纪录片《文明》 第124期 艺术的胜利（1）

Heavenly vaults¹ but made by the earthly hand of man.

凡人之手建造的神之穹顶

The imagined form of the universe.

是人们想象中宇宙的样子

A circle.

圆

No beginning, no end, just wheeling eternity².

无始也无终 周而复始地旋转着

Domes³ had appeared in antiquity⁴

穹顶自古代与中世纪时

and the medieval centuries

便已出现

but never with such compulsive grandeur⁵.

但从未如此宏伟 摄人心魄

In the 15th and 16th centuries,

十五与十六世纪时

domes appeared everywhere,

穹顶在各地拔地而起

constellations⁶ of them.

多如繁星

They were all the work of mortal men,

它们都是凡人的杰作

but by the lights of philosophers,

追随着哲人的启示

the infinite capacity of man's mind,

加上人类无限的想象力

made him a mortal God, king of the lower beings.

使他成为了尘世中的神 凡人的王

Artists and architects, East and West,

东西方的艺术家们与建筑家们

now began to be spoken of as touched by a divine gift.

开始宣称他们是受到神灵的指点

From domes they built from Rome to Lahore,

从罗马到拉合尔的穹顶

were the crowning achievement

都是这一美妙时期的

of this moment of supreme⁷,

辉煌成果

almost sacrilegious, creative confidence.

彰显着近乎逆天 却又创造力无穷的自信

So, why do we treat those blossomings

所以为何我们像是对待另一星球的文明般

as though they were happening

看待这些如花朵般

on different cultural planets?

遍布各地的穹顶呢

Well, I think you will know the answer to that one.

你应该知道这个问题的答案

It's that word "Renaissance⁸", isn't it?

是"文艺复兴" 对吗

Invariably attached to the word Italian

它总不可避免地和其发源地

by those who coined it.

意大利联系起来

Oh, I know, every so often it's extended

我知道文艺复兴波及甚广

north and west to France and Germany,

北至德国 西至法国

and even, as far as literature was concerned,

凡是有文学的地方都深受其影响

to the very shores of Albion.

包括英国的每个角落

But if we want to feel the pulse of

但若是想深切感受

one of those great moments,

文艺复兴那个美妙的时期

the surge of inventiveness,

那一人类极具创造力

when civilisation⁹ bounded forward,

并大幅推动文明前进的时期

we need to look much further than that.

我们还需将眼光放远

We need to look East.

我们需要去东方看看

The great flowering we call the Renaissance

文艺复兴的硕果很大程度上

owed much to Arab scholars

归功于阿拉伯学者们

who recovered the lost classics of antiquity,

他们复原了失传的古代科学

of science, mathematics, and philosophy.

数学和哲学经典

Through the centuries that followed,

之后的几个世纪内

the outpouring of creativity

创造力的迸发

would flow both ways

使得东方伊斯兰教

1 vaults   

n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴

参考例句：

• It was deposited in the vaults of a bank. 它存在一家银行的保险库里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

3 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

4 antiquity   

n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹

参考例句：

• The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
• There are many legends about the heroes of antiquity.有许多关于古代英雄的传说。

5 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

6 constellations   

n.星座( constellation的名词复数 )；一群杰出人物；一系列（相关的想法、事物）；一群（相关的人）

参考例句：

• The map of the heavens showed all the northern constellations. 这份天体图标明了北半部所有的星座。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His time was coming, he would move in the constellations of power. 他时来运转，要进入权力中心了。 来自教父部分

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

9 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。