評論
打印
But there are two main problems. What do you think the first one might be? Jennifer?
但有兩個主要的問題。你覺得第一個是什么呢？詹妮弗？
Um…well, it sounds like it's extremely old, so probably some pages are at the point of crumbling into dust.
聽上去這個本子很舊了，很可能某些紙頁馬上就要化成塵土了。
True. And some are moldy, and some were eaten away, er, by bookworms.
對。有些還發霉了，有些已經被蛀書蟲啃掉了。
This thing's really decayed.
這個東西已經飽受侵蝕了。
But on top of that, there's another issue, and this is the reason why it's a palimpsest.
但此外還有另一個問題，這也是為什么它是一本重寫本。
You see, the text apparently sat around in a library in Constantinople until 1229 A.D.
很明顯，這份文本在1229年前都在君士坦丁堡的圖書館里好好放著。
But then a scribe erased, scraped away the writing as clean as he could in order to use the pages to write his own book on.
但接著，一個抄寫員把這些字都擦掉，刮干凈了，他就能用本子寫自己的書了。
Why would he do that? Take a guess.
為什么他要這么做？猜一猜。
Must have been a paper shortage?
紙張短缺？
Well, they used parchment to write on, but yes, there was a parchment shortage.
他們用羊皮紙書寫，但對的，當時羊皮紙也出現短缺。
So you are saying the parchment was basically recycled?
你是說，羊皮紙基本都是再利用的？
Correct.
對。
Then, even later on, in the twentieth century, a forger painted ancient-looking pictures on several of the pages in order to make the book seem older and increase its value.
再晚些時候，在20世紀，一個造假者為了讓書看起來更古老以提高價格，在某些書頁上畫了一些看起來像是古代畫的圖。
So unfortunately, that's quite a history.
所以很不幸，這背后可有不少故事。
But professor Wilkens, if the scribe scraped away Archimedes' words and if these paintings covered the pages, how can the original work be recovered?
但，威爾肯斯教授，如果抄寫員把阿基米德的字都刮掉了，這些圖案布滿書頁，那最初的作品是怎么重現的呢？
Ah, that's why I am telling you the story.
啊，這就是我告訴你這個故事的原因。
That's our task as conservationists, isn't it? To find a way.
這是我們作為保護者的任務，不是嗎？找出辦法。
There were still faint traces of Archimedes'words on the pages.
在書頁上還留有阿基米德文字的淡淡痕跡。
First, we tried to make the Archimedes' words stand out with a variety of technologies, using ultraviolet light.
首先，我們用各種技術，讓阿基米德的文字從中凸顯出來，我們運用了紫外線。
