's sandals were no ordinary shoes,

你可能意料不到居然会在他鞋上的标签了解到他是如何做到统治他的王朝的，然而国王德闻的凉鞋可不是寻常之物，

they were very high status items-and the Keeper of the Sandals was one of the high court officials,

它们的地位也相当之高；其实掌管法老王的凉鞋当时也是一种宫殿高职官员，

so it's not so surprising that on the back of the label we have a clear statement of how this pharaoh exercised power.

因此我们现在看到的这枚牙牌标签背面居然如此清晰地描绘出法老如何行使权力的生动场面，事实上也不以为奇。

The model evolved in Den's Egypt five thousand years ago resonates uncannily around the world to this day.

国王德闻五千年前行使权力的模式，在如今全世界范围内看起来，仍旧是不可思议的熟悉。

On the other side from the sandals [in the museum] is their owner, dressed in a royal head-dress with a mace² in one hand and a whip in the other.

在这标签粘在凉鞋的背面，刻画了凉鞋的主人，戴着皇家头饰，一手持着狼牙棒，一手握着长鞭。

King Den stands in combat, authoritatively³ smiting⁴ an enemy who cowers⁵ at his feet.

国王德闻站在战场上，威风凛凛地鞭打着蜷缩在他脚下的敌人。

Of course the first thing we look for is his sandals but, disappointingly, he's barefoot.

当然，我们首先寻找的是他的凉鞋，但令人失望的是，他是赤着脚。

This little label is the first image in our series of a ruler-and it's striking that, right at the beginning,

这小小的标签刻画了我们这系列中的第一位统治者，令人惊奇的是从人类最早期社会，

the ruler wants to be shown as commander-in-chief, conquering his foe⁶. This is how, from earliest times, power has been projected through images.

统治者就希望作为军队的统帅，征服他的仇敌。这就是最早期权力是如何体现出来的。

1 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

2 mace   

n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮

参考例句：

• The sword and mace were favourite weapons for hand-to-hand fighting.剑和狼牙棒是肉搏战的最佳武器。
• She put some mace into the meat.她往肉里加了一些肉豆蔻干皮。

3 authoritatively   

命令式地，有权威地，可信地

参考例句：

• "If somebody'll come here and sit with him," he snapped authoritatively. “来个人到这儿陪他坐着。”他用发号施令的口吻说。
• To decide or settle(a dispute, for example) conclusively and authoritatively. 判定结论性、权威性地决定或解决（纠纷等）

4 smiting   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He set to smiting and overthrowing. 他马上就动手殴打和破坏。 来自辞典例句

5 cowers   

v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

6 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。