Part I
Professor: Some of the world’s oldest preserved art is the cave art of Europe, most of it in Spain and France. And the earliest cave paintings found to date are those of the Chauvet Cave in France discovered in 1994. And you know, I remember when I heard about the results of the dating of the Chauvet paintings, I said to my wife, “Can you believe these paintings are over 30,000 years old?” And my 3-year old daughter piped up and said, “Is that older than my great-grandmother?” That was the oldest age she knew.
And you know, come to think of it, It’s pretty hard for me to really understand how long 30,000 years is too. I mean, we tend to think that people who lived at that time must have been pretty primitive. But I’m gonna show you some slides in a few minutes and I think you will agree with me that this art is anything but primitive. They are masterpieces. And they look so real, so alive that it’s very hard to imagine that they are so very old.
我的意思是，我们倾向于认为生活在那个时代的人一定非常原始。
而且它们看起来如此真实，如此鲜活，以至于很难想象它们是如此古老。
1. to date
until now 迄今为止；到目前为止；直到现在
E.g.: The exhibition contains some of his best work to date.
这个展览有他迄今为止一些最好的作品。
2. pipe up
(informal) to begin to speak 开始说；说起来
E.g.: The person next to me piped up with a silly comment.
我旁边那位愚蠢地评论起来。
3. come to think of it
used when you suddenly remember sth or realize that it might be important （用于突然想起某事或认识到其重要性）想起来了，的确
E.g.: Come to think of it, he did mention seeing you.
想起来了，他确实提到看见过你。
4. slide |slaɪd|
noun. a small piece of film held in a frame that can be shown on a screen when you shine a light through it 幻灯片
E.g.: a slide show/projector
幻灯放映；幻灯机
5. anything but
definitely not 决不；根本不
E.g.: The hotel was anything but cheap.
这家旅馆根本不便宜。
Part II
Now, not everyone agrees on exactly how old. A number of the Chauvet paintings have been dated by a lab to 30,000 or more years ago. That would make them not just older than any other cave art, but about twice as old as the art in the caves at Altamira or Lascaux, which you may have heard of. Some people find it hard to believe Chauvet is so much older than Altamira and Lascaux, and they noted that only one lab did the dating for Chauvet, without independent confirmation from any other lab.
But be that as it may, whatever the exact date, whether it’s 15,000, 20,000 or 30,000 years ago, the Chauvet paintings are from the dawn of art. So they are a good place to start our discussion of cave painting.
这将使它们不仅比任何其他洞穴艺术更古老，而且比你可能听说过的Altamira或者Lascaux的洞穴艺术还要古老两倍。
他们指出只有一个实验室为 Chauvet 进行了日期鉴定，但没有任何来自其他实验室的独立认可。
1. date |deɪt|
verb. to say when sth old existed or was made 确定年代
E.g.: The skeleton has been dated at about 2000 BC.
这骨架的年代为公元前2000年左右。
2. note |nəʊt|
verb. to mention sth because it is important or interesting 指出；特别提到
E.g.: The report notes that export and import volumes picked up in leading economies.
报告特别指出经济大国的进出口量攀升。
3. be that as it may
(formal) despite that 尽管如此
E.g.: I know that he has tried hard; be that as it may, his work is just not good enough.
我知道他已经尽力了，尽管如此，他的工作仍不太理想。
4. dawn|dɔ:n|
noun. the beginning or first signs of sth 开端；曙光；萌芽
E.g.: Peace marked a new dawn in the country's history.
和平使这个国家的历史翻开了新的一页。
Part III
Now, one thing you’ve got to remember is the context of these paintings. Paleolithic humans - that’s the period we are talking about here, the Paleolithic, the early Stone Age, not too long after humans first arrived in Europe - the climate was significantly colder then and so rock shelters, shallow caves were valued as homes protected from the wind and rain. And in some cases at least, artists drew on the walls of their homes. But many of the truly great cave art sites like Chauvet were never inhabited.
These paintings were made deep inside a dark cave, where no natural light can penetrate. There’s no evidence of people ever living here. Cave bears, yes, but not humans. You would have had to make a special trip into the cave to make the paintings, and a special trip to go see it. And each time you’d have to bring along torches to light your way. And people did go see the art. There are charcoal marks from their torches on the cave walls clearly dating from thousands of years after the paintings were made. So we can tell people went there.
那时气候明显更冷，因此有岩石遮蔽的地方、浅洞被视为抵御风雨的家园。
洞穴墙壁上有他们火把留下的木炭痕迹，那些痕迹显然是在这些画作完成数千年之后才留下的。
1. context |ˈkɒntekst|
noun. the situation in which sth happens and that helps you to understand it （事情发生的）背景，环境，来龙去脉
E.g.: This speech needs to be set in the context of Britain in the 1960s.
这篇演说需要放到20世纪60年代的英国这一背景之下来看待。
2. inhabit |ɪnˈhæbɪt|
verb. to live in a particular place 居住在；栖居于
E.g.: some of the rare species that inhabit the area
生活在这个地区的一些罕见物种
3. penetrate |ˈpenɪtreɪt|
verb. to go into or through sth 穿过；进入
E.g.: These fine particles penetrate deep into the lungs.
这些微小的尘埃可深深地吸入肺部。
4. tell |tel|
verb. to know, see or judge sth correctly 知道；看出；确切地判断
E.g.: I could tell (that) he was angry from his expression.
从他的表情我看得出他生气了。
Part IV
They came but they didn’t stay. Deep inside a cave like that is not really a place you’d want to stay, so, why? What inspired the Paleolithic artists to make such beautiful art in such inaccessible places? We’ll never really know of course, though it’s interesting to speculate.
But, um, getting to the paintings themselves, virtually all Paleolithic cave art represents animals, and Chauvet is no exception. The artists were highly skilled at using, or even enhancing, the natural shape of the cave walls to give depth and perspectives to their drawings, the sense of motion and vitality in these animals. Well, wait till I show you the slides.
但是，嗯，谈到绘画本身，几乎所有旧石器时代的洞穴艺术都描绘动物，Chauvet的洞穴艺术也不例外。
1. inaccessible |ˌɪnækˈsesəbl|
adj. difficult or impossible to reach or to get 难以达到的；不可得到的
E.g.: They live in a remote area, inaccessible except by car.
他们住在一处偏远地区，只能开车去。
2. speculate |ˈspekjuleɪt|
verb. to form an opinion about sth without knowing all the details or facts 推测；猜测；推断
E.g.: We can speculate that the stone circles were used in some sort of pagan ceremony.
我们可以推测，这些石头排成的圆圈是用于某种异教崇拜仪式的。
3. get to
to deal with(something) 处理
E.g.:The letter is on my desk, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
信就在我桌子上，但我还没来得及看。
4. represent |ˌreprɪˈzent|
verb. to show sb/sth, especially in a picture 展示；描绘
E.g.: The carvings represent a hunting scene.
这些雕刻作品描绘了一幅狩猎的场面。
5. perspective |pəˈspektɪv|
noun. the angle ordirection that a person uses to look at an object 看东西的角度/方向
E.g.: She drew the building from several different perspectives.
她从几个不同的角度画了这个建筑。
6. vitality |vaɪˈtæləti|
noun. energy and enthusiasm 生命力；活力；热情
E.g.: She is bursting with vitality and new ideas.
她朝气蓬勃，满脑子新主意。
Part V
Anyway, most Paleolithic cave art depicts large herbivores. Horses are most common overall with deer and bison pretty common too, probably animals they hunted. But earlier at Chauvet, there is a significant interest in large dangerous animals, lots of rhinoceros, lions, mammoth, bears. Remember that the ranges of many animal species were different back then so all these animals actually lived in the region at that time. But the Chauvet artists didn’t paint people. There is a half-man-half-bison creature and there is outline of human hands but no depiction of a full human.
So, why these precise animals? Why not birds, fish, snakes? Was it for their religion, magic or sheer beauty? We don’t know. But whatever it was, it was worth it to them to spend hours deep inside a cave with just a torch between them and utter darkness. So, on that note, let’s dim the lights, so we can see these slides and actually look at the techniques they used.
要知道当时许多动物的栖息范围是不同的，因此所有这些出现在壁画上的动物当时实际上都在该地区生活过。
那么，为什么就确切选这些动物画呢？为什么不画鸟、鱼、蛇呢？
但不管它是什么，它值得那些人深入洞穴，在完全漆黑的环境中只带一个火炬度过几个小时。
1. herbivore 食草动物， carnivore 食肉动物， omnivore 杂食动物
2. range |reɪndʒ|
noun. the area in which ananimal or plant naturally lives 动植物自然栖息范围
E.g.: The grizzly bear's range is largely limited to the northwestern parts of North America.
灰熊的活动范围主要限于北美西北部。
3. outline|ˈaʊtlaɪn|
noun. the line that goes around the edge of sth, showing its main shape but not the details 轮廓线；略图
E.g.: She drew the figures in outline.
她简略地勾勒出人物的轮廓。
4. precise|prɪˈsaɪs|
adj. you use precise to emphasize that you are referring to an exact thing, rather than something vague. 明确的；确切的
E.g.: The precise location of the wreck was discovered in 1988.
残骸的确切位置是在1988年发现的。
5. sheer |ʃɪə(r)|
adj. complete and not mixed with anything else 完全的；纯粹的；十足的
E.g.: I only agreed out of sheer desperation.
我一时情急才同意的。
6. note |nəʊt|
noun. a particular quality in sth, for example in sb's voice or the atmosphere at an event 特征；口气；调子；气氛
E.g.: On a more serious note (= speaking more seriously) …
更严格地讲…
7. dim |dɪm|
verb. if a light dims or if you dim it, it becomes or you make it less bright （使）变暗淡，变微弱，变昏暗
E.g.: The lights in the theatre dimmed as the curtain rose.
幕布升起，剧场内的灯光暗了下来。
