SECTION 4

Good morning, everyone. I've been invited to talk about my research project into Australian Aboriginal rock paintings.

大家早上好！我今天受邀前来和大家分享一下我关于澳大利亚原住民岩画艺术的研究。

The Australian Aborigines have recorded both real and symbolic images of their time on rock walls for many thousands of years.

数千年来，澳洲原住民在岩石上记录了真实的和象征性的形象。

Throughout the long history of this tradition, new images have appeared and new painting styles have developed.

在这个传统艺术的整个历史中，新的形象和绘画技巧层出不穷。

And these characteristics can be used to categorise the different artistic styles.

我们通过这些特征来对岩画的艺术风格进行分类。

Among these are what we call the Dynamic, Yam and Modern styles of painting.

据此我们将岩画分为“活力派”、“薯蓣派”和“现代派”。

One of the most significant characteristics of the different styles is the way that humans are depicted in the paintings.

这些不同的流派之间一个显著的区别在于它们表现人物的方式。

The more recent paintings show people in static poses.

岩画的出现时间越晚，上面的人物形象越静态。

But the first human images to dominate rock art paintings, over 8,000 years ago, were full of movement.

而在8千年前的早期岩画中的人物形象则充满了动感。

These paintings showed people hunting and cooking food and so they were given the name 'Dynamic' to reflect this energy.

这些岩画描绘了人们狩猎和烹饪食物的场景。而正因为这些画所描绘的这些动态行为，人们才将它们命名为“活力派”。

It's quite amazing considering they were painted in such a simple stick-like form.

这些岩画的表现手法都是简单而线条化的，想想就很神奇。

In the Yam period, there was a movement away from stick figures to a more naturalistic shape.

到了“薯蓣派”的时代，岩画艺术开始出现了由线条形象向真实形象的变化。

However, they didn't go as far as the Modern style, which is known as 'x-ray' because it actually makes a feature of the internal skeleton as well as the organs of animals and humans.

但这种转变又不像现代派那么夸张，现代派又被称为“X光”，因其描绘了人和动物的内部骨架和器官。

The Yam style of painting got its name from the fact that it featured much curvier figures that actually resemble the vegetable called a yam, which is similar to a sweet potato.

薯蓣派的得名是因为曲线轮廓很像一种叫做薯蓣的和红薯很像的植物。

The Modern paintings are interesting because they include paintings at the time of the first contact with European settlers.

现代派岩画非常有意思，因为这些画描绘了当地人与欧洲殖民者早期接触的场景。

Aborigines managed to convey the idea of the settlers' clothing by simply painting the Europeans without any hands, indicating the habit of standing with their hands in their pockets!

为了表达殖民者的衣着风格，原住民将这些欧洲人都画成没有手臂的形象，暗示他们习惯将手插在口袋里的习惯。

Size is another characteristic.

形象的大小是另外一个特征。

The more recent images tend to be life size or even larger, but the Dynamic figures are painted in miniature.

早期活力派的岩画形象很小，但是近期的图画往往和真人一样大或者更大些。

Aboriginal rock art also records the environmental changes that occurred over thousands of years.

除此之外原住民留下的岩画还记录了千百年来的环境变化。

For example, we know from the Dynamic paintings that over 8,000 years ago, Aborigines would have rarely eaten fish and sea levels were much lower at this time.

比如说，通过8千多年前的活力派岩画我们能了解到当时的原住民基本不吃鱼，而且当时的海平面比现在要低很多。

In fact, fish didn't start to appear in paintings until the Yam period along with shells and other marine images.

实际上，鱼类、贝类以及其他海洋生物的形象直到薯蓣派时期才出现。

The paintings of the Yam tradition also suggest that, during this time, the Aborigines moved away from animals as their main food source and began including vegetables in their diet, as these feature prominently.

薯蓣派时期的岩画传统还告诉我们，在那个时期原住民已经逐渐不再将动物作为主要的食物来源而开始食用蔬菜，因为这些形象在岩画中开始占据主导地位。

Freshwater creatures didn't appear in the paintings until the Modern period from 4,000 years ago.

而淡水生物的形象直到约4千年前的现代派时期才开始出现在岩画中。

So, these paintings have already taught us a lot.

这些岩画已经给我们传递了大量的信息。

But one image that has always intrigued us is known as the 'Rainbow Serpent'.

但是有一幅被称作“彩虹蛇”的岩画却一直吸引着我们。

The Rainbow Serpent, which is the focus of my most recent project, gets its name from its snake or serpent-like body and it first appeared in the Yam period 4 to 6,000 years ago.

彩虹蛇是我近年来的主要研究内容。它的得名是因为它蛇形的身体。这幅岩画出现在4到6千年前。

Many believe it is a curious mixture of kangaroo, snake and crocodile.

很多人认为它是一个袋鼠、蛇和鳄鱼的奇怪的混合体。

But we decided to study the Rainbow Serpent paintings to see if we could locate the animal that the very first painters based their image on.

但我们研究彩虹蛇的目的是希望能够找到当时画这幅画的人们所描绘的这种动物。

The Yam period coincided with the end of the last ice age.

薯蓣派结束的时期碰巧赶上上一次冰期的末期。

This brought about tremendous change in the environment, with the sea levels rising and creeping steadily inland.

这给当时的环境带来了天翻地覆的变化，比如海平面的升高并逐渐侵蚀内陆。

This flooded many familiar land features and also caused a great deal of disruption to traditional patterns of life, hunting in particular.

这次运动淹没了很多陆地，并对原住民的传统的生活方式带来巨大的影响，尤其是狩猎。

New shores were formed and totally different creatures would have washed up onto the shores.

新的海岸线形成了，全新的生物物种被带上了岸。

We studied 107 paintings of the Rainbow Serpent and found that the one creature that matches it most closely was the Ribboned Pipefish, which is a type of sea horse.

我们研究了一百零七幅彩虹蛇的岩画，发现和它们的形象最接近的生物是缎带海龙，它们是海马的一种。

This sea creature would have been a totally unfamiliar sight in the inland regions where the image is found and may have been the inspiration behind the early paintings.

这种海洋生物对这些陆地上的原住民来说是一种完全新鲜的东西，这可能就是他们创作这些岩画的灵感来源。

So, at the end of the ice age there would have been enormous changes in animal and plant life.

在上一个冰期的末期，地球上的动物和植物都发生了巨大的变化。

It's not surprising then, that the Aborigines linked this abundance to the new creatures they witnessed.

当时的原住民自然会将动植物的富足与新物种的出现联系起来。

Even today, Aborigines see the Rainbow Serpent as a symbol of creation, which is understandable given the increase in vegetation and the new life forms that featured when the image first appeared.

时至今日，澳洲原住民仍将彩虹蛇视为造物的象征。这并不难理解，因为彩虹蛇在岩画中出现时出现了许多植物和生命形态。