SECTION 3

TUTOR: OK, Jim. You wanted to see me about your textile design project.

导师：好，吉姆。你想和我谈谈你的纺织品设计项目。

JIM: That's right.

吉姆：是的。

I've been looking at how a range of natural dyes can be used to colour fabrics like cotton and wool.

我一直在研究如何用各种天然染料给棉花和羊毛等织物上色。

TUTOR: Why did you choose that topic?

导师：你为什么选择这个话题?

JIM: Well, I got a lot of useful ideas from the museum, you know, at that exhibition of textiles.

吉姆：我从博物馆得到了很多有用的想法，你知道的，就是那个纺织品展览。

But I've always been interested in anything to do with colour.

但是我一直对任何与颜色有关的东西都感兴趣。

Years ago, I went to a carpet shop with my parents when we were on holiday in Turkey, and I remember all the amazing colours.

几年前，我和父母去土耳其度假时去了一家地毯店，我记得那些所有令人惊艳的颜色。

TUTOR: They might not all have been natural dyes.

导师：他们可能并不都是天然染料。

JIM: Maybe not, but for the project I decided to follow it up.

吉姆：也许不是，但为了项目，我决定继续研究这个话题。

And I found a great book about a botanic garden in California that specialises in plants used for dyes.

我还发现了一本很棒的书，是关于加利福尼亚的一个专门种植用于染料的植物园。

TUTOR: OK. So, in your project, you had to include a practical investigation.

导师：好的。所以，在你的项目中，你必须有一个实际的调查。

JIM: Yeah. At first I couldn't decide on my variables.

吉姆：是的。一开始我无法决定变量。

I was going to just look at one type of fibre for example, like cotton ...

我只看一种纤维，例如棉花……

TUTOR: ... and see how different types of dyes affected it?

导师：还要观察不同类型的染料如何影响它?

JIM: Yes. Then I decided to include others as well, so I looked at cotton and wool and nylon.

吉姆：是的。然后我决定把其他的也包括进来，所以我观察了棉、羊毛和尼龙。

TUTOR: With just one type of dye?

导师：只用一种染料?

JIM: Various types, including some that weren't natural, for comparison.

吉姆：各种类型的。包括一些不是纯天然的染料来做比较。

TUTOR: OK.

导师：好的。

JIM: So, I did the experiments last week.

吉姆：所以，我上周做了实验。

I used some ready-made natural dyes, I found a website which supplied them, they came in just a few days, but I also made some of my own.

我用了一些现成的天然染料，我找到了一个销售网站，几天就收到了，但我也自己做了一些。

TUTOR: That must have taken quite a bit of time.

导师：这一定会花相当多的时间。

JIM: Yes, I'd thought it'd just be a matter of a teaspoon or so of dye, and actually that wasn't the case at all.

吉姆：是的，我认为只需要用大约一茶匙的染料，实际上并非如此。

Like I was using one vegetable, beetroot, for a red dye, and I had to chop up a whole pile of it.

我用了一种蔬菜，甜菜根，做红色的染料。我不得不把它整个切碎。

So it all took longer than I'd expected.

所以花的时间比我预想的要长。

TUTOR: One possibility is to use food colourings.

导师：有一种可能的方法是使用食品色素。

JIM: I did use one. That was a yellow dye, an artificial one.

吉姆：我用过一个。那是一种黄色染料，一种人造染料。

TUTOR: Tartrazine?

导师：柠檬黄?

JIM: Yeah. I used it on cotton first.

吉姆：是的。我先用在棉花上。

It came out a great colour, but when I rinsed the material, the colour just washed away.

它呈现的颜色很好，但当我冲洗材料时，颜色就被洗掉了。

I'd been going to try it out on nylon, but I abandoned that idea.

我本来打算在尼龙上试试，但我放弃了这个想法。

TUTOR: Were you worried about health issues?

导师：你担心健康问题吗?

JIM: I'd thought if it's a legal food colouring, it must be safe.

吉姆：我想如果这是一个合法的食用色素，它必须是安全的。

TUTOR: Well, it can occasionally cause allergic reactions, I believe.

老师：嗯， 我相信它有时也会引起过敏反应。

TUTOR: So what natural dyes did you look at?

导师：那么你在考虑哪些天然染料?

JIM: Well, one was turmeric.

吉姆：嗯，一个是姜黄，

The colour's great, it's a really strong yellow.

颜色很好，是一种很深的黄色。

It's generally used in dishes like curry.

它通常用于像咖喱这样的菜肴中。

TUTOR: It's meant to be quite good for your health when eaten, but you might find it's not permanent when it's used as a dye - a few washes, and it's gone.

导师：食用时，它似乎对你的健康很好，但你可能会发现用作染料时，它不是永久性的，经过几次冲洗，它就掉色了。

JIM: Right. I used beetroot as a dye for wool.

吉姆：是的。我用甜菜根作羊毛的染料。

When I chop up beetroot to eat I always end up with bright red hands, but the wool ended up just a sort of watery cream shade. Disappointing.

当我切甜菜根吃的时候，我的手总是红彤彤的，但是羊毛最后变成了一种稀奶油色。令人失望。

TUTOR: There's a natural dye called Tyrian purple.

导师：有一种叫做泰尔红紫的天然染料。

Have you heard of that?

你听说过吗?

JIM: Yes. It comes from a shellfish, and it was worn in ancient times but only by important people as it was so rare.

吉姆：听说过。它来自一种贝类，在古代因为它非常罕见，只有重要人物才能穿这种颜色。

I didn't use it.

我没有用过它。

TUTOR: It fell out of use centuries ago, though one researcher managed to get hold of some recently.

导师：几个世纪前它不用了，尽管最近一位研究人员设法找到了一些。

But that shade of purple can be produced by chemical dyes nowadays.

但是现在那种紫色的色度可以用化学染料染出来。

Did you use any black dyes?

你用过黑色染料吗?

JIM: Logwood. That was quite complicated.

吉姆：洋苏木。这种染料使用相当复杂。

I had to prepare the fabric so the dye would take.

我需要提前处理好布料，这样染料才能上色。

TUTOR: I hope you were careful to wear gloves.

导师：我希望你小心，要戴手套。

JIM: Yes. I know the danger with that dye.

吉姆：好的。我知道那种染料有危险。

TUTOR: Good. It can be extremely dangerous if it's ingested.

导师：很好。如果你摄入它，会非常危险。

Now, presumably you had a look at an insect-based dye?

现在，也许你考虑过一种昆虫染料?

Like cochineal, for example?

比如说胭脂红?

JIM: Yes. I didn't actually make that, I didn't have time to start crushing up insects to get the red colour and anyway they're not available here, but I managed to get the dye quite easily from a website.

吉姆：是的。我并没有做那个，我没有时间去碾碎昆虫来得到那种红色，这不容易实现，但是我很容易地从一个网站上得到了染料。

But it cost a fortune.

但它花了我一大笔钱。

I can see why it's generally just used in cooking, and in small quantities.

我可以理解为什么人们只在烹饪中少量地使用这种染料了。

TUTOR: Yes, it's very effective, but that's precisely why it's not used as a dye.

导师：是的，它非常有效的，但这正是为什么不被用作染料的原因。

JIM: I also read about using metal oxide.

吉姆：我也读过关于使用金属氧化物的相关读物。

Apparently you can allow iron to rust while it's in contact with the fabric, and that colours it.

很明显，当铁接触织物时，会让它生锈，从而使织物变色。

TUTOR: Yes, that works well for dying cotton.

导师：是的，它适用于染棉质织物。

But you have to be careful as the metal can actually affect the fabric and so you can't expect to get a lot of wear out of fabrics treated in this way.

但是你必须小心，因为金属会影响织物，所以不要期待通过这种方法染出的织物的还能很耐用。

And the colours are quite subtle, not everyone likes them.

并且织物的颜色很微妙，不是每个人都喜欢。

Anyway, it looks as if you've done a lot of work ...

总之，看起来你做了很多工作……