英语听力精选进阶版 10695（在线收听）

Good morning.17 years after it was created, and 16 years after it was first on public view, Tracey Emin’s bed has returned to Tate Britain where it went on display yesterday morning. Back in 1999, when it was nominated for the Turner Prize, the work became notorious. Viewers weren’t sure what to make of, or were even affronted by, the stained sheets of a crumpled bed, and on the floor by the bed, the detritus of a weekend of grief and depression following the breakup of a relationship - cigarette butts, an empty vodka bottle, discarded clothes and worse. It is not pretty – and the fact that the collector who has loaned the bed to the Tate paid ￡2.54 million pounds for it, will not, of course, weigh with the doubters.

早上好。创作17年，首次进入公众视野16年之后，翠西·艾敏的床昨天早上重返最初展览的奈特美术馆。回顾1999年，它被特纳奖提名时，该作品臭名昭著。观众们不确定这张床是怎样制作而成的，甚至还觉得受到冒犯——脏污褶皱摆放在地板上，展现着分手后周末的悲伤和抑郁——烟头，空的伏特加瓶子，随意丢弃的衣服，甚至更多不堪入目的东西。场景一点都不漂亮——然而，有位收藏家不顾质疑者的声音，出价254万美元将其买走。

What is clear is that for many this work strikes a chord. If Tracey Emin’s bed was a monument to the considerable pain and heartache of her failed relationship, others plainly recognise in it an icon for the sorrow and grief of other such breakdowns. Human life often begins in bed, where children are conceived and born, and it is the place where many of us hope our lives will end. But between these beginnings and endings, the bed – like human life itself - seems to be poised between joy and sadness. It is the place where we shed our clothes and in our nakedness are most vulnerable – and especially so when we invite others into this space. Certainly there is a potential for great joy, and even when relationships end, the endings are not necessarily as messy as Emin’s bed, but the potential for chaos and mess is certainly there.

很明显的是，对许多人来说，该作品触动了他们的心弦。如果翠西·艾敏的床是失恋后的痛苦和伤心的纪念，其他人仅仅认为这是分手后伤心和悲痛的标志。人类生命通常是从床上开始的，孩子就是在床上孕育和出生的，也是许多人希望生命终止的地方。但是在开始和终止之间，床——就像生命本身一样——似乎总是在快乐和伤悲之间保持平衡。这是我们脱去衣服赤身裸体的地方，也是我们最容易受伤害的地方——尤其是当我们邀请他们进入这个私人领域的时候。当然也有可能获得欢愉，甚至即使分手，结局也不一定像艾敏的床那么混乱，但是混乱的可能性却是存在的。

Many myths which tell of a Golden Age – such as the story of the Garden of Eden – imagine humankind going unclothed, as if in some previous glorious and innocent time we had nothing to hide or fear from one another. Of course the Book of Genesis only begins with innocence - Adam and Eve are very soon covering up. For about human relationships the Bible is neither dewy eyed nor romantic. You don’t get very far in the Book of Genesis before the dreamy beginning in Chapter 1 has given way to stories of fratricide, rape, incest, extortion, scheming and betrayal. If Genesis begins with a magnificent dream of what human relationships can be, it also provides, like Tracy Emin’s bed, a terrible nightmare of how unfortunately they often are.

许多讲述黄金时代的神话——比如伊甸园的故事——想像人类不穿衣服，就像以前一些辉煌而纯洁的时代，我们没有什么好隐藏的，也没有什么好恐惧的。当然，《创世纪》就是从纯洁开始的——不过亚当和夏娃很快就穿上衣服了。关于人类关系，《圣经》既不天真也不浪漫。在《创世纪》中，没用多久，第一章梦幻的开头就被杀害兄弟，强奸，乱伦，敲诈，诡计和背叛所取代。如果说《创世纪》以一个人类关系宏伟的梦想开始，它也提供了翠西·艾敏的床那样可怕的噩梦，提醒我们人类关系可能会多么不幸。

Tracey Emin makes her bed – or rather unmakes it - every time the work goes on display – and that sounds like a terrible cross to bear. Depicting our failed relationships, in all their grubby chaos, is not something most of us would relish doing just the once, let alone time and again. More to the point, Christianity counsels us against making enduring monuments to our griefs, grievances and sorrows – instead we are charged with finding a way to forgive others, and ourselves. Emin is clear however, that when she decided to make her abject bed into a work of art, she was walking away from it. So if the artist found making her bed cathartic and redemptive, I hope those who see it find it cathartic too.

翠西·艾敏每次展览作品的时候都会整理她的床，或者说破坏她的床，这听上去非常难以忍受。以所有的混乱不堪来描述我们失败的恋情，大部分人一次都没有尝试过，更不要说一次又一次了。更重要的一点，基督教义要求我们不要永远地纪念我们的悲伤和痛苦——相反，我们应该想办法宽恕他人，宽恕自己。然而，艾敏很清楚，当他决定把混乱不堪的床改变为艺术品时，她已经走出了失恋的痛苦。所以，如果这位艺术家认为把自己的床展览是一种宣泄和救赎，我希望看到这个作品的人也能够宣泄感情。