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（2）（在线收听）

"It's a fine image of bashing-so it's violent, it's elegant, expressive, and it's beautiful as well."

“这威摄力的绝妙写照—充满了暴力、典雅、表现力以及美感。”史蒂夫贝尔说道。

Today's object shows us that in the Egypt of the pharaohs, the answer to the question of how to exert leadership and state control over a large population was quite simple: force.

今天的物品向我们展示了对于古埃及的法老而言，如何发挥领导力与领导一个人口众多的国家呢？最简单的答案就是：权力。

If you're going to talk about the Egypt of the pharaohs, the British Museum gives you a spectacular choice-monumental sculptures, painted mummy cases, and much much more but, as we're talking about a society that was created by its river, I've chosen an object that came quite literally from the mud of the Nile.

如果你想谈谈关于埃及的法老，大英博物馆提供了极为壮观的选择：不朽的雕塑、彩绘木乃伊棺椁等等，种类繁多，不可胜数；然而我们想要谈论的是一个河流哺育起来的国度，我现在选择的这物品，毫不夸张地说，正是来自尼罗河的泥桨。

It's made from a tusk of a hippo, and it belonged to one of Egypt's first pharaohs-King Den. Perversely for an object that's going to let us explore power on a massive scale, it is absolutely tiny.

它由河马的獠牙制成，属于埃及法老之一的国王德闻所有。反差强烈的是，将要带领我们探索强大权力，却是一件微不起眼的小物品。

I'm holding it now. It's about one and a half inches square, it's very thin and it looks and feels a bit like a modern-day business card. But, in fact, it's a label-a label that was once attached to a pair of shoes; not any old shoes-these were sandals of the highest status, because this little ivory plaque is a name tag for an Egyptian pharaoh, made to accompany him as he set off to the afterlife.

我现在就拿在手心里。它大约有一英寸半，正方形，非常的薄，外观和感觉有点像是现代名片。但事实上它是一件标签，附在一双鞋上的标签；不过可不是随随便便的一双烂鞋，而是一双最高地位人穿的凉鞋，因为这张小小的牙牌是一位古埃及法老的名片，制造出来以供他来世使用。