兵马俑都是'裸男'吗？ Are the warriors naked?

【走近兵马俑】

40年前，兵马俑的奇迹之门被打开，"世界第八大奇迹"出现在众人眼前。为庆祝秦兵马俑发现40周年，China Daily手机报推出口语特别策划"走近兵马俑"，在带您穿越历史长河、探索这些人类智慧与艺术结晶背后故事的同时，讲述孕育这段历史的神秘土壤——西安的前世今生，并向您介绍相关词汇、句式的地道英语表达。

[第三期]

Are the warriors naked?

兵马俑都是'裸男'吗？

口语君：兵马俑都是全裸的？！对于这种不靠谱的传闻，想想也是醉了……其实，真想只有一个！是神马呢？且听陶小德分解：

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F: I heard that the Terra-Cotta Warriors are naked, but the ones I saw at a museum were wearing armor and clothing. So is the naked story a myth?

听说兵马俑都没穿衣服，可我在博物馆看到的那些都穿了盔甲或衣服啊。那么，有关它们"裸着的"传闻是杜撰的喽？

M: Well, it's really more about a bad translation than myth. There are no naked warriors. But the originals were painted in bright colors, and the paint has been lost to the passing centuries and the excavation process.

嗯，与其说是杜撰，不如说是一种错误的解读。根本没有不穿衣服的兵马俑。兵马俑上原本绘有鲜艳的色彩，不过经过几个世纪的磨砺，及在出土过程中，颜料都脱落了。

F: Oh, I didn't know that. So it's impossible to see them with their original colors?

哦，这我还真不知道。这么说，现在我们不可能再看到兵马俑的本色了？

M: Many of them have those original pigments, but they disintegrated when the statues were excavated. That's one reason the government asked the archaeologists to slow down their work. The experts are hoping to find a way to save the original paint on the warriors that have not been exposed to the air.

很多兵马俑身上至今仍保留着原本的色彩，但当它们被挖掘出来时，那些颜色就脱落消失了。这也是为什么政府让考古学家放慢发掘速度的原因之一。目前，专家希望找到一种方法，能够保住那些尚未出土的兵马俑上的原始色彩。

[口语点睛]

口语君：myth作名词除了神话的意思外，还可以指"很多人相信，但其实并不存在或错误的事物"(=fallacy)。例如： It is time to dispel the myth of a classless society. (是时候消除存在无阶级社会的误传了。) 又如：Contrary to the popular myth, women are not worse drivers than men. (与广为人知的误传相反，女司机并不比男司机差。)

[口语天天练之兵马俑颜色大起底]

口语君：看过上面的介绍，口语君终于松了口气。假如地宫里千万威武的秦朝勇士都走西方雕塑裸露风，光是想想都让人觉得，这画面太美，不忍直视……言归正传，今天的口语天天练，我们就从数字、颜色的表达开始，舒活舌头大声念起吧：

1. The statues of the infantry soldiers range between 5 foot 8 inches and 6 foot 2 inches; the commanders are 6 and half feet tall.

兵马俑步兵俑高在5英尺8英寸到6英尺2英寸间，司令官高度为6.5英尺。

2. Terracotta Figures were found to be painted in red, green, blue, yellow, purple, brown, white, black, pink, vermilion, etc.

人们发现陶俑上绘有红、绿、蓝、黄、紫、棕、白、黑、粉、朱红色等颜色。

3. The pigments were artificially produced from cinnabar, charcoal, malachite and azurite as well as barium copper silicate.

这些颜料是用朱砂、木炭、孔雀石、蓝铜矿和硅酸铜钡人工制成的。

4. The terracotta figures have gone through a natural process of 2,200 years decay, the lacquer cracks and peels off once the warriors were exposure to the air, taking any remaining pigment with it.

在经历了2200年自然腐蚀后，这些陶俑一旦暴露在空气中，上面的涂料便立即裂开脱落，残存的颜料也随之掉落。

（中国日报网英语点津 丁一）