纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 050传丝公主画版（5）

Coming back to our painted plank¹, we can see that there is a fourth figure in the story - it's a man with four arms holding a silk weaver's comb and a shuttle. He is the god of silk, who presides over the whole scene, and gives spiritual sanction, ensuring that we see the princess not as an industrial thief but as a brave benefactress. And so the fairy-tale takes on the status of myth. The silk princess may not be quite on a par² with Prometheus stealing fire from the gods, but she is firmly in the tradition of great mythological³ gift-givers, bringing knowledge and skill to a particular people.

The written versions of our painted story tell us what happened next. The princess gave thanks to the gods, and ensured that Khotan would keep the secrets of silk forever:

"Then she founded this monastery⁴, on the spot where the first silkworms were bred; and there are about here many old mulberry tree trunks, that they say are the remains⁵ of the trees first planted. From old time till now, this kingdom has possessed⁶ silkworms, which nobody is allowed to kill."

And silk production is still a major industry in Khotan, employing more than a thousand workers and producing around 150 million metres of silk a year as cloth, clothes and carpets. Of course, we've actually got no idea how silk in fact came to Khotan, but we do know that ideas, stories, gods and silk all moved along the Silk Road in both directions. The cellist and composer Yo-Yo Ma has long been involved in Silk Road studies, looking at how, through the centuries, ideas of all sorts, and particularly music, have moved between the Pacific and the Mediterranean:

1 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

2 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

3 mythological   

adj.神话的

参考例句：

• He is remembered for his historical and mythological works. 他以其带有历史感和神话色彩的作品而著称。
• But even so, the cumulative process had for most Americans a deep, almost mythological significance. 不过即使如此，移民渐增的过程，对于大部分美国人，还是意味深长的，几乎有不可思议的影响。

4 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。