2021年经济学人 勤劳的革命者——地壳构造板块（1）

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Industrious¹ revolutionaries - Tectonic plates

勤劳的革命者——地壳构造板块

The Radical² Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation³ of Britain. By Tristram Hunt.

《激进的波特：乔赛亚·韦奇伍德与英国的转型》，作者：崔斯特瑞姆·亨特。

One half of the world, wrote Jane Austen, cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

世界上一半的人无法理解另一半人的快乐，简·奥斯汀写道。

That may be especially true when the other half is inexplicably⁴ devoted⁵ to pottery⁶.

当另一半人莫名其妙地专注于陶器时，这句话可能尤其正确。

Yet many people, including Austen herself, used to enjoy pottery enormously.

然而，许多人，包括奥斯汀本人，过去都非常喜欢陶器。

Vases, ewers⁷ and urns⁸; statues, busts⁹ and bas-reliefs; cameos and intaglios — the drawing rooms of 18th-century England were filled with fiddly little thises and charming little thats, with jasperware trinkets and basalt-ware baubles¹⁰.

花瓶、水罐和骨灰盒；雕像、半身像和浅浮雕；浮雕宝石和凹雕玉石——18世纪英国的客厅里摆满了精巧又迷人的小东西，还有碧玉器皿和玄武陶这些小玩意儿。

And those made by Josiah Wedgwood were particularly coveted¹¹.

而那些由约西亚·韦奇伍德做出的东西尤其令人垂涎。

Wedgwood wanted to “astonish the world... for I hate piddling”.

韦奇伍德想要“震惊世界……因为我讨厌小打小闹”。

And for a time his pottery did.

有一段时间，他的陶器做到了。

Austen admired it; Edward Gibbon collected it; Empress Catherine II of Russia ordered a job lot of it.

奥斯汀赞美它；爱德华·吉本收藏它；俄国女皇凯瑟琳二世也订购了许多。

Then, suddenly, it fell out of fashion, coming to be seen as piddling, not astonishing.

然后，突然间，它不再流行，并且被认为是无关紧要的，而不是什么令人震撼的东西。

Wedgwood’s own grandson, Charles Darwin, evinced an “insensibility to Wedgwood ware”.

韦奇伍德自己的孙子查尔斯·达尔文“对韦奇伍德陶器不感兴趣”。

When the author J.B. Priestley set out on a round-England trip in the 1930s, he sniffed¹² at the Wedgwood factory in Stoke-on-Trent: so industrial, he considered, and so soulless.

20世纪30年代，当作家J.B.普里斯特利启程环游英国时，他对特伦特河畔斯托克的韦奇伍德工厂嗤之以鼻：如此工业化，他认为，如此没有灵魂。

Today, Wedgwood is cherished by the very elderly and the very ironic¹³; an ancient aunt or an east London hipster are likeliest to wear a cameo brooch now.

今天，韦奇伍德受到年长者和极具讽刺意味者的珍爱；老妇或东伦敦的潮人如今是最有可能佩戴浮雕胸针的人。

So though it might not seem odd that Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has written a biography of Wedgwood (the V&A has lots of his stuff), its title may be a surprise.

因此，尽管维多利亚与阿尔伯特博物馆馆长特利斯特拉姆·亨特为韦奇伍德写了一本传记(该博物馆中收藏了许多他的作品)，这似乎并不奇怪，但这本书的名字可能会让人大吃一惊。

“The Radical Potter”: fancy pottery today feels about as radical as a doily.

“激进的陶工”：喜欢陶器在今天给人的感觉就像喜欢装饰桌巾一样激进。

That only proves Mr Hunt’s case.

这恰恰证明了亨特先生的观点。

The most remarkable¹⁴ revolutions change the world so completely that no one remarks on them any more.

最伟大的革命如此彻底地改变了世界，以至于没有人再对它们评头论足。

And, in a way, Wedgwood did change the world.

在某种程度上，韦奇伍德确实改变了世界。

When he started out in the 1740s, pottery was such a small-scale, rackety industry that some potters got the clay they needed by digging it out of holes in the road — “potholes”.

当他在18世纪40年代开始做陶器时，制陶业还是一个规模很小、非常混乱的行业，以至于一些制陶工人在路上打洞(即“坑洞”)挖出他们需要的粘土。

1 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

4 inexplicably   

adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是

参考例句：

• Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

7 ewers   

n.大口水壶，水罐( ewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• White ceramicware asas green-splashed bowls and ewers are known to have been popular in Iran. 白色陶瓷制品以及绿花的碗与大口水壶已经在伊朗流行是众所周知的事。 来自互联网

8 urns   

n.壶( urn的名词复数 )；瓮；缸；骨灰瓮

参考例句：

• Wine utensils unearthed include jars, urns, pots, bowls and cups. 发掘出的酒器皿有瓶、瓮、罐、壶、碗和杯子。 来自互联网
• Ernie yearned to learn to turn urns. 呕尼渴望学会转咖啡壶。 来自互联网

9 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。

10 baubles   

n.小玩意( bauble的名词复数 )；华而不实的小件装饰品；无价值的东西；丑角的手杖

参考例句：

• The clothing category also includes jewelry and similar baubles. 服饰大类也包括珠宝与类似的小玩意。 来自互联网
• The shop sells baubles as well. 这家商店也销售廉价珠宝。 来自互联网

11 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

14 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。