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London, England: British Museum
博物馆巡礼 英国：大英博物馆
At the peak of its empire, when the Union Jack flew over a quarter of the planet, England collected art and artifacts as fast as it collected colonies. This place, the British Museum, is the showcase for those extraordinary treasures.
在大英帝国的巅峰，在英国国旗飘扬于地球四分之一土地上时，英国收集艺术和工艺品的速度就和它收集殖民地一样快。这个地方，大英博物馆，是那些出色宝物的展示处。
Its centerpiece is the Great Court—an impressive example of Europe's knack for preserving old architectural spaces by making them fresh, functional, and inviting. The stately Reading Room—a temple of knowledge and high thinking—was the study hall for Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, and T.S. Eliot. Karl Marx researched right here while writing Das Kapital.
它的中央物是“大中庭”－－一个欧洲维护古老建筑空间技巧的出色例子，借由使老建物变新、具功能性，且吸引人。宏伟的阅览室－－一座知识及崇高思想的殿堂－－曾是 Oscar Wilde、Rudyard Kipling，以及 T.S. Eliot 的自习室。Karl Marx 在写《资本论》时正是在这里做研究的。
The British Museum is the chronicle of Western civilization. You can study three great civilizations—Egypt, Assyria, and Greece—in one fascinating morning. The Egyptian collection is the greatest outside of Egypt. It's kicked off with the Rosetta Stone, which provided the breakthrough in deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Discovered in 1799, it told the same story in three languages: Greek, a modern form of Egyptian, and ancient Egyptian.
大英博物馆是西方文明的记录。你可以在一个迷人的早晨里看到三大文明 (埃及、 亚述以及希腊)。埃及展品是埃及境外最杰出的。它从罗赛塔石碑开始，罗赛塔石碑提供解开古埃及象形文字之谜的突破性发展。于 1799 年被发现，罗赛塔石碑描述一段相同的故事，使用三种语言：希腊文、当代的埃及字体以及古埃及文。
This enabled archaeologists to compare the two languages they understood with the ancient Egyptian, which was yet to be deciphered. Thanks to this stone, they broke the code, opening the door to understanding a great civilization.
这使考古学家得以将两种他们理解的语言和古埃及文做对照，当时古埃及文尚未被解开。托这块石碑的福，他们破解那密码，开启了解一个伟大文明的大门。
The Egypt we think of—you know, pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, and guys who walk funny—lasted from about 3,000 to 1,000 B.C. It was a time of unprecedented stability—very little change in government, religion, or arts. Imagine 2,000 years of Eisenhower. Egyptian art was art with a purpose. It placated the gods—the entire pantheon, a cosmic zoo of deities, was sculpted and worshipped—and it served as propaganda for the pharaohs. They ruled with unquestioned authority and were considered gods on earth. And much of the art was for dead people—for a smoother departure and a happier afterlife. In ancient Egypt, you could take it with you.
我们想到的埃及－－你知道，金字塔、木乃伊、法老还有走路很好笑的家伙们－－约从西元前三千年延续到西元前一千年。那是个前所未见安定的时期－－在政治、宗教或者艺术上少有变动。想像两千年的艾森豪时期。埃及艺术是有目的的艺术。它安抚众神－－所有神祇，无边无际的一群神，都被雕刻及膜拜－－而且艺术有替法老宣传的效果。法老以不容置疑的权力统治，且被视为人世间的神。多数艺术是为往生的人所做－－为了有个更顺遂的离去以及更幸福的来世。在古埃及，你可以将这带着走。
Corpses were painstakingly mummified: The internal organs were removed and put in jars. Then the body was preserved with pitch, dried, and wrapped from head to toe. The wooden coffin was painted with magic spells and images thought to be useful in the next life.
尸体被费心地制成木乃伊：体内器官被移开然后放进罐子里。然后身体用沥青防腐、干燥并被从头到脚包起来。木棺以被认为是在来生有用途的咒语和图像彩绘。
The finely decorated coffins were put into a stone sarcophagus like this. These were then placed in a tomb, along with the allotted baggage for that ultimate trip. The great pyramids were just giant tombs for Egypt's most powerful—carefully designed to protect their precious valuables for that voyage into the next life.
装饰精美的棺材被放进像这样的石棺里。这些接着被置到坟墓里，连同替那最终之旅分配的行李一起。伟大的金字塔只是给埃及最有权者的巨大坟墓－－谨慎设计来保护他们为进入来生旅程准备的珍贵财产。
In its waning years, Egypt was conquered by Assyria—present-day Iraq. These winged lions guarded an Assyrian palace nearly 900 years before Christ. Assyria considered itself the lion of early Middle Eastern civilizations. It was a nation of hardy and disciplined warriors. Assyrian kings showed off their power in battle, and by hunting lions. This dying lioness, roaring in pain, was carved as Assyria was falling to the next mighty power: Babylon. History is a succession of seemingly invincible superpowers, which all eventually fall.
在埃及的衰落年间，埃及被亚述征服－－现今伊拉克。这些有翼狮像在耶稣前近九百年前守护着一座亚述宫殿。亚述将自己视为早期中东文明的狮子。它是个勇敢且守纪律战士们的国家。亚述国王在战斗中，以及借着猎狮来炫耀他们的力量。这只垂死的母狮，痛苦地吼叫，是在亚述落入下一个强权：巴比伦时雕刻的。历史是看似所向无敌的强权的接替，那些强权全终将殒落。
Greece, during its Golden Age—roughly 400 B.C.—set the tone of so much of Western civilization to follow. The city of Athens was the site of a cultural explosion, which, within a couple of generations, essentially invented our notion of democracy, theater, literature, mathematics, science, philosophy, and so much more.
希腊，在它的黄金时期时－－约西元前四百年－－定下许多西方文明遵循的方式。雅典城是一次文化爆发的地点，那次文化爆发，在几世代内，基本上创造出我们对民主、戏剧、文学、数学、科学、哲学的概念，以及其他更多。
An evocative remnant of Greece's glory days is the sculpture, which once decorated the Parthenon—a temple on the Acropolis Hill in Athens. Here, a long procession of citizens honors the goddess Athena. The carvings of the temple's pediment—even in their ruined state—are a masterpiece, showing gods and goddesses celebrating the birthday of Athena. The Greeks prided themselves on creating order out of chaos, here, symbolized by the struggle between half-animal centaurs and civilized humans. First, the centaurs get the upper hand. Then, the humans rally and drive them off. In Golden Age Greece, civilization finally triumphed over barbarism.
一项唤起希腊光荣时日的残物是那雕刻，它曾装饰帕德嫩神殿－－一座位在雅典卫城山上的神庙。这儿，一列长长的市民队伍向雅典娜女神致敬。神殿山型牆的雕刻品－－即便在它们毁损的状态下－－都是个杰作，展示出众神和女神欢庆雅典娜的生日。希腊人以从混乱中创造秩序为豪，这儿，以半兽的人马和文明人类间的对抗为象征。最初，人马占上风。接着，人类重整并将人马击退。在黄金时期的希腊，文明终于战胜野蛮。
