纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 044辛顿圣玛丽肖像(2)

But for the first two or three Christian¹ centuries,the very idea of looking on the face of God,even of a god in human form,would have been inconceivable.Firstly because there was no record of Christ's appearance that artists could have based a likeness² on,but even more because the Jewish inheritance of a god to be worshipped in spirit and in truth,but emphatically not to be represented in art,inhibited the early Christians³ from any such attempt.Yet now we all live in a world where the likeness of Christ is commonplace,a face that can be instantly recognised.How did we get there? The decision to try to show the face of Christ-probably taken because the Roman elite⁴ were so used to seeing their gods in statues,paintings and mosaics-was both a major theological step and one of the decisive turning-points in European visual culture.

在基督教兴起后的前两三百年里，望向神的脸庞，甚至仅仅是神以人的形象出现这件事本身，都是不可想象的。首先，没有关于基督外貌的记录，艺术家们没有创作依据。而更重要的原因在于，犹太人的传统 是用灵魂和真心去崇拜神，而非用艺术来表现神。因此早期的基督徒从 未尝试制作任何形式的基督像。但到了今天，基督像已随处可见，人们一眼就能辨出。这样的形象又缘何而起呢？很可能是由于罗马上层社会早已习惯用雕像、绘画及马赛克图案表现罗马神祇，因而人们最终决定 描画基督面容。这是神学上的重大一步，也是欧洲视觉文化的一个重要转折点。

This face of Christ from Dorset was made in the last century of Roman rule in Britain,which was in many ways a golden age.It was a lavish⁵ world,in which the ruling class could spend enormous sums of money,decorating their villas⁶ and putting their wealth on display in the form of spectacular tableware.In the cases around us you can see the hoards⁸ of silver vessels,spoons and even pepper pots,like the ones I talked about last week,that show a society that seems to have accommodated itself comfortably to both paganism and Christianity.The great silver dish found at Mildenhall in Suffolk shows Bacchus drunkenly cavorting⁹ with pliant¹⁰ nymphs,while the spoons found in the same hoard⁷ carry Christian symbols.A pagan dish with Christian spoons-that pretty well sums up Britain at this period,and it wouldn't have disconcerted anybody at the time.In Britain of the third and fourth century,Christ is merely one god among many others.

多塞特的基督像制作于罗马统治英国的最后百年之内。从很多方面来讲，这都是一个黄金时代。当时的社会物资极其丰富，统治阶层能花大笔的钱来装修自己的别墅，购买精美奢华的餐具。基督像附近的展柜 里陈列着许多银花瓶、银勺和胡椒罐。这些物品表明，当时的社会对基督教及其他宗教都能愉快地接纳。比如在萨福克郡米尔登霍尔发现的大银盘上，有喝醉了的酒神巴克科斯与柔美的仙女一起跳跃的图案，而同一地点出土的勺子上带有基督教的标记。异教的盘子配上基督银勺，这很好地概括了当时英国的情况，且在当时不会让任何人不快。在三世纪至四世纪的英国，基督只是人们信仰的众多神祇之一。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

5 lavish   

adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍

参考例句：

• He despised people who were lavish with their praises.他看不起那些阿谀奉承的人。
• The sets and costumes are lavish.布景和服装极尽奢华。

6 villas   

别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅

参考例句：

• Magnificent villas are found throughout Italy. 在意大利到处可看到豪华的别墅。
• Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build sea-side villas. 有钱人从富有的罗马来到这儿建造海滨别墅。

7 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

8 hoards   

n.（钱财、食物或其他珍贵物品的）储藏，积存( hoard的名词复数 )v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She hoards her money - she never spends it. 她积蓄钱，但从来不花钱。 来自辞典例句
• A squirrel hoards nuts for the winter. 松鼠为过冬贮藏坚果。 来自辞典例句

9 cavorting   

v.跳跃( cavort的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The photos showed her cavorting on the beach with her new lover. 这些照片展现了她和新情人在海滩上放荡嬉戏的情景。
• If her heart would only stop bumping and drumming and cavorting. 要是她那颗心停止冲撞、轰鸣、急跳，那该多舒服啊！ 来自飘（部分）

10 pliant   

adj.顺从的；可弯曲的

参考例句：

• She's proud and stubborn,you know,under that pliant exterior.你要知道，在温顺的外表下，她既自傲又固执。
• They weave a basket out of osiers with pliant young willows.他们用易弯的柳枝编制篮子。