BBC中国故事第四集明朝 Part7 唐朝盛世的衰退

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[00:03.84]In the early 1400s, decades before Columbus and Vasco da Gama, they sent seven great voyages westwards, under Admiral Zheng He.15世纪初，比哥伦布和达伽马还要早几十年，明朝就派郑和七下西洋。
[00:21.74]One of the fleet assembly places was the bay of Quanzhou on the coast of Fujian.舰队集结地址之一就是泉州湾，即福建的海岸线上。
[00:28.43]Here in this great natural lagoon is what the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty called the gathering place of the ships.这片巨大的天然环礁湖正是明朝时中国舰队集结的地方。
[00:38.45]This is where those huge expeditions waited at anchor for the monsoon winds.这些大规模探险舰队就在这里停靠等候季风。
[00:48.15]Huge fleets - 63 ocean-going vessels - the biggest of them with 28,000 crew, just imagine it, heading out to the barbarian countries of the west.舰队规模庞大--有63艘船出海，最大的一次有两万八千民船员，想象一下。他们朝着西方的蛮夷之地扬帆远航。
[01:02.90]Zheng He was a high-ranking Muslim courtier - a eunuch.郑和是位高阶层的穆斯林侍臣-一位太监。
[01:06.61]He wasn't sent to explore or trade, let alone to conquer, but to receive tribute and show off the glory of the Yongle Emperor.他探险的目的并非贸易，更非征服，而是去接受贡品并展现永乐皇帝的威严。
[01:18.70]As for the ships themselves, little was known till the modern excavation of the Ming dockyards in Nanjing.至于船只本身，在现代对南京船厂遗址挖掘之前，人们对它了解不多。
[01:26.72]What they found suggests the largest boats could have reached 240 feet long - the biggest wooden ships yet made.人们的发现表明其最大的船接近75米长--是当时最大的木质船只。
[01:36.66]And they're building a replica now in Nanjing.如今他们正在南京建造复制品。
[01:40.66]Mike, if you look at this assembly shop for a boat, it's pretty sizeable, isn't it?迈克，如果你看这个宝船的组装车间是不是感觉很大？
[01:47.55]It's sensational. 真是震撼。
[01:49.71]It's absolutely amazing. 简直太奇妙了。
[01:49.07]This is not complete yet, it's only half the size.这个还未完工，只是全尺寸的一半。
[01:57.53]It has six main decks, with watertight compartments 'and a great decorated stern towering 60 feet above the keel.它有六层主甲板，有水密船舱，带装饰的船尾在龙骨上矗立高达近20米。
[02:07.69]- All these planks, they're naturally curved. 这些船板，都是自然弯曲的。
[02:10.53]- Yeah.是的。
[02:11.82]Incredibly, it's said Zheng He had 60 of these large vessels. 真是不敢相信，据记载郑和有60艘这样的大船。
[02:16.18]What they called the treasure ships. 被称为郑和宝船。
[02:20.20]It's just an absolutely fantastic, isn't it? 这可真是让人叹为观止，对吧？
[02:23.44]From the inside it looks much bigger than outside. 在里面看起来比外面大多了。
[02:26.76]It's amazing, amazing.真是妙极了。
[02:29.42]And how many masts would a big ship like this have had?这样的大船需要多少根桅杆？
[02:33.57]There are six masts, all together, with the two main masts in the middle.一共六根桅杆，中间的两根是主桅杆。
[02:39.40]The tallest one is 38 meters.最高有38米。
[02:42.78]- That's huge. 好大呀。
[02:43.62]- That's huge. 真大呀。
[02:44.68]It's big mast. 真大。
[02:46.00]Because only that kind of size of sail and mast can drive this boat.只有这样巨大的船帆和桅杆才能驱动这样的大船。
[02:52.52]You remember Zheng He's inscription says,  "And our sails, billowing like clouds.记得郑和描述过：“我们的船帆遮日如云。”
[03:00.65]- Yes!是的！
[03:00.91]"Pushed us on day and night". “让船只日夜飞速航行。”
[03:02.95]- Exactly! --对！
[03:03.76]That's the exact description! 就是这段描述！
[03:05.26]- Fantastic. 太棒啦。
[03:06.23]When we have all these sails in full wind it'll look like that.把这些船帆都迎风展开后就是这个场景。
[03:19.70]There's nothing approaching the treasure ships still afloat today.如今在航行的木帆船都远不及宝船的规模。
[03:22.90]But an ocean-going junk sails out of Hong Kong for a children's charity, and I hitched a ride.但是我搭上了为一个儿童慈善团体从香港出海的一艘木质帆船。
[03:53.19]And today, as China reaches out again to the west, Zheng He has become a national hero.今天，因为中国又一次开始于西方接触，郑和已经成为国家英雄。
[04:00.26]A symbol for the new self-confident world of Chinese expansionism and naval might.代表着一个自信的新国度宣扬着中国国力和海军力量。
[04:25.25]The great Ming voyages were made possibly by Chinese inventions - 下西洋正是凭借着中国人的发明才成为可能--
[04:29.69]the stern rudder, watertight compartments and the magnetic compass, which they already had in the Tang Dynasty.尾舵、水密隔舱还有磁罗盘，他们在唐朝就已经有了这些。
[04:38.33]So how did they navigate?他们是如何导航呢？
[04:39.63]Well, didn't have charts like modern charts, but Chinese merchants had sailed to the Persian Gulf before and east Africa as far back as the Tang Dynasty.虽然没有现代海图，但是中国商人在唐朝就已远航到波斯湾和东非。
[04:50.32]And this is one of the portolans that they used.这是他们使用的航海手册之一。
[04:53.96]Very schematic maps of direction of travel.航行方向有详细图解的地图。
[04:57.83]A bit like a London Tube map, almost.有一点像伦敦地铁地图。
[05:00.96]Top of the page is actually India.这页顶端实际是印度。
[05:03.47]North is that way, you sail this way from China, and the main landmarks are all actually written down in little boxes.北方在那个方向，你沿着这条路线从中国起航，主要的地标实际上已经全部写在这些小方框里了。
[05:11.49]The area of Mumbai there.孟买地区在那里。
[05:13.61]Further on, the area of the Gulf of Cambay, and then towards Pakistan, the Makran Coast and Iran.接着是坎贝湾，然后前往巴基斯坦，马可兰海岸和伊朗。
[05:20.64]And there's an associated handbook which gives you the distances between the different ports and the star directions, too.有一本相关联的手册也指明了不同港口之间的距离和星象说明。
[05:30.18]The seven voyages between 1405 and 1433 went across the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, and down the coast of east Africa.公元1405到1433年之间的七下西洋穿越了印度洋、波斯湾还有红海，一路之下到达东非海岸。
[05:41.56]They brought back new knowledge, rare foods and plants and exotic animals.他们带回了新的知识、珍贵的食物和植物，还有异域的动物。
[05:47.32]Even a giraffe, which the Chinese identified with the mythical unicorn - an auspicious sign for the Yongle Emperor.甚至有一头长颈鹿，中国人认为它是神话中的麒麟--对于永乐皇帝这是一种吉兆。

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BBC中国故事 第四集 明朝 Part7 唐朝盛世的衰退

BBC中国故事第四集明朝 Part7 唐朝盛世的衰退