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（5）

There's something disturbingly familiar about this kind of image-it looks to us indeed a bit like a contemporary political cartoon, and so we showed it to the political cartoonist, Steve Bell, to ask him what he made of it:

类似这样的场面熟悉得令人不安，看上去几乎有点像是现代的政治卡通。于是，我们把这标签拿给政治漫画家史蒂夫·贝尔看，问问他的想法：

"Well, looking at this tiny object now, it is a genuinely archetypal image of power-it's the exercise of power, it's somebody bossing it over somebody else. And this image of having a larger character dominating a smaller character is obviously not to do with physical size, it's to do with symbolic¹ size, symbolic weight, and that even carries on into the world of naturalistic political cartoons to this very day. I did it myself only yesterday. You find that characters you focus on often you draw bigger, just because that's where the meaning is. Here we are-one of the earliest political images of all time-it is quite something. There're no laughs there-but that comes later!"

“这小小的物品看起来，真的是一种权力的真正原型形象，代表权力的行使，一个人对别人的镇压。你看，这标签上是一个身形大得多的人在威吓一个身形较小的人，显然这并不是一种真实肉体上的体型差异，而是象征性的。这一点甚至当今政治漫画界仍然很自然运用着。我自己昨天才画过这种类型的。我们看到的是人类历史上最早的政治图像之一。这画面挺严肃的，没有什么笑点，不过那些都是后话了！”

The label-maker's job 'was' deadly serious-to keep his leader looking invincible² and semi-divine, and to show that Den³ was the only man who could guarantee what Egyptians, like everybody else, wanted from their rulers-law and order. Within the pharaoh's realm, everybody was expected to conform and to take on a clear Egyptian identity. The message of our sandal label is that the price of opposition⁴ was high and painful. And the message is carried not only in images but by writing-there are some early hieroglyphs⁵ scratched into the ivory.

标签制造的工作可是有“致命”的重要性，得确保把他的统治者描绘成无往不胜的半神，也得表现出国王德闻是唯一能为他的国家带来法律与秩序的人—古埃及人，像任何其他人一样，都希望他们的统洁者能做到这点。在法老的皇权下，人人都得遵从并体现出一种明确的埃及人身份特征。我们这枚凉鞋标签上传达出的信息是：强权镇压的代价是昂贵而痛苦的。这信息不仅仅通过画面表达出来，而且刻在牙牌上边的早期象形文字也说很清楚。

1 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

2 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

3 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。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 hieroglyphs   

n.象形字（如古埃及等所用的）( hieroglyph的名词复数 )；秘密的或另有含意的书写符号

参考例句：

• Hieroglyphs are carved into the walls of the temple. 寺庙的墙壁上刻着象形文字。 来自辞典例句
• This paper discusses the fundamental distinctions between the hieroglyphs andforerunner of writing. 英汉象形文字的比较是建立在象形文字具体内涵的基础上。 来自互联网