VOA慢速英语2019 阿富汗修复炮火下的佛教文物（在线收听）

Afghan Museum Repairs Buddhist Art, One Broken Piece at a Time

Experts trying to restore Afghanistan’s Buddhist treasures say it is like working on a 1,500-year-old puzzle.

尝试修复阿富汗佛教藏品的专家们说，这就像是在解开一个有着1500年历史的谜团。

In 2001, the Taliban destroyed Buddhist artifacts, many of which were one thousand years old or more. The artifacts include two huge statues of Buddha in Bamyan province. Many smaller artifacts found at Buddhist religious centers and kept in the national museum of Kabul also faced destruction.

2001年，塔利班摧毁了佛教文物，其中许多文物有1000多年的历史。这些文物包括Bamyan省的两座巨大佛像。在佛教宗教中心发现的许多小型文物以及保存在喀布尔国家博物馆的文物也面临着破坏。

After the Taliban government fell in 2001, the museum began repairing the artifacts from the country’s Buddhist history. The U.S.-supported project will try to reassemble thousands of pieces into statues within the next three years.

2001年塔利班政府倒台后，这家博物馆开始修复该国佛教历史上的文物。这一由美国资助的项目将设法在未来三年内将数千件文物碎片组装、修复。

“It is very important (work) because it is actually restoration of our…identity, our past,” said Mohammad Fahim Rahimi. He is the director of the 100-year-old National Museum of Afghanistan.

“这是非常重要的（任务），因为它实际上是恢复我们的身份，复原我们的历史，”Mohammad Fahim Rahimi说道。他是这家拥有百年历史的阿富汗国家博物馆馆长。

“Buddhism was…here for more than 1,000 years. That’s a very large part of our history,” he added.

“这里的佛教历史长达1000多年。这是我们历史上非常重要的一部分，”他补充道。

But since the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, Afghanistan has had nearly 40 years of war and much of the country’s art, artifacts and architecture has been destroyed.

但是自从20世纪80年代苏联入侵以来，阿富汗经历了近40年的战争，而且该国的许多艺术、手工艺品和建筑都被摧毁了。

Militias stole other pieces and sold them to international collectors illegally.

民兵还窃取了其他一些文物，然后非法卖给国际收藏家。

Sixty-two-year-old conservator Sherazuddin Saifi was working in the museum under the Taliban in 2001.

62岁的管理员Sherazuddin Saifi 曾于2001年在塔利班控制下的博物馆工作。

“They wanted us to tell them the number of antiquities and we ignored their request, but some days later they came and started breaking the antiquities,” said Saifi. He still works at the museum.

他说：“他们想要知道文物的数量，我们没有理会这一要求。但是几天后，他们回来并开始破坏文物。”他仍然在博物馆工作。

“These antiquities are the national treasure and the history of our country and show who lived in this country,” he added.

他补充说：“这些文物是国家瑰宝以及历史的象征，展示了谁曾经生活在这个国家。”

In a classroom at the museum, Afghan conservators work alongside experts from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. U.S. assistance is important because Afghan conservators lack experience. They also lack the necessary chemicals and equipment needed for restoration work, Rahimi said.

在博物馆的一间教室里，阿富汗文物管理员与芝加哥大学东方研究所的专家一起工作。美国的援助很重要，因为阿富汗的管理员缺乏经验。Rahimi指出，他们也缺乏必要的化学品和设备来进行修复工作。

Sometimes they can work from old photos that show the statues as they were before the destruction. In other cases, 3-D imaging and imagination are required to reassemble pieces of Buddha faces, hands and torsos.

有时他们可以依靠旧照片观察雕像被破坏前的模样。在其他情况下，重新组装佛像面部、手和躯干需要三维成像技术和想象力。

A spokesman for the Taliban said the group has no plans to destroy national treasures in the future.

塔利班发言人表示，该组织未来没有摧毁国家宝藏的计划。

“All antique artifacts will be (kept) in their place,” spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Reuters. “They should be (kept) for the history and culture education of the upcoming generations.”

发言人Suhail Shaheen告诉路透社记者:“所有的文物都将会安然无恙。”“它们应该被保留下来，用于下一代的历史和文化教育。”

The possibility of bringing the Taliban in a power-sharing deal troubles Rahimi. He is looking at ways to move the artifacts if they are threatened again.

将塔利班纳入权力分享协议的可能性令Rahimi感到不安。如果这些文物再次受到威胁，他正在寻找转移文物的途径。

“We cannot let that happen again to our heritage,” he said.

他说，“我们不能让遗产再次经历这样的悲剧”。

Words in This Story

puzzle –n. a kind of game with many pieces that must be put together usually to form a picture or design

artifact – n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past

reassemble – v. to put back together

architecture – n. designed buildings

antiquities – n. items that were built thousands of years ado

3D – adj. creating something with 3 sides to it, rather than a flat 2 sides

heritage – n. the traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation

conservator –n. a person who maintains and restores valuable things