女王80大寿？您一定会说，英国女王伊丽莎白二世不是在4月21日刚刚过完生日吗？原来，英国女王有两个“生日”，4月份那个是她的80岁诞辰，而6月17日这个则是她的官方生日。为此，英国华夏文化协会为女王准备了一件特殊礼物——一个绘有女王肖像的中国鼻烟壶，由中国内画大师张增楼花数月制作而成。

portrait of the queen on the front	three Chinese characters of "Kang Er Shou" on the back

请看《人民日报》相关报道：When the whole Britain is looking forward to the official celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday, asnuff bottlewith the Queen's portrait painted on its inside by a Chinese artist was presented here on Wednesday as a special gift.

The bottle portrait was done by Zhang Zenglou, one of the most prominent artists specializing in snuff bottle painting, known as inside-painting.

报道中的snuff bottle就是闻名于世的工艺制品“鼻烟壶”。Snuff原指用力“吸气”，可引申为“（吸）鼻烟”，如：My father used to take snuff.（我父亲过去常吸鼻烟。）另外，若snuff和介词out连用，常常用来指代“死去”、“扼杀”，例如：Greedy heirs waited for the old man to snuff out. （贪心的继承人只待着老头断气。）

Snuff bottle（鼻烟壶）是工艺制品中的一朵奇葩，它将玉石、水晶、玛瑙、瓷等与绘画和书法艺术结合，被雅士们视为珍贵文玩。据传，鼻烟的原料是优质烟草，它最初被印第安人视为神圣的祭品。1492年，哥伦比亚发现新大陆后，烟草和鼻烟开始在世界各地传播。鼻烟壶最早由意大利教士利玛窦带入中国，而中国自制鼻烟壶则始于清朝初年。

请看一个例句：Snuff bottle is a traditional Chinese folk craft，which first appeared in China in the mid17th century. What makes a snuff bottle special is not its practical use but that it is painted on the inside.（鼻烟壶是中国传统民间工艺品，最早出现在17世纪中期。鼻烟壶的价值不在于其用途，而在于其内画艺术。）


(英语点津陈蓓编辑）