纪录片《文明》 第92期 画卷天堂（16）

I know you've all seen this on countless¹ Christmas cards,

我知道你们都曾在无数圣诞卡片上见过这个

but was there ever an image less brimming with Yuletide cheer.

但这些画是如此冷清 完全没有任何节庆气氛

Those hunters haven't got much to show for their trouble.

这些猎人费了好大力气 却没有什么收获

A skinny fox suspended from their poles.

一只干瘦的狐狸悬挂在他们的杆子上

The exhausted² dogs,

精疲力尽的狗

trying to lift their legs out of the heavy snow,

试着从厚厚的积雪中把腿拔出来

feel the pain as much as their masters.

他们能感受到跟他们主人一样的痛苦

Bruegel painted these compendious³,

勃鲁盖尔画这些简洁有力

visually inexhaustible masterpieces

视觉上取之不尽的杰作

after the coldest, most frigid⁴ Flemish winter

是在佛兰德斯最寒冷的一个冬天之后

that anybody could remember in their lifetime.

每个人一生中都会记得那个冬天

But he also painted them on the cusp of a long, terrible civil war

但他作画的时候 也处于漫长而残酷的内战中

that would divide the Netherlands between

这张内战要将荷兰分裂成

Protestant and Catholic, north and south,

新教和天主教 北部和南部

the Spanish Empire and the free Dutch Republic.

西班牙帝国和自由的荷兰共和国

And Bruegel would actually find himself right in the middle

勃鲁盖尔发现他自己正处在

of all those troubles.

这种种争端的中间

But, while we're looking at these glorious landscapes,

但当我们看这些美丽的风景画时

none of that history seems to matter.

那段历史都不重要了

For Bruegel, the natural world

对勃鲁盖尔来说 自然世界

is a consolation⁵ for the traumas⁶ afflicting⁷ civilisation⁸.

是对这充满创伤和痛苦的文明的一个安慰

Whatever happens in our human world,

无论人类世界发生了什么

the God-given seasons will still roll around,

上帝赐予的四季仍在有序轮回

the cattle will still return to their winter pasture.

牛仍要回到他们的冬季牧场

Let's just think for a minute

让我们来想一想

about the way he wants us to look at these paintings.

他希望我们如何来看待这些画作

It's a dialogue, in a way,

从某种程度上讲 这是一场

between the universal and the particular.

宇宙和个体之间的对话

On the one hand, wherever the eye travels,

一方面 无论我们看向哪个角落

we are invited into a wealth of detail of work and play.

我们都能享受到一场劳作嬉戏的细节盛宴

The trudge⁹ through the snow,

有雪地猎人的艰难跋涉

the glide¹⁰ of the skaters across the ice.

有冰上轻盈灵动的溜冰者

And wherever we travel with our eye through the landscape,

无论我们的目光在画作的风景中如何穿梭

we're carried to dramatically different places.

总能被带到一处截然不同的场所

From a Flemish village huddled¹¹ against the hillside,

从弗兰德斯聚集在山腰上的村落

out to a storm-tossed river estuary¹²,

到风雨欲来中的河口

out to the broad, open sea.

再到宽广无垠的大海

An experience of looking at these paintings becomes, surely,

看这幅画 心中感受着变换百态

like the experience of all of our lives.

简直就像人生的境遇

1 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

2 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

3 compendious   

adj.简要的，精简的

参考例句：

• At the end,a compendious sum-up and an expectation were brought out.最后对全文进行了扼要的总结，并提出展望。
• He made compendious introduction to the aluminum foil industry of Germany and France.他对德国与法国的铝箔工业作了扼要的介绍。

4 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

5 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

6 traumas   

n.心灵创伤( trauma的名词复数 )；损伤；痛苦经历；挫折

参考例句：

• She felt exhausted after the traumas of recent weeks. 她经受了最近几个星期的痛苦之后感到精疲力竭。
• Conclusion: Safety lens of spectacles can protect the occurrence of ocular traumas. 结论：安全镜片可以预防眼镜碎片所致的眼外伤。 来自互联网

7 afflicting   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是困扰现代社会的严重问题之一。
• Violent crime is only one of the maladies afflicting modern society. 暴力犯罪仅仅是危害社会的弊病之一。

8 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。

9 trudge   

v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行

参考例句：

• It was a hard trudge up the hill.这趟上山是一次艰难的跋涉。
• The trudge through the forest will be tiresome.长途跋涉穿越森林会令人疲惫不堪。

10 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

11 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

12 estuary   

n.河口，江口

参考例句：

• We live near the Thames estuary.我们的住处靠近泰晤士河入海口。
• The ship has touched bottom.The estuary must be shallower than we thought.船搁浅了。这河口的水比我们想像的要浅。