纪录片《文明》 第97期 画卷天堂（21）

And then I think of the date.

这时我想起了它的年代

This painting was done in 1670,

这幅画创作于1670年

and that was a moment of tension and nervousness

当时荷兰人在欧洲孤立无援

that the Dutch had about going it alone in Europe.

国内充满了紧张与不安

You think, correctly, that the great powers out there,

你会正当地认为那些列强

jealous of your prosperity in the world,

嫉妒你在全世界繁荣兴盛

are plotting against you,

对你居心叵测

England and France, as indeed they were.

英格兰和法国正是如此

And, two years after this painting was done,

这幅作品完成两年之后

the Dutch Republic was almost engulfed¹ by a pincer movement

荷兰共和国就几乎被这两个敌对国家的

between those two hostile states.

钳形攻势吞噬殆尽

And there's no doubt that that windmill,

毫无疑问 这座

with the light shining on it,

沐浴着阳光的风车

is a guardian² against peril³.

就是直面危险的卫士

The sails of the mill,

风车的帆叶

not accidentally, form the cross of the Redeemer.

有意组成了耶稣基督的十字架

There's a saviour⁴, and the saviour is the windmill.

救世主确实存在 而他就是这座风车

And that cross, just in case you're wondering,

如果你想知道 这个十字

is echoed visually by an opening in the sky,

在视觉上和天空中的一个洞相呼应

down which this gorgeous light falls,

通过这个洞射入一道美丽的光

the only warm bit in the painting,

是画中唯一一处暖色

and, if you're Dutch, you remember an old saying which says,

如果你是荷兰人 你一定知道这样一句谚语

"Just as a windmill needs the wind to move its sails,

就好像风车需要风来转动

"so man needs the breath of God to act."

人类需要上帝的气息来行动

The moral is never forget the word of God.

道德寓意永远不要忘记上帝之言

You have a covenant⁵ with God.

你和上帝有个神约

You are his modern, chosen people.

你是他现代的选民

Just remember that when you look at the mill.

当你看到这个风车时请记住这点

When nations feel threatened,

当国家受到威胁

or when they're actually torn apart,

或被分裂

the sense of God-protected homeland,

上帝保护领土的感觉

somehow sheltered from catastrophe⁶,

以某种方式从灾难中幸存

comes swimming into view.

跃然眼前

Civil wars, as we've seen over and again,

频繁发生的内战

are the nurseries of great landscape painting.

是伟大风景画的温床

What held for the tight-bounded Dutch Republic,

适用于紧凑的荷兰共和国的

looking heavenwards to its boundless⁷ skies,

这些望向无垠的天空

was magnified on a continental⁸ scale in the 1860s,

在十九世纪六十年代的一个大陆范围内

in the bitterly divided American republic.

在经历分裂苦难的美国中被放大

Though the American Civil War was in part a war about land

尽管某种程度上美国内战是为了争夺领土

and the right to extend slavery into new western territories,

和向西扩张领土推行奴隶制

1 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

3 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

4 saviour   

n.拯救者，救星

参考例句：

• I saw myself as the saviour of my country.我幻想自己为国家的救星。
• The people clearly saw her as their saviour.人们显然把她看成了救星。

5 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

6 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

7 boundless   

adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的

参考例句：

• The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep repose of nature.无边无际的森林在大自然静寂的怀抱中酣睡着。
• His gratitude and devotion to the Party was boundless.他对党无限感激、无限忠诚。

8 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。