 如何表達“鼻煙壺”
[ 2006-06-19 14:18 ]
女王80大壽？您一定會說，英國女王伊麗莎白二世不是在4月21日剛剛過完生日嗎？原來，英國女王有兩個“生日”，4月份那個是她的80歲誕辰，而6月17日這個則是她的官方生日。為此，英國華夏文化協會為女王準備了一件特殊禮物——一個繪有女王肖像的中國鼻煙壺，由中國內畫大師張增樓花數月制作而成。
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portrait of the queen on the front
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three Chinese characters of "Kang Er Shou" on the back
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請看《人民日報》相關報道：When the whole Britain is looking forward to the official celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday, a snuff bottlewith the Queen's portrait painted on its inside by a Chinese artist was presented here on Wednesday as a special gift.
The bottle portrait was done by Zhang Zenglou, one of the most prominent artists specializing in snuff bottle painting, known as inside-painting.
報道中的snuff bottle就是聞名于世的工藝制品“鼻煙壺”。Snuff原指用力“吸氣”，可引申為“（吸）鼻煙”，如：My father used to take snuff.（我父親過去常吸鼻煙。）另外，若snuff和介詞out連用，常常用來指代“死去”、“扼殺”，例如：Greedy heirs waited for the old man to snuff out. （貪心的繼承人只待著老頭斷氣。）
Snuff bottle（鼻煙壺）是工藝制品中的一朵奇葩，它將玉石、水晶、瑪瑙、瓷等與繪畫和書法藝術結合，被雅士們視為珍貴文玩。據傳，鼻煙的原料是優質煙草，它最初被印第安人視為神圣的祭品。1492年，哥倫比亞發現新大陸后，煙草和鼻煙開始在世界各地傳播。鼻煙壺最早由意大利教士利瑪竇帶入中國，而中國自制鼻煙壺則始于清朝初年。
請看一個例句：Snuff bottle is a traditional Chinese folk craft，which first appeared in China in the mid17th century. What makes a snuff bottle special is not its practical use but that it is painted on the inside.（鼻煙壺是中國傳統民間工藝品，最早出現在17世紀中期。鼻煙壺的價值不在于其用途，而在于其內畫藝術。）
(英語點津陳蓓編輯）
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