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纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 061刘易斯棋子（4）

时间：2023-01-05 09:15:41

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（单词翻译）

 

They're much bigger than the figures that most of us play with today. The king, for instance, is about three inches (7.5 cm) high, and he comfortably fills a clenched1 fist. Most of them are carved out of walrus2 tusks3, there are a few that are made out of whales' teeth, and some of the pieces would originally have been coloured red, rather than the black that we're used to today - but all of them are now a pale creamy brown.

Let's begin with the pawns4. One of the puzzles of the Lewis Chessmen is that there are lots of major pieces and very few pawns. What we've got are pieces from a number of different incomplete sets - 78 pieces in all - but only 19 pawns among them. The pawns are the only pieces that aren't human; they're simply small ivory slabs5 that stand upright like gravestones. In medieval society, these are the peasants, brutally6 conscripted on to the battle-field. All societies tend to think of the people at the bottom of the heap as interchangeably identical, and the foot-soldiers here are shown with no individuality at all.

它们比现在常见的棋子略大。例如，国王高约八厘米，恰好能被握在掌心。大部分棋子用海象牙雕成，少数则是鲸齿材质。它们的颜色不是现在常见的黑色，其中有些一度被漆成红色，不过现在都褪成了奶油般的浅棕色。
我们先来看这些兵。刘易斯棋子留下的疑团之一，是这八十七个棋子中兵偏少，而大棋很多。这些棋子由残缺的几套拼凑而成，一共只有十九枚兵，它们也是唯一没有以人形表现的棋子，仅仅是一小块直立如墓碑的牙板。在中世纪欧洲，它们代表被粗暴地强征充军的农民。他们在所有的社会中都处于底层，在他人眼里没有身份，能够被随意替换，因而这里的步兵没有任何身份特征。
 

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1 clenched clenched     
v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
  • She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 walrus hMSzp     
n.海象
参考例句：
  • He is the queer old duck with the knee-length gaiters and walrus mustache.他穿着高及膝盖的皮护腿，留着海象般的八字胡，真是个古怪的老家伙。
  • He seemed hardly to notice the big walrus.他几乎没有注意到那只大海象。
3 tusks d5d7831c760a0f8d3440bcb966006e8c     
n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头
参考例句：
  • The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
  • Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）
4 pawns ce8a70b534dca7f188d5d4c44b4f7c50     
n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保
参考例句：
  • The hostages are being used as political pawns. 人质正被用作政治卒子。
  • The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 slabs df40a4b047507aa67c09fd288db230ac     
n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片
参考例句：
  • The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句
6 brutally jSRya     
adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地
参考例句：
  • The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
  • A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

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