評論
打印
So, with the Canterbury axe head, that was from the same block as one that was found in Dorset, and it's clear that people must have gone back to that block at different times, it might be centuries apart, but because it's distinctive compositionally, it's now possible to say...yep, that was the same block...chips off the old block!"
坎特伯雷斧頭與多塞特斧頭的原料來自同一塊石頭。很明顯，人們曾在不同的時間來到了同樣的地點，中間可能相隔幾個世紀。 但根據它們的結構特點，我們能確定，他們來自相同的石頭，都是從那塊舊巖石上鑿下來的。
The boulder from which the British Museum axe was chipped six thousand years ago sits today, as then, in a landscape high above the earth and sometimes above the clouds, with spectacular vistas stretching as far as the eye can see.
六千年前曾被釆下大英博物館玉斧原料的巖石，至今仍端坐在高處，偶爾還坐在云端之上。于彼處極目遠眺，能看到壯麗的美景。
The jade-seekers seem to have deliberately chosen this special spot-they could easily have taken jade that was lying loose at the base of the mountains, but they climbed up through the clouds-probably because there they could take the rock that came from a place midway between our world on earth and the celestial realm of gods and ancestors.
玉石的開釆者似乎有意選擇了這樣一個特別的地點，他們本可以從山腳輕松地撿 拾到玉石塊，卻選擇一直攀緣到云端，也許就是為了在自己居住的世界與神靈和祖先居住的天國之間釆集一塊石頭。
And so this jade was treated with extreme care and reverence, as if it contained special powers.
因此這塊石頭受到了特別 的呵護與禮遇，似乎帶有非凡的力量。
Having quarried rough slabs of jade, the stone-workers and miners would then have had to labour to get the material back down to a place where it could be crafted.
采下玉石厚片之后，工匠們還得辛苦地將材料運回它們的加工地。
It was a long, arduous task, completed on foot and using boats.
這是漫長又艱辛的過程，靠腳力與小船的協助完成。
Amazingly, big blocks of this desirable stone have been found over 120 miles away-an astonishing achievement-and some of the material had an even longer journey to make.
大批的這種石頭在 距離采集地約二百公里之外的地方被發現，這已經是驚人的成就，但有的甚至走過了更長的旅途。
Jade from here eventually spread throughout northern Europe-some even as far as Scandinavia.
來自意大利阿爾卑斯山的玉石橫跨了整個北歐，最遠的甚至到達了斯堪的納維亞。
We can only guess-but we can, I think, make some guesses-about the journey of our particular axe.
我們只能對本節中的玉斧所經過的旅途進行一些猜測，但這樣的猜測也是有依據的。
