纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 048莫希战士锅（2）

History has been kind to only some American cultures. The Aztecs and the Incas have an unshakable place in our collective imagination, but if I were to ask you where the Moche called home, you might be a little more hesitant. Experts in early American history are slowly coming to terms with civilisations that ran in parallel with, and were every bit as sophisticated as, their most advanced European counterparts, and the Moche are at the centre of that rethinking of the American past.

Around two thousand years ago, the Moche people built a society that was probably the first real state structure in the whole of South America. It developed in the narrow strip of almost desert land between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. It was a civilisation¹ that lasted over eight hundred years - from the rise of the Roman Empire around 200 BC to the Islamic expansions around 650 AD, and it's a history accessible to us now only through archaeology², as the Moche have left no writing. But what we do have from them is pots.

I'm in the Enlightenment Gallery at the British Museum, where we have an array of these South American pots on show. They're over 1,300 years old, and they're an extraordinary sight to look at, ranged on the shelves: a series of small sculptures about 9 inches (25cm) high, made out of clay, brown with cream painting on it, and they conjure³ up a whole world. There's a pair of owls⁴, there's a bat, there's a sea-lion eating a fish, there are priests and warriors⁵, and all of them sit like small sculptures, but with a looped handle and a spout⁶ because, as well as being statues, they're jugs⁷. What we have here in fact is a pottery⁸ representation of the Moche universe, and I want to choose one of these pots to take us further into that world of Peru 1,300 years ago.

1 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

2 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

3 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

4 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

5 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

6 spout   

v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱

参考例句：

• Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
• This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。

7 jugs   

（有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Two china jugs held steaming gravy. 两个瓷罐子装着热气腾腾的肉卤。
• Jugs-Big wall lingo for Jumars or any other type of ascenders. 大岩壁术语，祝玛式上升器或其它种类的上升器。

8 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。