VOA慢速英语2019 植物学家仍在用绘图记录植物的语言（在线收听）

Botanical Artists Still Document the Word of Plants with Pictures

Artists who make pictures of plants are known as botanical illustrators. Today, some may see such a job as something people only did hundreds of years ago.

给植物绘图的艺术家被称为植物插图画家。 

Today, some may see such a job as something people only did hundreds of years ago.

现在，有些人认为只有几百年之前的人才会这么做。 

But people who make detailed drawings and watercolor paintings of garden plants are still at work today.

但是今天，仍然有人在为园林植物制作详细绘图和水彩画。 

And, art experts say there is nothing old-fashioned about botanical illustrations.

而且，艺术专家说，植物插图没有什么过时的。 

“There’s a great admiration now for realistic drawings and observing nature,” says Femke Speelberg.

菲克·斯佩尔伯格说：“很多人都追求逼真的素描和对自然的观察。” 

She is with the department of drawings and prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

她在纽约大都会艺术博物馆的绘画及印刷品馆部工作。 

Helen Bynum and her husband put together the book “Botanical Sketchbooks.”

海伦·拜纳姆和她的丈夫整理了《植物手绘艺术》一书。 

It was published in 2017.

该书于2017年出版。 

She said that as the Earth loses biodiversity, botanical drawing is an important way to examine and document plants that might disappear.

她说，随着地球生物多样性的丧失，植物绘图是检查和记录可能消失的植物的重要方式。 

Botanical drawing dates back to at least ancient Egypt.

植物绘图至少可以追溯到古埃及， 

It was especially developed in Europe during the Middle Ages,

在中世纪欧洲达到鼎盛时期。 

when plants were often used for medicinal purposes and people needed to be able to tell safe plants from poisonous ones.

当时人们通常将植物用于药用，并且需要能够分辨出植物是否有毒性。 

A lot of plant families contain both.

许多植物家族都含有药用和有毒植物。 

For example, the nightshade family of plants includes Belladonna, a poisonous plant, but also plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

例如，茄科植物包括颠茄，一种有毒植物，还包括番茄、胡椒和茄子等植物。 

Explorers often brought a botanical artist with them to record the plants they found.

探险家经常带一名植物学家来记录发现的植物。 

Such artists were also popular during “Tulip Mania” in 17th-century Holland.

这类艺术家在17世纪荷兰的“郁金香狂热”中也很受欢迎。 

That was a time when rare bulbs of tulip plants sold for huge amounts of money.

那个时候，郁金香的球根特别有市场。 

Collectors and breeders needed the artists to record each flower’s appearance.

收藏家和园艺家需要艺术家记录每朵花的外观。 

Bynum said there are many interesting stories behind botanical drawings.

拜纳姆说，植物绘图背后有许多有趣的故事。 

“What I learned doing this book is that you don’t have to be a great artist to get things down on paper in a way that can communicate to other people,” she said.

她说：“在写这本书的过程中，我了解到，其实不必成为一个伟大的艺术家也可以用写书的方式跟他人交流。”

Robin Jess leads the Botanical Art and Illustration program at the New York Botanical Garden.

罗宾·杰斯是纽约植物园的植物艺术和插图计划的负责人。 

It is the oldest program of its kind in the country.

这是美国同类活动中最古老的项目。 

She said students must take classes in plant structure “so they understand what it is exactly that they are drawing. It requires a strong basis in botany,” she said.

她说，学生必须上植物结构课，“这样他们才知道他们在画什么。植物绘图需要扎实的植物学基础。”

The New York Botanical Garden is also the headquarters of the American Society of Botanical Artists.

纽约植物园还是美国植物艺术家协会的总部。 

The society has about 1,800 members.

该协会约有1,800名成员。 

Jess said botanical artists share a desire to bring attention to plants as well as environmental concerns.

杰西说，植物学家们希望唤起人们对植物以及环境问题的关注。 

Before photography was invented, botanical illustrations were extremely important to the study of plants.

在发明摄影之前，植物绘图对于植物的研究极为重要。 

Even today, drawings can show things about plants that photographs cannot.

即使在今天，绘图仍可以显示出摄影所无法表现出来的东西。 

Jess said, a drawing “can show extra details of the fruit, for example, and what it looks like bisected.”

杰西说，一幅绘图“可以显示水果的其他细节。例如，一分为二的时候它是什么样子的。” 

Making botanical illustrations for a patron is alive and well, Jess noted.

杰西指出，为顾客制作植物绘图的市场还不错。 

A work called a florilegium is a documentation of all the plants growing in one garden.

一本名为《作品集锦》的书里记录了一个花园中生长的所有植物。 

Jess said such works are becoming more and more popular.

杰西说，这类作品越来越受欢迎。 

“From a florilegium of a small herb garden in Minneapolis [Minnesota] to a complete florilegium of Alcatraz, they’re really drawing a lot of attention,” Jess said.

杰西说：“从明尼阿波利斯（明尼苏达州）的一个小药草园里的植物到整个恶魔岛的植物，它们确实引起了很多关注。”

Alcatraz is a small but famous island off the coast of California that held a federal prison.

恶魔岛是加利福尼亚海岸外的一个小但有名的岛屿，因为岛上有一所旧时的联邦监狱。 

Prince Charles of Britain recently asked for a florilegium of one of his properties, she said.

她还说，英国的查尔斯王子最近要求在他名下的一所房子里种植紫罗兰。 

He invited top botanical artists from around the world to come to his property and paint.

他邀请了来自世界各地的顶级植物艺术家来他的住所，并且绘画。 

Jess praised the results as “just fabulous.”

杰西称赞绘制的画都“很棒”。 

Words in This Story

old-fashioned –adj. relating to the past or something no longer used

admiration –n. a feeling of respect or approval

biodiversity –n. the existence of many different kinds of plants and animals in an environment

engage –v. to get and keep someone’s interest

bisect –v. to cut in half

patron –n. a person who gives money and support to an artist or organization