40年前,兵馬俑的奇跡之門(mén)被打開(kāi),"世界第八大奇跡"出現(xiàn)在眾人眼前。為慶祝秦兵馬俑發(fā)現(xiàn)40周年,China Daily手機(jī)報(bào)推出口語(yǔ)特別策劃"走近兵馬俑",在帶您穿越歷史長(zhǎng)河、探索這些人類(lèi)智慧與藝術(shù)結(jié)晶背后故事的同時(shí),講述孕育這段歷史的神秘土壤——西安的前世今生,并向您介紹相關(guān)詞匯、句式的地道英語(yǔ)表達(dá)。
[第二期]
It was pure dumb luck!
這事純屬巧合!
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口語(yǔ)君:上次陶小德告訴戴可兒他假期去參觀了兵馬俑。此行,他聽(tīng)說(shuō)了哪些奇聞異事呢?
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F: What was your favorite part?
你最喜歡展覽的哪部分?
M: I always like to hear the story of their discovery. It was pure dumb luck!
我總是很愛(ài)聽(tīng)他們發(fā)現(xiàn)古跡的故事。這事純屬巧合!
F: What do you mean?
啥意思?
M: Nobody knew there were thousands of life-size warriors buried there before 1974. Then a farmer was digging a well and he found a general's head made of clay. The discovery was an amazing accident.
1974年以前,根本沒(méi)人知道有上千個(gè)真人大小的兵馬俑被埋在那里。后來(lái),有個(gè)農(nóng)民在那兒打井,結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)陶土制的將軍的頭。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)純屬偶然。
[口語(yǔ)點(diǎn)睛]
口語(yǔ)君:dumb作形容詞有啞的、無(wú)聲的意思。但dumb luck卻與"啞"毫不相干,它是一種非正式用法,常用于口語(yǔ)中,指"發(fā)生了意想不到的好事,尤指這事本不會(huì)發(fā)生"。例如:It was just dumb luck that we found the place at all. (我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了那個(gè)地方純屬巧合。)又如:
A: How come hurt locker won Oscars?
拆彈部隊(duì)那種片子怎么能獲奧斯卡獎(jiǎng)呢?
B: Dumb luck!
走狗屎運(yùn)唄!
[口語(yǔ)天天練之古跡發(fā)掘背后的故事]
口語(yǔ)君:看來(lái)古跡發(fā)掘過(guò)程中有不少故事呢!除了兵馬俑,還有什么其他發(fā)現(xiàn)呢?下面就讓我們邊學(xué)邊把口語(yǔ)練起來(lái)!
1. Excavation in 1976 revealed two further pits both filled with terracotta warriors.
在1976年的發(fā)掘中,人們又發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩個(gè)埋滿(mǎn)兵馬俑的坑穴。
2. Since then discoveries have continued to be made at the site. To date, four pits have been excavated.
自那以后,考古現(xiàn)場(chǎng)不斷有新的發(fā)現(xiàn)。迄今為止,已有4個(gè)坑穴被挖掘。
3. Three are filled with the terra-cotta soldiers, horse-drawn chariots, and weapons. The fourth pit is empty, a testament to the original unfinished construction.
其中三個(gè)坑穴中埋有兵馬俑、陶馬拉的戰(zhàn)車(chē)及武器。四號(hào)坑則空無(wú)一物,有證據(jù)表明該坑一開(kāi)始就沒(méi)建完。
4. Archaeologists estimate the pits may contain as many as 8,000 figures, but the total may never be known.
據(jù)考古學(xué)家估計(jì),這些坑穴中可能埋有多達(dá)8000個(gè)陶俑,但其總數(shù)可能永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)人知曉。