美国国家公共电台 NPR In England, An Effort To Preserve Ancient, Epic Assyrian Poetry

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: 

Now a story about some of the oldest stories in the world and the people who tell versions of them today. The Assyrian Empire dominated the Middle East thousands of years ago. Millions of Assyrians are alive today trace their roots back to that time. It's become hard for them to hang on to their traditions. War and turmoil¹ in countries like Iraq threaten their heritage. NPR's Alice Fordham met an Assyrian man in Britain who's trying to save the stories and the culture.

ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE²: When I meet Nineb Lamassu at Cambridge University where he's a researcher, it's a very English tranquil³ summer day, but he transports us to his Middle Eastern homeland as he plays me something from the archive of his research.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in foreign language).

FORDHAM: This is traditional poetry of the Assyrian ethnic⁴ minority, and the story of Lamassu's whose love for it begins when he was a little boy living in Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

NINEB LAMASSU: Kirkuk is actually - was an example of coexistence and a beautiful example of the Iraqi multi-ethnic multi-religious mosaic⁵.

FORDHAM: But in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, it could be dangerous to be from a minority or politically active. His father was both, and so they ran away to Iran to a refugee camp with other Syrians. Most were from remote areas and they kept kids entertained the old fashioned way with long poems. There was one particular guy, Lamassu says he was just amazing.

LAMASSU: So we - as kids, we would go around the tents, try to find his flip-flops outside the tent. And we would know that he is in this particular tent tonight and, you know, performing his stories and, you know, doing his art. And we would beg to be allowed in so we could hear him.

FORDHAM: It affected⁶ him the rest of his life.

LAMASSU: In a cold winter night in a refugee camp, freezing - literally⁷ freezing in a tent, but kept warm by the animated⁸ performance.

FORDHAM: When he grew up, Lamassu became an academic researcher and traveled among the Assyrian diaspora recording⁹ the epics¹¹ as told by men he calls bards¹³...

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in foreign language).

FORDHAM: ...Including the storyteller from the refugee camp. Lamassu tracked him down living in New Zealand.

LAMASSU: It almost felt I was back in the refugee camp right in that tent on that cold winter night with him, he had not changed.

FORDHAM: Lamassu tells me there's a bard¹² living nearby in London, so of course I want to meet him. It feels a little odd to be looking for an Assyrian bard to sing me an ancient poem in a busy suburb of London where most people are actually originally from India, but inside a totally ordinary gray-terraced house, there he is.

KHOSHABA JABER: My name is Khoshaba Jaber.

FORDHAM: Khoshaba Jaber.

Khoshaba Jaber was also born in northern Iraq in 1952 in a little village, and his dad used to sing him the epic¹⁰ poems.

JABER: You remember when you are child, your father or one old man in the village coming to tell you stories or legend. And we when he was singing, you hear him. And when you hear him, you - it becoming in your memories.

FORDHAM: But when he was just 8, his father was killed in a tribal¹⁴ dispute. After that, it fell to the little boy to sing the poems.

JABER: It is beginning like that (singing in foreign language).

FORDHAM: I'm going to tell you a little about the story because it's wild, and contained within this contemporary poem are echoes of ancient stories from Greek myths to Assyrian epics to the Bible. The hero of the tale is named Qatinu, he's the product of virgin¹⁵ birth - just like Jesus. He becomes a shepherd and goes to a magical garden to take on a female monster who's been terrorizing people.

JABER: He went to that monster - big monster woman - monster to the garden. And when he went there, and he went in that tree - was big tree - and he was hiding himself.

FORDHAM: His story continues - Qatinu defeats the monster and then goes on a quest for a plant that grants eternal youth, a theme that also crops up in the ancient epic of Gilgamesh.

JABER: He know which stone - is which cliff is that one.

FORDHAM: After about an hour, the story ends with another echo of the Bible - Qatinu dead in a cave with a stone in front and a prophecy of resurrection.

JABER: And the sun will be opened and come in Qatinu, and he will free us from the enemies, but he's still there (laughter).

FORDHAM: Bravo, bravo. (Clapping). It's elements like these that are tantalizing¹⁶ to researchers like Lamassu because they raise questions of how far back these tales go, whether they're even versions of a precursor¹⁷ of some of the ancient texts. And there's another factor that makes Lamassu's work valuable right now. In Iraq, ISIS has destroyed a number of ancient Assyrian sites, calling them idolatrous. He was speaking at a conference recently and the man introducing him...

LAMASSU: He showed ISIS destroying the ancient Assyrian monuments and heritage. And he said, if we cannot keep them and preserve them, maybe we can preserve our other heritage that they cannot destroy.

FORDHAM: And that's what Lamassu is trying to do with the poems, trying to capture at least the memory of an ancient people whose presence in their homeland is gradually fading away. Alice Fordham, NPR News, London.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALABAMA SHAKES SONG, "DON'T WANNA FIGHT")

1 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 tranquil   

adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的

参考例句：

• The boy disturbed the tranquil surface of the pond with a stick. 那男孩用棍子打破了平静的池面。
• The tranquil beauty of the village scenery is unique. 这乡村景色的宁静是绝无仅有的。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

9 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

10 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

11 epics   

n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍）

参考例句：

• one of the great Hindu epics 伟大的印度教史诗之一
• Homer Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are epics. 荷马的《伊利亚特》和弥尔顿的《失乐园》是史诗。 来自互联网

12 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

13 bards   

n.诗人( bard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were feasts and drinking and singing by the bards. 他们欢宴狂饮，还有吟游诗人的歌唱作伴助兴。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• Round many western islands have I been Which Bards in fealty to Apollo hold. 还有多少西方的海岛，歌都已使它们向阿波罗臣服。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

14 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

15 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

16 tantalizing   

adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This was my first tantalizing glimpse of the islands. 这是我第一眼看见的这些岛屿的动人美景。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have only vague and tantalizing glimpses of his power. 我们只能隐隐约约地领略他的威力，的确有一种可望不可及的感觉。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

17 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。