世界小史 第60期:繳納貢品
Speaking of labyrinths, have you ever heard the story of the evil Minotaur, half man, half bull,
說到迷宮，你聽說過兇惡的人身牛首怪物的傳說嗎？他一半是人一半是公牛，
who lived in a labyrinth and made the Greeks send him seven youths and seven maidens each year as human sacrifices?
他住在一個迷宮里，他要求希臘每年送給他少男少女各七名作為人祭。
Do you know where that was?
你知道，這發(fā)生在什么地方嗎？
It was in Crete, so there may be some truth in the story.
正是在克里特島。那就是說，這個傳說里說某些東西是真實的。
Cretan kings may once have ruled over Greek cities, and those Greeks may have had to send them tribute.
也許克里特的國王們確實曾一度統(tǒng)治過這些希臘城市，而希臘人則不得不向他們繳納貢品。
In any event, these Cretans were clearly a remarkable people, even if we still don't know much about them.
無論如何，這些克里特人一定是一個非常了不起的民族，雖然我們對這個民族知之甚少。
You only have to look at the paintings on the walls of their palaces to see that they are unlike any made at the same time in Egypt or in Babylon.
他們畫在大宮殿里的畫像看上去跟這一時期在埃及或巴比倫的畫像也完全不一樣。
If you remember, the Egyptian pictures were very beautiful, but rather severe and stiff, a bit like their priests.
如果你還記得的話，埃及的畫像是極美的，但面部表情嚴(yán)厲而僵硬，像他們的祭司。
This was not the case in Crete.
克里特島上的則完全不一樣，
What mattered most to them was to catch animals or people in rapid motion,
他們最喜歡描繪快速運動中的動物或人。
hounds chasing wild boar, and people leaping over bulls, nothing was too hard for them to paint.
他們毫不費力地就能畫出：追捕野豬的獵狗，躍過公牛的人。
