評論
打印
They were just as concerned about housing the dead as the living.
而他們對地宮的關注 絕不遜于生前的寓所
The mausoleum at Maes Howe, a couple of miles from Skara Brae,
在斯卡拉布雷數英里外的麥豪石室
seems no more than a swelling on the grassy landscape.
看上去不過是青草間一處隆起地塊
This is, as it were, a British pyramid and in keeping with our taste for understatement,
其實它堪稱不列顛之金字塔 其含蓄與我們的審美情趣不謀而合
it reserves all its impact for the interior.
將所有華美盡藏于室內
Imagine them open once more.
試想將這墓穴再次打開
A detail from a village given the job of pulling back the stone seals,
一個村民受雇 進入將石門封死
lugging the body through the low opening in the earth.
匍匐穿進這條深入的地洞
Up 36 feet of narrow, tight-fitting passageway,
一條長達三十六英尺狹窄
lit only once a year by the rays of the winter solstice.
并只有在每年冬至才會沐浴日光的通道
A death canal, constriction, smelling of the underworld.
一條緊窄并彌漫著陰森氣息的冥界之路
Finally the passageway opens up to this stupendous,high-vaulted masonry chamber.
最終 這條通道將我們引向了這巨大的 穹窿形石室
Some tombs would have been elaborately decorated with carvings in the form of circles or spirals,
一些裝飾華美的陵墓 被雕刻上圓圈或是螺旋的形狀
like waves or the breeze-pushed clouds.
猶如波浪 又如清風掠過的云海一般
Others would have had neat little stone stores or cubicles where the bodies would be laid out on shelves.
另一些則附有精巧的小型石室 便于死者的遺體存放于擱架之上
