选修4课文只读版~U3

Unit 3 The world meets China

Understanding ideas

Passage 1

WELCOME TO DUNHUANG!

欢迎来到敦煌！

Welcome to Dunhuang！ On the old Silk Road, this city was the gateway to and from Ancient China, a place where East met West, and a green island in the middle of the desert. You can only imagine how travellers felt when they saw the oasis of Dunhuang ahead of them.

欢迎来到敦煌！这座城市坐落在古丝绸之路上，曾经是古代中国的门户、东西方交汇的地方，也是沙海中的绿岛。你可以想象，当旅行者们看到敦煌绿洲就在眼前时，他们的感受

将会是怎样的。

Dunhuang's long and glorious history represents its significance as a centre of cultural and commercial exchange. Today, Dunhuang is a world-class tourist destination boasting sites with UNESCO-protected heritage status. Now, we are going to enter some of the city's famous caves, of which there are more than 700. Known as the Mogao Grottoes these ancient caves were carved out of the rock over a period of 1,000 years. If you look up, you can see the paintings and other artworks that are testimony to how the Silk Road brought East and West together. Look at these statues！ You can see elements from Ancient Greece, India and Iran. Now look around the walls of the cave. Come little bit closer so that you can get a better view. Look at them！ The murals cover an astonishing area of 45,000 square metres.

敦煌悠久而辉煌的历史展现了它作为文化和商业往来中心的重要性。敦煌现在是世界级旅游胜地，拥有受联合国教科文组织保护的文化遗产。敦煌有七百多个洞窟，现在我们将要参观其中几个著名的洞窟。这些古老的洞窟被称为莫高窟，是一多年前在岩石上雕刻而成的。你抬起头就可以看见壁画和其他艺术品，它们见证了丝绸之路是如何将东西方连接在一起的。看看这些塑像！你可以从中发现古希腊、古印度和古伊朗的元素。现在我们来看看洞窟四周的墙壁，请靠近一点，这样你就可以看得更清楚。看看这些壁画！它们的面积有45，000平方米，非常惊人。

   The subjects of the Dunhuang murals vary from religious stories to scenes of everyday life. But one type of mural that is unique to Dunhuang shows the Apsaras, or "Flying Immortals". Representations of these heavenly musicians, singers and dancers decorate the walls of many caves. Take a look at this mural. The Apsaras are depicted sailing in the bright blue sky, with their scarves flying, as if they are about to fly down to meet us. And here is another one. Move over here where you can see it in more detail. The Apsaras are holding lotuses, playing musical instruments, dancing and throwing flowers. The painting of Apsaras reached a peak during the Tang Dynasty； these images are full of life, reflecting the confidence and optimism of people from that time.

敦煌壁画的主题多样，从宗教故事到日常生活，场景各不相同。但是，有一种壁画是敦煌独有的，画的是飞天，也就是“飞仙”。很多洞窟的墙壁上都画着天上的乐师、歌者和舞者。我们看这幅壁画，上面画的是飞天在蔚蓝的天空中飞行，他们帔巾飘飘，好像要飞下来迎接我们。再看这幅，请走到这里，你可以看到更多细节。你可以看到飞天手捧莲花、演奏乐器、跳舞、抛花。飞天壁画在唐朝达到了顶峰；这些图案栩栩如生，反映了当时人们的自信、乐观。

Now, something really extraordinary happened in 1900, when a Taoist priest made one of the most important finds of the 20th century. In a sealed cave, now known as the famous Library Cave, were hidden thousands of manuscripts paintings and scrolls, as well as silk embroideries We'll have a chance to see some of them shortly the Library Cave is only a stone's throw from here. Dating from 405 AD to 1002 AD, these hidden treasures give us a picture of Dunhuang when it was at the very centre of the Silk Road trade. Thanks to this ancient library, we now know that goods arrived in Dunhuang from as far away as North-east Europe, and that goods were also exported from Dunhuang across Asia and Europe. The scrolls are so detailed that they describe the vast range of goods that were imported and exported from Dunhuang, such as ceramics, medicine, perfumes and fruit, to name just a few. The scrolls also reveal how many different communities lived side-by-side within this great city. However, the reason why the Library Cave was sealed up all those years ago remains a mystery.

1900年发生了件非同寻常的事，一位道士的发现，成了二十世纪最重大的发现之一。在一个封闭的洞窟，也就是现在著名的藏经洞中，藏了成千上万的手稿、绘画、卷轴以及丝绸

刺绣。藏经洞离这里很近，我们很快将有机会观看其中的一些展品。这些隐藏的宝藏可追溯到公元405年至公元1002年间，为我们展现了敦煌作为丝绸之路贸易中心时的画面。多亏这个古老的图书馆，我们才得以了解当时的情况：货物从遥远的欧洲东北部抵达敦煌，也从敦煌出口到亚洲和欧洲各地。这些卷轴内容非常详细，描述了敦煌进出口的各种商品，例如陶瓷、药品、香料和水果。这些卷轴还展示了许多不同的群体是如何共同生活在这座名城中的然而，藏经洞为什么在多年以前被密封起来?这至今仍是个谜。

In the Ming Dynasty, trade routes changed and Dunhuang was not as prosperous as it used to be. Gradually, it faded from memory, even though it was once such a great city.

明代，贸易路线发生了变化，敦煌也不像以前那样繁华。尽管敦煌曾经是一个如此繁华的大城市，但它还是渐渐淡出了人们的记忆。

This century is bringing the Silk Road to life once more through the Belt and Road Initiative. Dunhuang has once again become a  global crossroads since it hosted hundreds of representatives

 from over 51 countries for the Silk Road International Cultural Expo in 2017. Given that the theme of the Expo was to promote cultural exchange and strengthen mutual cooperation between the countries along the Silk Road, Dunhuang was the ideal place.

21世纪，“一带一路”倡议为丝绸之路带来新生。2017年，51个国家的数百名代表齐聚此地，参加丝绸之路国际文化博览会，敦煌再次成为世界的活动中心博览会的主题是促进文化交流，加强丝绸之路沿线国家的相互合作。因此敦煌正是理想的会址。

   Now let's move on to the next cave...

现在让我们去参观下一个洞窟…