纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 063伊费头像（3）

 

"Personally it has the effect on me that certain sculptures of the Buddha¹ have. The presence of tranquillity² in a work of art speaks of a great internal civilisation³. Because you can't have the tranquillity without reflection, you can't have the tranquillity without having asked the great questions about your place in the universe, and having answered those questions to some degree of satisfaction. And that for me is what civilisation is."

The idea of black African civilisation on this level was quite simply unimaginable to a European a hundred years ago. In 1910, when the German anthropologist⁴ Leo Frobenius found the very first brass⁵ head in a shrine⁶ outside the city of Ife, he was so overwhelmed by its technical and aesthetic⁷ assurance that he immediately associated it with the greatest art that he knew - the classical sculptures of ancient Greece. But what possible connection could there have been between ancient Greece and Nigeria? There's no record of contact in the literature or in the archaeology⁸. For Frobenius there was an obvious and exhilarating solution to the conundrum⁹. The lost island of Atlantis must have sunk off the coast of Nigeria, and the Greek survivors¹⁰ stepped ashore¹¹ to make this astonishing sculpture.

它之于我的影响类似某些佛陀雕像。一件洋溢着宁静祥和之感的艺术品，背后?必然有强大的文明。如果没有经过深思，没有提出自身在宇宙中所处的位置等宏大问题并给出满意的解答，你便无法达到内心的宁静。对我而言，这就是文明。

对一百年前的欧洲人来说，这一层面上的非洲黑人文明的观点几乎无法想象。

一九一年，德国考古学家莱奥·弗洛贝纽斯在伊费城外的沙滩上发现了第一座黄铜头像。他为头像所表现出的美与所使用的工艺所震惊，立即将其与他心目中最伟大的艺术—一古希腊传统雕刻联系起来。但古希腊与尼日利亚在历史上可能存在怎样的联系？不管是文字记载还是考古发现都没有任何证据表明二者曾有过接触。对于这个谜团，弗洛贝纽斯很快想出了一个显而易见并令人兴奋的答案：消失的亚特兰蒂斯一定是在尼日利亚海岸附近沉没的，幸存的希腊人踏上了这片土地，完成了这一令人惊艳的雕像。

 

1 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

2 tranquillity   

n. 平静, 安静

参考例句：

• The phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his philosophical tranquillity vanished. 这个令人惶惑不安的现象，扰乱了他的旷达宁静的心境。
• My value for domestic tranquillity should much exceed theirs. 我应该远比他们重视家庭的平静生活。

3 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。

4 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

5 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

6 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

7 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

8 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

9 conundrum   

n.谜语；难题

参考例句：

• Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
• Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。