纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 058日本铜镜（3）

 

The mirror is circular, it's about the size of a saucer, and it sits comfortably in my hand. There isn't a handle, but it would have had a loop fixed¹ to it, so that you could hang it from a hook. But it's not a mirror as you or I would think of it - the modern, silver-backed reflecting mirror doesn't really come into the world until around the sixteenth century. Early mirrors like this bronze one were all made of metal, which was then so highly polished that you could literally² see your face in it.

Like so much else in Japanese culture, mirrors originally came to Japan from China. This week's programmes are focussed on how, around a thousand years ago, cultures across the world were trading goods and spreading new ideas and beliefs. Throughout the eighth and ninth centuries Japan had been an energetic participant in these exchanges, particularly with China. But lying right at the end of all the great Asian trade routes, and isolated³ by sea, Japan, unlike almost any other culture, was able to opt⁴ out of this interconnected world. It's an option Japan has exercised several times in its history, and it did it most strikingly in the year 894, when it stopped all official contact with China and effectively cut itself off from the rest of the world.

镜子呈圆形，普通杯托大小，抓握起来正合适。它不带把手，但曾经有个环，可以挂在钩子上。它并非镀银的玻璃镜，我们所熟悉的背面镀银的镜子要到十六世纪才亮相。早期的镜子如这面铜镜一样，通常是用金属制成的，经过仔细打磨之后，能照见脸庞。

与日本文化中的众多东西一样，镜子也是从中国传入的。大约一千年前，欧亚大陆上的各国都在热切地进行贸易往来，交流知识与信仰。在九世纪至十世纪，日?本也是其中的热心参与者，尤其是与中国。但由于其地处海岛，位于所有那些庞大贸易路线的尽头，日本有了独特之处：它能够选择退出这个紧密联结的世界。在历史上，日本曾多次实行锁国政策，最为著名的一次是在八九四年，它宣布中断与中国的一切正式往来，有效地将自己隔绝在整个世界之外。

 

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？