The Terracotta Warriors
秦始皇兵马俑
Protecting the first emperor
保护始皇帝
Sep 6th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Ten of China’s fabulous warriors come to London
传说中的兵马俑登上英伦岛
守卫永恒
IT IS the most famous archaeological find since Howard Carter opened Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1923. For more than 2,000 years a buried, life-size terracotta army of 7,000 soldiers has stood to attention near the city of Xi’an in central China. Villagers digging a well uncovered the head of the first of them in 1974; excavation at the site still continues. Many of the warriors had broken into pieces. But once archaeologists began to put them together, they regained their look of eternal vigilance.
自1923年霍华德.卡特发现图坦卡门陵墓以来，全世界最著名的考古发现当属秦始皇兵马俑。这是一支庞大的陶塑军队。两千多年以来，7000名与人等高的武士，一直守卫在中国中部的西安近郊。直到1974年，一位村民在挖井时偶然挖到了一名兵马俑的头部。现在，陵墓所在地的发掘工作还在继续。考古人员发现，许多武士都已经”粉身碎骨”。不过，只要经考古学家的拼合，它们又会恢复到以前的模样，一直炯炯有神的站在那里警戒。
Ten of these warriors are about to go on show at the British Museum, together with 100 or so other artifacts, some from the Xi’an site, others from Chinese museums. Photographs of the seemingly endless rows of men standing shoulder to shoulder, all looking the same way but each with his separate expression, have excited huge interest; the museum has sold an unprecedented 100,000 advance tickets. But visiting the warriors in person is a quite extraordinary experience.
日前，有其中10件兵马俑即将在大英博物馆展出，一同展出的还有近百件文物。它们当中，有些发掘于西安，有些则来自中国的各个博物馆。人们从宣传图片中可以看到，这些武士肩并肩一排排站立，数不胜数。它们看似一摸一样，但实际上，每名武士的表情各不相同。这些图片吊足了人们的胃口。博物馆的十万张预售票皆已售罄，这种情况在以前可从未发生过。不过，能一睹这些武士的风采，着实是一种非同寻常的体验。
At first, the exhibition is frustrating. The British Museum’s light-flooded central reading room has been transformed into a dark, spot-lit labyrinth. The visitor turns this way and that, passing cases filled with ritual bells, coins, measuring devices and maps. Films shown on the room’s black-painted circumference tell the story of China’s first emperor, who not only created the Terracotta Army but, according to the museum’s director, Neil MacGregor, “invented the idea of China”. Fascinating, but the visitor is hungry for the warriors.
最初，整个展览相当扫兴。大英博物馆的中心阅览室因光线过于充足，不宜用于展览。于是博物馆方面就将其布置成光线昏暗、错综复杂的”迷宫”。观众不停的在房间里拐来拐去，还要经过摆设有各种各样宗教仪式用铃、硬币、测量仪器和地图的展览框。展厅漆黑的墙上播放的视频，向观众讲述着中国第一代皇帝的故事。据博物馆馆长尼尔.麦克格瑞格（Neil MacGregor）介绍，这位始皇帝除了下令制作兵马俑外，还”发明了中国这个概念”。他的介绍虽然引人入胜，但观众更渴望能目睹这些兵马俑的真容。
At last the centrepiece of the show is reached. With the room’s blacked-out dome high overhead, eight life-size terracotta warriors stand on a platform. (They were larger than life when made, but people were shorter then.) At the front are a pair of generals, next come two archers, then a couple of infantrymen followed by a cavalryman and his horse. A wooden chariot manned by a terracotta charioteer and pulled by four terracotta horses brings up the rear. The sight of this ensemble is eerie: these terracotta people are not works of art, let alone princes’ toys. They seem like emissaries from the land of the dead-and being in their presence is certainly not a cosy experience.
经过一番周折，迫不及待的观众终于来到了展厅中心。他们头顶上是幽暗的穹顶，面前的站台上是八名与人等高的兵马俑。（制作时，它们比现实中的人要高，但当时人们的身材要比现在矮一些。）站立在最前面的是两名将军；紧跟着是两名弓箭手；接着是几名步兵；再后面是一名牵着战马的骑兵。四匹陶塑战马拉着一辆木制战车，车上站着陶塑御者。观众见到这种场面，不免有些令人不安，因为它们俑不是单纯的艺术品，更非王子的玩具。它们就是地下的使者–站着它们面前并不是很轻松的体验。
A delightful bronze chariot briefly lightens the mood. It is painted with clouds and driven by a bronze charioteer with four terracotta horses hitched to the front. All of them are half life-size; they are also, it sadly turns out, replicas.
不过还好，一辆可爱的青铜战车让人的心情渐渐缓和下来。四匹战马拉着这辆表面绘有祥云图案的战车，车上有一名青铜御者在驾驶。它们有半人高，而且扫兴的是，人们发现这些都是仿制品。
But then appear other genuine figures from the dig. Two civil servants (thought to be prison officials) stand with hands folded inside their robes’ long sleeves. Behind them is an incredibly muscular hulk, a weight-lifter perhaps. Next to him is a slender acrobat. They make an engaging foursome. In a case to one side, two terracotta musicians sit alongside a goose, a swan and a crane. All are life-size. The creatures are bronze, the men terracotta, and they come from the most recently excavated pit at Xi’an. The two remaining warriors are kneeling archers who welcome, and say good-bye to, the visitor.
不过，观众很快就发现了其它一些出土的真品。两名文职官员（可能是典狱官）站立在那，双手缩在官服的长袖子里。在他们后面，站着一名身强力壮的随从，说不定还是名大力士呢。站在大力士旁边的，是一名身材修长的弄臣。这样的组合可以称得上是天衣无缝。在一边的展览框里，两名陶塑乐师正坐在那里，旁边还有家鹅、天鹅和仙鹤。当初，它们都是按照真实比例制作而成。这些动物都由青铜制成，兵马俑则是陶制。而且，它们是在西安最新出土的文物。最后两名武士屈膝成蹲立状，仿佛在迎接和送别参观的游客。
Real bones have also been dug up at the site: aristocrats and concubines, royal horses and exotic beasts were buried there. Perhaps they were killed for that very purpose. It is suggested that they were thought so special in life that facsimiles of them would not do.
在中国的发掘现场，考古人员还出土了一些真人遗骨。可见，有一些贵族、小妾、皇室马匹和异国禽兽也埋在此处。也许，它们的死还有着特殊含义。这也说明，当时人们认为它们很特别，所以必须埋葬实物，而非复制品。
All this was created for, and at the command of, the first emperor. Ying Zheng, born in 259BC, became ruler of Qin at 13. It was one of seven states that had been warring for centuries. Within 25 years, this ambitious military genius had conquered the lot of them. He called himself Qin Shihuangdi: First August and Divine Emperor, but is generally known as Qin (pronounced Chin). He provided his new empire with a uniform script, currency, a measuring system and a bureaucracy. He built new roads and conscripted hundreds of thousands of workers to raise defensive walls along the empire’s borders.
这些都是秦始皇下令建造的，他的目的不言而喻。赢政生于公元前259年，十三岁当上君主。当时，七国争霸，常年战乱，秦是其中一国。在短短二十五年内，这位野心勃勃的军事天才就征服了其余六国，完成统一大业。他自封为”秦始皇帝”，意为”威严神圣的君王”。之后，他还统一了文字、货币、度量衡以及官制。此外，他还大兴土木，修建道路，并沿疆域修建防御城墙，抵御外敌。
He had another ambition: he wanted to be the first to live for ever. But just in case all the potions he drank didn’t work, he directed 700,000 men to build his tomb and a surrounding necropolis. It covers 56 square kilometres (22 square miles) and took more than 30 years to create.
他还有一个抱负：渴望成为第一个长生不老的人。但他又恐世间所有”灵丹妙药”无济于事，于是便派遣70万劳力为自己修建陵寝。整个工程历时30多年，占地56平方公里（相当于22平方英里）。
Life after death was conceived as a microcosm of life on earth. Qin would be emperor of the never-ending world and the Terracotta Army was created to protect it. Armed with real bronze weapons still sharp enough to draw blood, the soldiers stood guard. The site was naturally protected by mountains on two sides and a river on the third. But to the east stretched a great plain and it was on this that the soldiers’ gaze was fixed.
当时的人们普遍认为，人的灵魂是生命在世间的缩影。按照这种说法，秦始皇就是永恒的帝国君王，制作兵马俑就是为了保护这个帝国。武士手持一刀见血的青铜兵器，在为其站岗。根据古代风水，陵墓两边都是高山，前面临水。不过，陵墓东面是无边无际的平原，这也是武士凝视的方位。
Qin remains secure. The last words on the exhibition belong to Wu Yongqi, director of the Museum of the Terracotta Army: “I dream of a day when technology will shed light on all that is buried there…without disturbing the sleeping emperor and his 2,000-year-old empire.” No excavation of Qin’s tomb is planned.
至今，秦始皇仍然安枕无忧。兵马俑博物馆馆长吴永奇在展览闭幕式上说：”我梦想着有一天，新技术能惠及秦始皇陵。到时候，我们就不需要惊扰长眠的秦始皇和他那有着两千年历史的帝国了。”目前，中国没有继续挖掘秦始皇陵的计划。
背景补充：
图坦卡门生于西元前1307年，正好做了十八王朝的尾巴。他的父亲是著名的异教徒法老伊肯纳顿。在第十八王朝中期，埃及空前的强大，图特蒙斯三世把疆土向南推至幼发拉底河，北推至尼罗河第四瀑布以外，这些使得埃及成为了地跨西亚北非的军事大帝国。臣服于埃及的国家们年年进贡岁岁朝拜，使得埃及的经济也达到了历史的颠峰时期。一直以来，埃及都借助她强大的军队彪悍的士兵震慑着臣国，而到了伊肯纳顿时代，这位思想不俗的法老决定改变这种情况。
伊肯纳顿带着妻儿属下迁离都城底比斯，在一个荒凉的地方新建城市，而这个城市里，再不见大地之神给布，不见美丽的爱及丰饶女神哈托尔，伊肯纳顿确立的唯一可信奉的神为太阳神（或称为日轮神）阿顿。只有阿顿可以接受祭拜，只有阿顿是唯一的神。这个天真得可爱的法老想以他一人之力改变已延续了近三千年的埃及神文化。伊肯纳顿的做法当然是百姓心中不能接受的，看起来唯一虔诚接受的人是宰相艾，他带着妻子恭敬的祭拜阿顿，为此，艾不但得到了伊肯纳顿奖励的大量黄金，还得到了国王的信任。
与此同时，伊肯纳顿不再重视军队，他似乎不想成为一个暴虐的君王，他想变成一个宗教领导，以宗教统治他的人民他的臣国。伊肯纳顿也对埃及艺术进行改革，他讲究写实，屏弃了以前严肃而唯美的艺术形式，所以，我们现在看到的伊肯纳顿像才是一个细胳膊的小男人，艾的头像有着不和善的高高的眉弓，壁画上的公主们的脑袋长得活像外星人，而著名的奈费尔提蒂胸像长了个超长的脖子。
正当伊肯纳顿信心十足的进行改革的时候，正当他与妻儿生活在自制的美好天堂里的时候，埃及的臣国们纷纷起义重新夺回自主权，埃及开始走下坡路。就在这个动荡的当口，图坦卡门出生了。他成了伊肯纳顿唯一的儿子，日后，又成了埃及的国王。
在图坦卡门十一岁的时候，伊肯纳顿驾崩。图坦卡门娶了他同父异母的姐妹安彻斯思阿门成了埃及的小君主。由于图坦卡门年幼，虽然他名为国王，但实权却掌握在宰相艾的手中。奈费尔提蒂过世以后，图坦卡门由艾带领回到了都城底比斯并重新允许人民祭拜昔日的众神，那些沉睡了很久的神庙又重新恢复了生机。
虽然图坦卡门结嫁时尚且年幼，但他与妻子的感情却甚笃。小夫妻恩爱和睦，形影不离，而且从某种意义上说，他们也算得上是相依为命了。这一双年少的国家领导人的命运，悬在艾的指尖。
安彻斯思阿门与图坦卡门有过两个孩子，但这两个孩子全部因流产而死，那是分别有两个月和八个月大的女婴。流产原因至今不明。安彻斯思阿门没有来得及给图坦卡门生下一子半嗣，西元前1325年，十八岁的图坦卡门暴死。十八岁是个边缘年龄，它是一个人由少年进入成年的过渡时期，没有历料记载那个年纪的图坦卡门说了什么做了什么，我们只知道他死了，并开始了他的另一个传奇：图坦卡门的咒语。
在图坦卡门死后，艾娶了安彻斯思阿门，成为了埃及的国王，在登机三年后，艾死了。其陵墓被盗，墙上的艾的名字及头像被人抹去。但是墙壁上所记载的王后却并不是安彻斯思阿门，人们推测，她死于艾之前。
据对图坦卡门木乃伊头部的X光照射显示，图坦卡门后脑连接颈锥处有瘀血块，是重击所至。于是史学家们再次推测，图坦卡门死于谋杀，而安彻斯思阿门也极有可能死于谋杀，其共同的凶手是艾。
在刻有埃及历代君主名称的那块墙壁上并没有图坦卡门的名字，似乎，埃及人曾努力去忘却这个法老，但图坦卡门并没有被忘记，他的名字，他的传说，他的短暂的故事，成为了埃及历史上最引人注目的一笔。
译者：guanjia http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=7028&highlight=
崇敬秦皇！