纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 055唐代墓葬俑(4)

Liu's obituary¹ tablet is a model of colourful self-praise, and he aims a great deal higher than Anthony Howard's "man of unusual charm". He tells us that his behaviour set a standard which was destined² to cause a revolution in popular manners. In public life he was an exemplar of, "benevolence³, justice, statesmanship, modesty⁴, loyalty⁵, truthfulness⁶ and deference⁷", and his military skills were compared to the fabled⁸ heroes of the past. In one great feat⁹, we're assured, he beat off invading troops "as a man brushes flies from his nose". It's great stuff!

刘廷荀的墓志是狂热的自我褒扬的典范，其定位显然高过安东尼提到的“他是一个极具魅力的人' 他声称自己行为世范，必将彻底改变百姓的举止礼仪。在朝为官时，他“仁、义、贤.耻、忠、信、礼”。他的军事才能可与传说中的英雄媲美。在一次战役中，他轻松击退入侵的敌军，“如拂蝇于鼻”。

Liu Tingxun pursued his illustrious, if turbulent, career in the high days of the Tang Dynasty, which ran from 618 to 906 AD. The famous Silk Road was in full swing. The Tang era represents for many Chinese a "golden age" of achievement, both at home and abroad. This great outward-looking empire, along with the Abbasid Islamic Empire in the Middle East, together created what was effectively a huge single market for luxury goods, that ran from Morocco to Japan. You won't find it written in many European histories, but these two giants, in effect, shaped and dominated the early medieval world. Western Europe, by contrast, when Liu Tingxun died in 728 and our tomb figures were created, was a remote and underdeveloped backwater, an unstable¹⁰ patchwork¹¹ of small kingdoms and precarious¹² urban communities. The Tang ruled a unified¹³ state that stretched from Korea in the north, to Vietnam in the south, and far west along the Silk Road into Central Asia. The power and the structure of this state-along with its enormous cultural confidence-are vividly¹⁴ embodied¹⁵ in Liu Tingxun's ceramic¹⁶ tomb figures.

唐朝的统治自618年起至906年止，刘廷荀显赭而起伏不定的仕途正处于此朝的鼎盛时期。对中国人而言，无论内政还是外交，唐朝都是成就斐然的黄金时代。当时，这个扩张中的伟大帝国，与中东阿拔斯王朝的伊斯兰帝国一起，卓有成效地建立了西起摩洛哥东及日本的庞大的奢侈品专营市场。虽然在欧洲史文献上很难看到相关记述，但这两大帝国一度统治并塑造了中世纪早期的世界。在刘廷苟去世、墓葬俑完工的728年，西欧还是由许多小国与城邦拼凑在一起、政局混乱、岌岌可危的落后之地。而唐朝作为一个统一的国家，趣域北至朝鲜，南抵越南，向西循丝绸之路一直延伸到中亚。这个国家的结构.实力以及对自身文化的极度自倍都在刘廷苟的陶瓷某葬诵上得到了生动体现。

1 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

2 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。

3 benevolence   

n.慈悲，捐助

参考例句：

• We definitely do not apply a policy of benevolence to the reactionaries.我们对反动派决不施仁政。
• He did it out of pure benevolence. 他做那件事完全出于善意。

4 modesty   

n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素

参考例句：

• Industry and modesty are the chief factors of his success.勤奋和谦虚是他成功的主要因素。
• As conceit makes one lag behind,so modesty helps one make progress.骄傲使人落后，谦虚使人进步。

5 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

6 truthfulness   

n. 符合实际

参考例句：

• Among her many virtues are loyalty, courage, and truthfulness. 她有许多的美德，如忠诚、勇敢和诚实。
• I fired a hundred questions concerning the truthfulness of his statement. 我对他发言的真实性提出一连串质问。

7 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

8 fabled   

adj.寓言中的，虚构的

参考例句：

• For the first week he never actually saw the fabled Jack. 第一周他实际上从没见到传说中的杰克。
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddness of love, is fabled to have been born of the foam of the sea. 希腊爱神阿美罗狄蒂据说是诞生于海浪泡沫之中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

10 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

11 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

12 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

13 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

14 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

15 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。