A Lion, A SAint, And An EmpEror 獅子、圣人和國(guó)王

V. M. Hillyer

——V. M.希利爾（仲秋譯）

V. M.希利爾（1875—1931），美國(guó)著名兒童教育家、科普作家，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》，該書寫于二十世紀(jì)二三十年代。

Do you? like to? go to the zoo？ Almost everybody likes to look at animals or hunt animals or play with animals or draw animals or eat animals. A man named Barye liked to make statues of animals.

Barye lived in Paris. He worked in a jewelry shop and was a goldsmith as were so many of the Renaissance sculptors of Florence. But Barye lived much later than the Renaissance. He lived in the 1800's.

Barye loved to go to the zoo in Paris. He used to take paper and crayons to the zoo and draw pictures of the animals. Then he would go home and make little statues of the animals he had drawn. When he was at work in the jewelry shop， he often made tiny gold animals for watch chains and necklaces and bronze animals to go on clocks. In this way Barye practiced until he became the best animal sculptor of his time in the world.

你喜歡去動(dòng)物園嗎？幾乎所有人都會(huì)喜歡動(dòng)物吧，只不過(guò)有的人喜歡看動(dòng)物，有的人喜歡獵獲動(dòng)物，有的人喜歡和動(dòng)物玩，有的人喜歡畫動(dòng)物，還有的人喜歡吃動(dòng)物肉。而有一個(gè)叫巴里的人，卻很喜歡雕刻動(dòng)物。

巴里住在巴黎，在一家珠寶店里當(dāng)金匠，這與文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期的許多法國(guó)雕塑家一樣。只不過(guò)巴里生活在19世紀(jì)，已經(jīng)是文藝復(fù)興發(fā)生很久之后了。

巴里很喜歡去巴黎的動(dòng)物園，他去的時(shí)候總會(huì)帶上紙和筆，給動(dòng)物畫像?；丶液笏€會(huì)給他繪制的動(dòng)物形象制作雕像。在珠寶店工作的時(shí)候，巴里經(jīng)常做一些可以掛在手表鏈和項(xiàng)鏈上的動(dòng)物金像。他還做一些青銅的動(dòng)物像，用來(lái)做鐘表的配飾。就這樣，巴里的雕刻技術(shù)越來(lái)越好。最后，他成了那個(gè)時(shí)代世界上最優(yōu)秀的動(dòng)物雕塑家。

His lions and tigers were especially liked by Americans and on the street corners of American towns men used to sell plaster casts of Barye's Walking Lion.

Many of Barye's bronzes show pain and cruelty. He seemed to like to make statues such as a tiger eating an alligator or a jaguar eating a rabbit. Very few people like to see one animal killing another. I'm sure I don't.

Many of Barye's bronze animals are much too small for monuments， but people call his work monumental sculpture.This means that Barye modeled his statues in the same way large monuments that you see in parks should be modeled. They are not filled with tiny details. I wonder if you would know what I meant if I told you they are heavy in shape. “Heavy in shape” doesn't mean they are not graceful， but it does mean that a Barye bronze looks beautiful even at a distance as well as near at hand—monumental.

巴里雕刻的獅子和老虎特別受美國(guó)人的喜愛。那時(shí)美國(guó)小鎮(zhèn)的街角，總會(huì)有很多做小買賣的叫賣巴里雕刻的《走路的獅子》。

巴里雕刻的許多青銅動(dòng)物像，都表現(xiàn)出了痛苦和殘忍的一面，他似乎很喜歡雕刻類似的雕像，比如老虎吃鱷魚或者美洲豹吃兔子。像他這樣喜歡看動(dòng)物廝殺場(chǎng)面的人確實(shí)是比較少見的。反正我是不喜歡。

其實(shí)巴里雕刻的青銅動(dòng)物像大部分都很小，不能與用于紀(jì)念的雕像相比。但是，人們還是把他的作品稱作“紀(jì)念性雕塑”，這是因?yàn)榘屠锏牡袼茱L(fēng)格，與我們?cè)诠珗@里看到的大型紀(jì)念雕塑的風(fēng)格是一致的，細(xì)節(jié)比較簡(jiǎn)略。如果我說(shuō)巴里的雕塑外形厚重不知道你能不能理解，外形厚重并不表示雕塑不夠優(yōu)雅，而是很有質(zhì)感，其實(shí)這種風(fēng)格的作品無(wú)論是遠(yuǎn)觀還是近看都相得益彰。

Word Study

goldsmith /'ɡ??ldsm?θ/ n. 金匠；金器商

Ninety days later， true to his word， the goldsmith brought the crown.

plaster cast 石膏模型

They took a plaster cast of the teeth for identification purposes.

Almost as good as Barye at making animal statues was still another Frenchman. His name was Frémiet. Frémiet made many splendid statues of animals. In one called Pan and the Two Bear Cubs， Pan is having lots of fun tickling the little bears with a straw.

Frémiet began making statues of people as well as animals. His statues of men on horseback—equestrian statues— proved to? be? his? best ones . His? most famous equestrian statue is his Joan of Arc. Joan is clad in armor and holds aloft the flag of the King of France as she leads the king's soldiers to battle.

Frenchmen are proud of Joan of Arc. They consider her a saint. Frenchmen are proud， too， of another leader of French armies， although he certainly wasn't a saint. His name was Napoleon.

You probably already know the story of Napoleon， the boy from Corsica who went to a military school， became a lieutenant in the French army， then a famous and successful? general . He? made? himself Emperor of France and became the most powerful man of his time in Europe. At last he was defeated and went to live on Elba， an island in the Mediterranean.

另外有一個(gè)法國(guó)人，他和巴里一樣也善于雕刻動(dòng)物的雕像，他就是弗雷米耶。弗雷米耶也雕刻過(guò)很多杰出的動(dòng)物雕像。比如《潘和兩只小熊》就是弗雷米耶許多名作中的一件。作品刻畫的是潘正在用稻草撩逗兩只小熊取樂的場(chǎng)景。

弗雷米耶除雕刻動(dòng)物雕像，也做人物雕像。他雕刻的騎士雕像被人們認(rèn)為是所有騎士雕像中雕刻得最好的，《圣女貞德像》是他最著名的騎士雕像。圣女貞德在雕像中身穿盔甲，高舉著象征法國(guó)國(guó)王的旗幟，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)國(guó)王的士兵作戰(zhàn)。

法國(guó)人把貞德視為圣女，圣女貞德是法國(guó)人民的驕傲。另外法國(guó)還有一位將軍，盡管他并沒有被法國(guó)人奉為圣人，但人們還是以他為榮，這位將軍就是拿破侖。

你很有可能聽過(guò)拿破侖的故事。拿破侖出生于法國(guó)科西嘉島，從小就在軍事學(xué)校接受歷練，后來(lái)晉升為法國(guó)軍隊(duì)的上尉，最后成為一名非常著名的將軍。拿破侖曾經(jīng)成為法國(guó)的帝王——當(dāng)時(shí)歐洲最具權(quán)勢(shì)的人。再后來(lái)，他被打敗了，被流放到地中海的一個(gè)島嶼上生活，這個(gè)島就是厄爾巴島。

From Elba he suddenly returned to France . His old soldiers rallied round him. He raised an army to fight the English and the Prussians. He was beaten at the battle of Waterloo and sent to the island of St. Helena， far away in the South Atlantic Ocean. There Napoleon spent the last six years of his life longing to return to lead his armies once more to victory. And there he died.

This statue shows? Napoleon at St . Helena， a map of Europe spread on his knees， one hand clenched in rage at his loss of power， the other hand loosely open， showing how hopeless he feels his chance of returning is.

The statue was done by a sculptor named Vincenzio Vela， who was born in Switzerland . Do you like it？ It is called a? dramatic? statue? because? it? shows something? happening . It? is? not just Napoleon， but Napoleon wishing to return and win back his past glory.

可是，有一天他突然從厄爾巴島返回了法國(guó)，重新召集起舊日的老部下，并且集結(jié)了一支軍隊(duì)，與英國(guó)人和普魯士人作戰(zhàn)?？上能婈?duì)在滑鐵盧戰(zhàn)役中慘遭失敗，最后他被流放到了圣赫勒拿島，那是坐落在遠(yuǎn)離家園的南大西洋上的小島。他在圣赫勒拿島上度過(guò)了余生——生命中最后的六年。最后的時(shí)間里，他日夜都渴望能夠重回祖國(guó)，再重新率領(lǐng)他的軍隊(duì)取得勝利。但是他沒有等到那一天，最后死在了圣赫勒拿島。

左邊這張雕像刻畫的就是最后被困在圣赫勒拿島上的拿破侖形象。雕像中的拿破侖膝蓋上搭著一張展開的歐洲地圖，他緊握著拳頭的一只手表示出自己權(quán)力喪失的憤怒感，而另一只手的手掌卻無(wú)力地?cái)傞_，透露出他對(duì)回國(guó)無(wú)望的絕望。

雕刻這座雕像的雕塑家叫文森索·維拉，他是一名瑞士人。你喜歡這座雕像嗎？人們把這種雕像叫作“情景雕像”，因?yàn)樗佻F(xiàn)了曾經(jīng)發(fā)生的故事。這座雕像表現(xiàn)的不僅僅是拿破侖這個(gè)人，更多的是拿破侖想要重回祖國(guó)、贏回自己當(dāng)年榮耀的那種渴望的心情。

Word Study

tickle /'t?kl/ v. 逗樂；使高興

I was tickled to discover that we'd both done the same thing.

equestrian /?'kwestri?n/ adj. 馬術(shù)的

There are equestrian events at the Olympic Games.

rally /'r?li/ v. 召集；集合

Many national newspapers rallied to his support.

clench /klent?/ v. 捏緊，攥緊（拳頭等）

rage /re?d?/ n. 暴怒；狂怒

His face was dark with rage.