世界小史 第85期:雕像

 When you look at the works of Greek artists, and see how fresh and simple and beautiful they are,

看希腊艺术家的作品时，你会发现它们是多么清新、简单和美好，

it is as if their creators were seeing the world for the first time.

仿佛它们的创作者初次见过世间事物。

We spoke¹ of the statues of Olympic champions earlier.

我们先前谈过奥林匹克优胜者雕像。

They show fine human beings, not posed, but looking as if the position they are shown in is the most natural one in the world.

雕像展现了优美的人，没有任何做作姿态，仿佛它们表现的是世间最自然的事物。

And it is because they seem so natural that they are so beautiful.

因为它们是如此的自然，以致它们非常美丽。

The Greeks portrayed² their gods with the same beauty and humanity.

希腊人用这同样的美和人性塑造了他们的神。

The most famous sculptor³ of such statues was Phidias.

最著名的神雕塑家叫菲狄亚斯。

He did not create mysterious and supernatural images, like the colossal⁴ statues in Egyptian temples.

他不创造像埃及巨型神庙雕像那样地充满神秘感和超自然的塑像。

Although some of his temple statues were large and splendid and made of precious materials like ivory and gold,

尽管他创作的一些神庙像虽然也大而豪华，用珍贵的象牙和黄金作材料，

their beauty was never insipid⁵, and they had a noble and natural grace which must have inspired confidence in the gods they represented,

但它们的美从来不是没有吸引力的，它们有一种十分高贵和自然的优雅，这种优雅致使人们不由得不信仰这些神像。

and the same can be said for Athenian paintings and buildings.

雅典人的油画和建筑物也跟他们的雕像一样。

But nothing remains⁶ of the pictures they painted on the walls of their halls and assembly rooms.

但是那些他们绘在墙上用来装饰他们的大厅和会议室的画却一幅也没有被保存下来。

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

4 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

5 insipid   

adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的

参考例句：

• The food was rather insipid and needed gingering up.这食物缺少味道，需要加点作料。
• She said she was a good cook,but the food she cooked is insipid.她说她是个好厨师，但她做的食物却是无味道的。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。