纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 040银色霍克森胡椒瓶(3)

This pepper pot would clearly have been owned by very wealthy people and it's obviously designed to amuse. Although the face is of silver, the eyes and the lips are picked out in gold, so that as the candles flickered¹ the eyes and the lips would have appeared to move. She would have been quite a talking point at Suffolk banquets - on a table laden² with nosh for the posh she is, without question, a bit of kitsch for the rich.

胡椒罐显然是富人所有，设计目的是为了增加生活乐趣。夫人的脸部由白银制成，眼睛和嘴唇却使用了黄金，如遇烛光闪烁，它们就如同会动一般。在萨福克的宴会上，它一定曾是话题焦点。

Britain had become part of the Roman Empire in the year 43, so by the time of our pepper pot it had been a Roman province for over three hundred years. Native Britons and Romans had intermingled and inter-married and in England everyone did as the Romans did. Here's Roman trade expert, Roberta Tomber:

公元43年，英格兰成为罗马帝国的一部分。因此到制作这个胡椒瓶的时期为止，英国已由罗马统治了三百余年。本地的不列颠人与罗马人混居、通婚，所有人都釆用了罗马的风俗习惯。罗马贸易专家罗伯 塔?汤伯描述道:

"When the Romans came to Britain they brought a lot of material culture, and a lot of habits, with them that made the people of Britain feel Roman, that they identified with the Roman culture. Wine was one of these, olive oil was another, and pepper would have been a more valuable one in this same sort of set of Romanitas."

罗马人来到不列颠时，带来了大量罗马的物品、文化以及社会习俗，让不列颠人感受并逐渐认同了罗马文化。葡萄酒和橄榄油都来自罗马，而胡椒是这个系列中更为珍贵的物品。

The Romans were seriously interested in food and slave chefs would man the kitchens to create great delicacies³. A high-end Roman menu could include dormice sprinkled with honey and poppy seeds, followed by a whole wild boar being suckled by piglets made of cake, inside which were placed live thrushes. To finish, quince apples and pork, disguised as fowls⁴ and fish.

罗马人十分重视饮食。掌管厨房的奴隶厨师长每天都要为他们准备大量佳肴。一份高级菜单应该包括：洒有蜂蜜与罂粟籽的睡鼠，身下围着用蛋糕做的吸奶小猪、腹内填满活鸫鸟的整头野猪，以及作为结束的榅桲、苹果和伪装成鱼类或禽类的猪肉。

1 flickered   

（通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lights flickered and went out. 灯光闪了闪就熄了。
• These lights flickered continuously like traffic lights which have gone mad. 这些灯象发狂的交通灯一样不停地闪动着。

2 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

3 delicacies   

n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到

参考例句：

• Its flesh has exceptional delicacies. 它的肉异常鲜美。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After these delicacies, the trappers were ready for their feast. 在享用了这些美食之后，狩猎者开始其大餐。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

4 fowls   

鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马

参考例句：

• A great number of water fowls dwell on the island. 许多水鸟在岛上栖息。
• We keep a few fowls and some goats. 我们养了几只鸡和一些山羊。