1.5 Terra Cotta Soldiers and Horses—The Eighth Wonder of the World秦始皇兵马俑——世界第八大奇迹

秦始皇陵是中国历史上第一个皇帝——嬴政（公元前259年至公元前210年）的陵墓，位于中国北部陕西省临潼县城东5公里处的骊山北麓。秦始皇陵建于公元前246年至公元前208年，历时39年，是中国历史上第一个规模庞大、设计完善的帝王陵寝。秦始皇陵是世界上规模最大、结构最奇特、内涵最丰富的帝王陵墓之一。秦始皇陵兵马俑是可以同埃及金字塔和古希腊雕塑相媲美的世界人类文化的宝贵财富，充分体现了2000多年前中国人民巧夺天工的艺术才能，是中华民族的骄傲和宝贵财富。秦俑坑的发现，不仅是我国，而且也是世界考古史上的一次重大发现，可以说是世界第八大奇迹。秦始皇兵马俑是以现实生活为题材而塑造的，艺术手法细腻、明快，手势、脸部表情神态各异，具有鲜明的个性和强烈的时代特征，显示出泥塑艺术的顶峰，为中华民族灿烂的古老文化增添光彩，给世界艺术史补充了光辉的一页。秦兵马俑，无论在数量上、质量上，还是在考古发现上，都乃世上罕见。它为深入研究公元前二世纪秦代的军事、政治、经济、文化、科学和艺术等提供了极为珍贵的实物材料。它既是中国人民的艺术珍品，又是世界人民的共同文化遗产。

In March 1974, a group of peasants digging a well in drought-parched Shanxi Province in northwest China unearthed fragments of a clay figure（泥塑像）— the first evidence of what would turn out to be one of the greatest archaeological（考古学的）discoveries of modern times. Near the unexcavated tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi—who had proclaimed himself first emperor of China in 221 B.C.—lay an extraordinary underground treasure: an entire army of life-size terra cotta soldiers and horses, interred（埋葬）for more than 2,000 years.

The site, where Qin Shi Huangdi's ancient capital of Xianyang once stood, lies a half-hour drive from traffic-clogged Xi'an (pop. 8.5 million). It is a dry, scrubby land planted in persimmon（柿子）and pomegranate—bitterly cold in winter and scorching hot（灼热）in summer—marked by dun-colored hills pocked with caves. But hotels and a roadside souvenir emporium selling five-foot-tall pottery figures suggest that something other than fruit cultivation is going on here.

Over the past 35 years, archaeologists have located some 600 pits, a complex of underground vaults（地窖）as yet largely unexcavated, across a 22-square-mile area. Some are hard to get to, but three major pits are easily accessible, enclosed inside the four-acre Museum of the Terra Cotta Army, constructed around the discovery site and opened in 1979. In one pit, long columns of warriors, reassembled from broken pieces, stand in formation（编队）. With their topknots（头饰）or caps, their tunics or armored vests, their goatees or close-cropped beards, the soldiers exhibit an astonishing individuality. A second pit inside the museum demonstrates how they appeared when they were found: some stand upright, buried to their shoulders in soil, while others lie toppled on their backs, alongside fallen and cracked clay horses. The site ranks with the Great Wall and Beijing's Forbidden City as one of the premier tourist attractions within China.

For those unable to make the journey to Xi'an, some of the choicest specimens unearthed there form the centerpiece of two successive traveling exhibitions that survey the reign of Qin Shi Huangdi (221 B.C.—210 B.C.). "The First Emperor", organized by the British Museum（大英博物馆）, debuted in London before moving to the High Museum in Atlanta. A second show, "Terra Cotta Warriors", then opened at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. It is now at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through October 18, and then moves to the National Geographic Society Museum in Washington, D.C. for display from November 19 to March 31, 2010.

In addition to showcasing recent finds, the exhibitions feature the largest collection of terra cotta figures ever to leave China. The statuary（雕塑）includes nine soldiers arranged in battle formation (armored officers, infantrymen（步兵）, and standing and kneeling archers), as well as a terra cotta horse. Another highlight is a pair of intricately detailed, ten-foot-long bronze chariots（战车）, each drawn by four bronze horses(Too fragile to be transported, the chariots are represented by replicas). The artifacts offer a glimpse of the treasures that attract visitors from around the world to the Xi'an museum site, where 1,900 of an estimated 7,000 warriors have been disinterred（挖掘）so far.

The stupendous find at first seemed to reinforce conventional thinking—that the first emperor had been a relentless warmonger who cared only for military might. As archaeologists have learned during the past decade, however, that assessment was incomplete. Qin Shi Huangdi may have conquered China with his army, but he held it together with a civil administration system that endured for centuries. Among other accomplishments, the emperor standardized weights and measures and introduced a uniform writing script.

Recent digs have revealed that in addition to the clay soldiers, Qin Shi Huangdi's underground realm, presumably a facsimile of the court that surrounded him during his lifetime, is also populated by delightfully realistic waterfowl, crafted from bronze and serenaded by terra cotta musicians. The emperor's clay retinue（随行人员）includes terra cotta officials and even troupes of acrobats, slightly smaller than the soldiers but created with the same methods. "We find the underground pits are an imitation of the real organization in the Qin Dynasty, " says Duan Qingbo, head of the excavation team at the Shaanxi Provincial Research Institute for Archaeology. "People thought when the emperor died, he took just a lot of pottery army soldiers with him. Now they realize he took a whole political system with him."

Qin Shi Huangdi decreed（颁布）a mass-production approach; artisans turned out figures almost like cars on an assembly line. Clay, unlike bronze, lends itself to quick and cheap fabrication（制造）. Workers built bodies, then customized them with heads, hats, shoes, mustaches, ears and so on, made in small molds. Some of the figures appear so strikingly individual they seem modeled on real people, though that is unlikely. "These probably weren't portraits in the Western sense, " says Hiromi Kinoshita, who helped curate the exhibition at the British Museum. Instead, they may have been aggregate portraits: the ceramicists, says Kinoshita, "could have been told that you need to represent all the different types of people who come from different regions of China."

用英语畅谈Terra Cotta Soldiers and Horses黄金句

☺ Qin Shi Huangdi proclaimed himself first emperor of China.秦始皇自称是中国第一个皇帝。

☺ Over the past 35 years, archaeologists have located some 600 pits, a complex of underground vaults as yet largely unexcavated, across a 22-square-mile area.在过去的35年里，考古学家定位了600多个坑道，这是一片位于地下且大部分尚未挖掘的区域，面积有22平方英里。

☺ The site ranks with the Great Wall and Beijing's Forbidden City as one of the premier tourist attractions within China.秦始皇兵马俑和长城、紫禁城并称为中国最具吸引力的旅游景点。

☺ Among other accomplishments, the emperor standardized weights and measures and introduced a uniform writing script.在其他的丰功伟绩中，秦始皇还统一了度量衡和文字。

☺ Recent digs have revealed that Qin Shi Huangdi's underground realm is presumably a facsimile of the court that surrounded him during his lifetime.最近的挖掘表明，秦始皇的地下宫殿很可能复制了他生前宫殿的样子。

☺ Some of the figures appear so strikingly individual they seem modeled on real people, though that is unlikely.一些雕像非常逼真，看起来就好像是用真人做模具的一样，虽然这是不可能的。

用英语畅谈Terra Cotta Soldiers and Horses