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This
is a download from BBC Learning English. To find out more, visit our
website 6 Minute English from the BBC Learning English. com.
本文来自BBC Learning English。如需获得更多内容请访问我们的网站BBC Learning English. com。
Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil…
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是尼尔。
Sophie: And I'm Sophie. What do you know about Cleopatra, Neil?
我是苏菲。你对克莉奥帕特拉了解多少，尼尔？
Neil: Well, she was Queen of Egypt… quite a long time ago.
她是很久很久之前的埃及女王。
Sophie: Anything else?
还有呢？
Neil: Didn't she arrive for a meeting with Roman Emperor Julius Caesar rolled up in a carpet? Or is that a Hollywood invention?
她是不是裹着毯子，被人抬着去会见罗马大帝尤利乌斯·凯撒的？还是说这是好莱坞电影杜撰的？
Sophie:
Some historical sources say she was rolled up in a carpet – and others
say she was hidden inside a linen sack. Cleopatra is the subject of
today's show. She was the last pharaoh to rule Egypt and is arguably the
most famous female ruler in history.
一些史料说她是裹着毛毯会见凯撒的，还有一些说法是她藏在亚麻袋里。克莉奥帕特拉是今天节目的主题。她是统治埃及的最后一任法老，也是历史上备受争议的著名女性统治者。
Neil: And the most beautiful.
也是最美丽的。
Sophie:
Well, the jury's out on that one, Neil – and that means people haven't
decided yet. Coins with Cleopatra's portrait on them, for example, show
her with a prominent nose and thin lips.
尼尔，这一点尚无定论，也就是说人们还未对她的外貌给出评定。例如，印有克莉奥帕特拉肖像的硬币显示，她是大鼻子、薄嘴唇。
Neil: Prominent means noticeable – and in this case, I think it means large! So what were her attributes – or main qualities –, then?
Prominent是指显而易见的，这里我觉得是“大”的意思！那么她的主要特征是什么？
Sophie:
Cleopatra was a wily politician. She made important alliances with Rome
to protect her country and was ruthless in dealing with her enemies –
in this case, her siblings – who challenged her as sole ruler of Egypt.
克莉奥帕特拉是一位老谋深算的政治家。她和罗马建立了重要的同盟关系，以保护她的国家，而且她对敌人非常残忍——这里的敌人是指她的兄弟姐妹——他们挑战了她作为埃及唯一统治者的权威。
Neil: Wily means clever and sibling is another word for brother or sister. Didn't she have her siblings murdered?
wily是指机智的，sibling是兄弟或姐妹的别称。难道她杀了她的兄弟姐妹？
Sophie:
Yes, she was very ruthless – and that means without pity. And today's
quiz question is about her family. Can you tell me, Neil, which country
was Cleopatra's family originally from? Is it…a) Macedonia? b) Ethiopia?
Or c) Egypt?
没错，她非常残忍，也就是说她没有同情心。今天的问题和她的家庭有关。你能告诉我，克莉奥帕特拉的家族来自哪里吗？a) 马其顿？b) 埃塞俄比亚？还是 c) 埃及？
Neil: I'm going for c) Egypt – The obvious answer.
我选c) 埃及——很明显的答案。
Sophie:
Well, we'll find out if the obvious answer is the right one, later on
in the show. But let's talk some more about Cleopatra's attributes. She
may not have been Hollywood gorgeous, but she spoke many languages and
was highly educated in philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and oratory.
Here's Susan Walker, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum at
the University of Oxford, with more about this.
好的，稍后我们再看这个明显的答案是不是正确答案。我们继续来谈谈克莉奥帕特拉的特征。她也许不像好莱坞电影中那么华丽，但她会说很多种语言，在哲学、天文学、数学及演讲术方面受过高等教育。苏珊·沃克是牛津大学阿什摩尔博物馆文物管理员，她会讲述更多关于克莉奥帕特拉的故事。
Plutarch
says that what was really remarkable about Cleopatra was not so much
her beauty as the intelligence of her company. She had a very beautiful
voice, which I think is a quality that we perhaps underrate these days,
in estimations of celebrity and she clearly had masses of charisma; the
sort of person who would light up a room; so, enormous personal charm.
普鲁塔克说，与其说克莉奥帕特拉最著名的是她的美丽，不如说是她的智慧。她的嗓音非常优美，我觉得这是我们现在评价名人时，总是会忽略的特质，她有非凡的领导力。这种人具有非凡的个人魅力，可以点亮整个房间。
Neil: So the Roman historian Plutarch wrote about Cleopatra's voice, her charisma and personal charm – but not about her beauty.
所以罗马历史学家普鲁塔克描述了克莉奥帕特拉的声音、领导力和个人魅力，未谈及她的美貌。
Sophie:
That's right. And charisma is, in other words, a strong power to
attract people. Cleopatra's voice was also considered very attractive –
an attribute we underrate today, according to Susan Walker.
没错。领导力，换句话说是一种可以吸引别人的强大力量。克莉奥帕特拉的嗓音也很迷人，据苏珊·沃克说，这种特质如今总被人们低估。
Neil: And underrate means to place too small a value on something.
underrate是指将某物的价值被看低。
Sophie:
Egyptian Pharaohs were regarded as gods – and spectacle – or making a
big visual impact – was an important part of this. Cleopatra was very
skilled at making grand entrances.
埃及法老被看作是神，能制造出视觉奇观。克莉奥帕特拉非常善于制造盛大的出场效果。
Neil:
Rolled up in a carpet for Caesar, or dressed up as Venus on board a
shimmering golden barge, for Mark Anthony. He was a Roman politician and
general.
被裹在毯子里送给凯撒，或装扮成爱神维纳斯的模样，在闪闪发光的金色驳船上与马克·安东尼见面。安东尼是罗马政治家、军事家。
Sophie:
And even her death was spectacular. She and Mark Anthony had lost an
important battle against another Roman general, Octavian. Mark Anthony
had fatally wounded himself when he heard, mistakenly, that Cleopatra
was dead. But before he died, he managed to get back to Cleopatra, who
held him in her arms as he died, in her family tomb. Then she decided to
take her own life.
甚至克莉奥帕特拉的死都很惊人。在一场重要的战役中，她和马克·安东尼败给了另一位罗马将军屋大维。马克·安东尼误以为克莉奥帕特拉死了，于是重伤了自己。但在死之前，他设法找到了克莉奥帕特拉，在克莉奥帕特拉的家族墓地，他死在了她的怀里。然后克莉奥帕特拉也结束了自己的生命。
Neil: You make it sounds like a Shakespearian tragedy!
你像是在讲莎士比亚的悲剧。
Sophie:
Shakespeare did write a play about it. Now, let's hear from Catherine
Edwards, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck,
University of London, about this tragic event.
莎士比亚确实写了一部与此有关的戏剧。我们来听听伦敦大学伯贝克学院古典文学与古代史教授凯瑟琳·爱德华兹讲述这一悲惨故事。
She
plans her own death in this very sort of calculated manner – a manner
that also seems to focus on spectacle yet again. She takes her time, she
has a feast, and then, you know, the figs, the basket of figs arrives
with the asp in it – or was it perhaps a poisoned hairpin – there's a
certain amount of uncertainty about the exact method of her death. I
think most sources prefer the snake.
她仔细地计划着自己的死亡——依旧以一种追求场面的方式。她计算好时间，举办了一场盛宴，然后一篮无花果登场，其中藏有一条毒蛇，也有可能是带毒的发簪——她具体的死亡方式仍有很多不确定性。我觉得大多数人倾向于认为是毒蛇致她死亡的。
Sophie:
So Catherine Edwards says the facts surrounding Cleopatra's suicide
aren't clear. She may have used a snake to bite her, smuggled into her
room in a basket of fruit – but it may have been a poisoned hairpin – or
simply a cup of poison. But she did it in a calculated – or carefully
planned – way.
所以凯瑟琳说，我们还不清楚克莉奥帕特拉的自杀真相。也许是藏在水果篮里的毒蛇被偷偷地带进了她的房间，然后她让毒蛇咬伤了自己——但也许是有毒的发簪——或者只是一杯毒药。但她确实仔细地计划了自己的死亡。
Neil: OK, so the final curtain comes down on Cleopatra– but what about the answer to today's quiz question, Sophie?
所以克莉奥帕特拉的故事落下了帷幕。但是今天问题的答案还没揭晓呢？
Sophie: OK. I asked: which country was Cleopatra's family originally from? Is it…a) Macedonia, b) Ethiopia or c) Egypt?
好的。我的问题是：克莉奥帕特拉的家庭来自哪个国家？a) 马其顿， b) 埃塞俄比亚， 还是 c)埃及？
Neil: I said… Egypt! Of course it is!
我选的是埃及！当然是埃及啦！
Sophie:
And that's the wrong answer, Neil. It's actually a) Macedonia.
Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian
Greek origin that ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great.
这不是正确答案，尼尔！正确答案是马其顿。克莉奥帕特拉是托勒密王朝的一员，该家族是马其顿希腊血统，在亚历山大大帝死后，他们统治了埃及。
Neil: You learn something new every day! Talking of which, here are the words we learned in this programme:
每天都能学到新知识！说到这里，我们一起来看看今天学到的单词：
the jury's out on something
某事尚未确定
prominent
显著的
attributes
特征
wily
聪明的
sibling
兄弟姐妹
ruthless
残忍的
charisma
非凡的领导力
underrate
低估，看低
spectacle
奇观，壮观
calculated
有计划的
Sophie: And that's the end of today's 6 Minute English. Don't forget to join us again soon!
今天的英语六分钟就到这里了。欢迎继续收听我们下一期的BBC六分钟。
Both: Bye!
再见！
6 Minute English from the BBC.
BBC英语六分钟。
