秦始皇帝已不在，兵馬俑繼續(xù)前行

導讀：‘Terracotta Warriors’ at Discovery Times Square’ 兵馬俑現(xiàn)身紐約時代廣場

In “Terracotta Warriors,” a life-size charioteer and horse from the third century B.C.
兵馬俑—一個真人大小的戰(zhàn)車御夫和他的戰(zhàn)馬（公元前3世紀）


Two millenniums ago, when the last shovelful of dirt fell on China’s terra-cotta soldiers, the thought was that they would be seen in this life no more. Buried in an emperor’s tomb, they would thenceforth secure and patrol imperial turf in the afterlife.
兩百年前，當最后一鏟泥土落下時，世人皆以為這些中國兵馬俑此生都不會被再看到。這些埋葬在皇帝墓穴中的兵馬俑會在來世保衛(wèi)和守護帝王的疆土。

Terracotta Warriors兵馬俑

A pre-Qin dynasty roof tile. 一塊先秦時代的屋瓦片

Fate had other plans. Since being exhumed in the late 20th century the same soldiers have been on a global Long March, moving from one sold-out museum appearance to the next, and serving as, among other things, emblems of China’s neo-imperial clout in the here and now.
命運總是不盡如人意。自20世紀晚期被掘出以來，同一個兵馬俑---作為中國古代君王權威的象征，就已經(jīng)踏上了全球性的長征，輾轉于一個又一個滿座的博物館.

That army, or a small piece of it, has just arrived in New York City in an exhibition called “Terracotta Warriors: Defenders of China’s First Emperor” at Discovery Times Square. Only nine of the estimated 8,000 figures entombed at Xian in central China have made the trip. But they’re in great shape and, fitted out with weapons, armor, livestock, cash and a portable kitchen, they’re a sight to see.
這個已經(jīng)抵達紐約時代廣場并進行展出的軍隊，或者只是其中之一就是兵馬俑：中國第一位皇帝的守衛(wèi)軍。8000多埋葬在中國中部西安的兵馬俑中僅有9個參與這次巡展。但是，這些兵馬俑身型壯碩并配備有兵器，鎧甲，牲畜，錢幣和一個袖珍廚房，真是難得一見的奇觀。

They also come with an action-adventure narrative, part deep history, part archaeological romance. The history goes back to well before the third century B.C., when north-central China was a chaos of feuding states, all intent on domination. The one called Qin, ruled by horse breeders whose main trade came to lie outside China, seemed least likely to succeed. But when, after centuries of clashes, the dust finally settled, the Qin was left standing, and in command.
這些兵馬俑都是富有傳奇色彩的故事，一部分源于深厚的歷史，一部分源于考古奇跡。追溯歷史到公元前3世紀，當時華北大地處于一片混沌的敵對狀態(tài)，各國都意圖控制大局。其中游離于中國大地外部的游牧國家--秦國似乎是最不可能完成這項任務的。然而，幾個世紀的征戰(zhàn)后，塵埃最終落定，秦國征服各國，使其聽命。

Its leaders were almost absurdly ambitious.
秦國君王太過野心勃勃。

Forget about being big fish in a small territorial pond. They wanted to fill and control the biggest pond, China itself, then considered the center of the world, and made quick progress toward this goal.
忘記自己只是小池中的一條大魚。他們妄圖占領并操控最大的池子—中國，被認為是世界中心，并朝著這一目標迅速邁進。

Victories bred further ambitions. Why stop at China? Why not rule the cosmos,？
勝利總會讓人滋生更大的野心。為何止步于中國呢？為何不統(tǒng)治整個宇宙呢？

That was the aim of the penultimate and greatest Qin ruler, Ying Zheng, who was born in 259 B.C., assumed the throne at 13 and bestowed on himself a freshly invented title: Qin Shihuangdi, or First Emperor of Qin, which really meant first emperor of China. Power, for him, was the elixir of life. He couldn’t get enough, and seemed neurotically afraid to stop trying.
這就是最偉大的秦國君王—嬴政的目標。秦嬴政生于公元前259年，13歲即位，后自封稱號-秦始皇帝，即秦國的第一位皇帝。

Having subdued immense tracts of China’s geography he set about conquering its history too. He gave orders that all chronicles other than those that flatteringly documented the Qin family line be destroyed. Once he had the past under his thumb, he turned a control-freak eye to the future: he would colonize heaven.
已經(jīng)征服了中國遼闊疆土的秦始皇開始改寫歷史。他下令焚燒毀滅除謳歌秦王朝歷史篇章外的所有史志。他認為只要他將過去玩于鼓掌就能夠掌控未來：他就能統(tǒng)治天下。

This he did, or tried to, by creating one of the most ambitious monuments to self on record: a tomb complex more than 40 years in the making — it was still under way when he died at 50 — that reproduced, to scale and in imperishable form, imperial life as he knew it on earth.
他所做的或試圖要做的就是通過創(chuàng)造一個最具野心的豐碑來銘刻自己：一個花費40多年時間建造，并在他50歲駕崩之時仍在修建的墓穴，這個按比例建造的不可磨滅的墓穴再現(xiàn)了秦始皇真實的帝王生活。

Empires can’t exist without armies, so he commissioned one made up of thousands of fighters, from five-star generals to humble foot soldiers, modeled from clay, roughly life size, ready to serve. Each figure was dressed by rank, though with uniforms individually customized: an extra sash here, a bulkier coat there. Faces were differentiated too. Although a very limited number of facial molds were used, each face was given hand-modeled features — noses, ears, mouths, moustaches and so on — so that no two looked alike.
為帝王者必有軍隊，因此秦始皇打造成千上萬的秦俑，從五級將軍到低等步兵，以粘土成模，大致為真人大小，隨時待命。每個秦俑均按級別穿戴量身定制的服制：有的佩戴腰帶，有的身著厚重外套。面部特征也各有特點。盡管使用的面部模具數(shù)量有限，但每張面孔有各自的面部特征-鼻子，耳朵，嘴巴，胡須等等，因此沒有任何2張面孔是相同的。