今日主題：Cleopatra 克莉奧派特拉
凱妃老師&派老師共同推薦：雅思聽力最好的課外教材：BBC康康精選雅思會考的主題，堅持每天精聽一定會進步的哦!!
建議方法：
1. 先聽兩三遍 (不看文稿)
2. 再一句一句聽寫 (每句都要聽寫數遍，直到寫出85%以上的字)
3. 最後check文稿，看哪聽不出來，單字沒背過，還是發音不熟。
4. 堅持天天聽，就能每天進步哦。
#BBC六分鐘英語
MP3音檔(按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://static.iyuba.com/sounds/minutes/1071.mp3
只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，
康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：
中英文稿：
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Neil…
大家好，歡迎收聽六分鐘英語，我是尼爾。
And I’m Sophie. What do you know about Cleopatra, Neil?
我是蘇菲。關於克莉奧派特拉你知道多少，尼爾？
Well, she was Queen of Egypt… quite a long time ago.
她是埃及女王，很久很久之前的。
Anything else?
還有呢？
Didn’t she arrive for a meeting with Roman Emperor Julius Caesar rolled up in a carpet? Or is that a Hollywood invention?
她是不是裹著毯子，被人抬著會見羅馬大帝尤利烏斯•凱撒的？還是這是好萊塢電影杜撰的？
Some historical sources say she was rolled up in a carpet – and others say she was hidden inside a linen sack. Cleopatra is the subject of today’s show. She was the last pharaoh to rule Egypt and is arguably the most famous female ruler in history.
一些史料說她是裹著毛毯會見凱撒的，還有一些說法是她藏在亞麻袋裡。克莉奧派特拉是今天節目的主題。她是統治埃及的最後一任法老，也是歷史上備受爭議的著名女性統治者。
And the most beautiful.
也是最美麗的。
Well, the jury’s out on that one, Neil – and that means people haven’t decided yet. Coins with Cleopatra’s portrait on them, for example, show her with a prominent nose and thin lips.
這還值得確認，也就是說人們至今還不能確定。例如，印有克莉奧派特拉肖像的硬幣顯示，她是大鼻子、薄嘴唇。
Prominent means noticeable – and in this case, I think it means large! So what were her attributes – or main qualities –, then?
Prominent是指顯而易見的，這裡我覺得是指大！所以她主要的特徵是什麼？
Cleopatra was a wily politician. She made important alliances with Rome to protect her country and was ruthless in dealing with her enemies – in this case, her siblings – who challenged her as sole ruler of Egypt.
克莉奧派特拉是一位老謀深算的政治家。她和羅馬建立了重要的聯盟，以保護她的國家，對待敵人時，她冷酷無情，在這裡是指挑戰她作為埃及統治者權威的兄弟姐妹。
Wily means clever and sibling is another word for brother or sister. Didn’t she have her siblings murdered?
wily是指機智的，sibling是兄弟或姐妹的別稱。難道她殺了她的兄弟姐妹？
Yes, she was very ruthless – and that means without pity. And today’s quiz question is about her family. Can you tell me, Neil, which country was Cleopatra’s family originally from? Is it…a) Macedonia? b) Ethiopia? Or c) Egypt?
沒錯，她非常冷酷無情，也就是說沒有同情心。今天的問題是關於她的家庭。你能告訴我，克莉奧派特拉的家族來自哪裡？a) 馬其頓？b) 衣索比亞？還是 c) 埃及？
I’m going for c) Egypt – The obvious answer.
我選c) 埃及，很明顯的答案。
Well, we’ll find out if the obvious answer is the right one, later on in the show. But let’s talk some more about Cleopatra’s attributes. She may not have been Hollywood gorgeous, but she spoke many languages and was highly educated in philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and oratory. Here’s Susan Walker, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, with more about this.
之後我們再看這個明顯的答案是不是正確答案。我們再來談談克莉奧派特拉的特徵。她也許不想好萊塢電影中那麼華麗，但她會說很多種語言，在哲學、天文學、數學及演講術方面受過高等教育。蘇珊•沃克是牛津大學阿什摩爾博物館文物管理員，她會講述更多克莉奧派特拉的故事。
Plutarch says that what was really remarkable about Cleopatra was not so much her beauty as the intelligence of her company. She had a very beautiful voice, which I think is a quality that we perhaps underrate these days, in estimations of celebrity and she clearly had masses of charisma; the sort of person who would light up a room; so, enormous personal charm.
普魯塔克說，克莉奧派特拉最著名的與其說是她的美麗，不如說是她的智慧。她的嗓音非常優美，我覺得在評價名人時，這個特質一直被人們忽略，她有非凡的領導力。這種人可以點燃一整屋的人的熱情，具有非凡的個人魅力。
So the Roman historian Plutarch wrote about Cleopatra’s voice, her charisma and personal charm – but not about her beauty.
所以羅馬歷史學家普魯塔克描述了克莉奧派特拉的聲音、領導力和個人魅力，未談及她的美貌。
That’s right. And charisma is, in other words, a strong power to attract people. Cleopatra’s voice was also considered very attractive – an attribute we underrate today, according to Susan Walker.
沒錯。領導力，換句話說是一種可以吸引別人的強大力量。克莉奧派特拉的嗓音也很迷人，據蘇珊•沃克說，這種特質如今總被人低估。
And underrate means to place too small a value on something.
underrate是指將某物的價值看低。
Egyptian Pharaohs were regarded as gods – and spectacle – or making a big visual impact – was an important part of this. Cleopatra was very skilled at making grand entrances.
埃及法老被看做是神，製造強大的視覺效果是很重要的部分。克莉奧派特拉非常善於製造宏偉的出場效果。
Rolled up in a carpet for Caesar, or dressed up as Venus on board a shimmering golden barge, for Mark Anthony. He was a Roman politician and general.
被裹在毯子裡送給凱撒，或裝扮成愛神維納斯的模樣，在閃閃發光的金色駁船上與馬克•安東尼見面。安東尼是羅馬政治家、軍事家。
And even her death was spectacular. She and Mark Anthony had lost an important battle against another Roman general, Octavian. Mark Anthony had fatally wounded himself when he heard, mistakenly, that Cleopatra was dead. But before he died, he managed to get back to Cleopatra, who held him in her arms as he died, in her family tomb. Then she decided to take her own life.
甚至克莉奧派特拉的死都很驚人。她和馬克•安東尼在與另一位羅馬軍事家屋大維對戰時，在一場重要的戰役中敗北。馬克•安東尼在聽到克莉奧派特拉死亡的假消息後，重傷了自己。但他死前，在克莉奧派特拉的家族墳墓找到了她，死在了她的懷裡。然後克莉奧派特拉也選擇結束自己的生命。
You make it sounds like a Shakespearian tragedy!
你講出來像是莎士比亞的悲劇。
Shakespeare did write a play about it. Now, let’s hear from Catherine Edwards, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London, about this tragic event.
莎士比亞確實基於此寫了一部戲劇。我們聽聽倫敦大學伯貝克學院古典文學與古代史教授凱薩琳•愛德華茲講述這一悲慘故事。
She plans her own death in this very sort of calculated manner – a manner that also seems to focus on spectacle yet again. She takes her time, she has a feast, and then, you know, the figs, the basket of figs arrives with the asp in it – or was it perhaps a poisoned hairpin – there’s a certain amount of uncertainty about the exact method of her death. I think most sources prefer the snake.
她仔細計畫著自己的死亡，以一種依舊追求場面的形式。她計算好時間，舉辦了一場盛宴，然後一籃無花果登場，其中藏有一條毒蛇。也有可能是帶毒的發簪，關於她確切的死亡方式仍有很多不確定。大多數傾向於是毒蛇致她死亡。
So Catherine Edwards says the facts surrounding Cleopatra’s suicide aren’t clear. She may have used a snake to bite her, smuggled into her room in a basket of fruit – but it may have been a poisoned hairpin – or simply a cup of poison. But she did it in a calculated – or carefully planned – way.
所以凱薩琳說關於克莉奧派特拉自殺的真相還不清楚。也許是因為藏在一籃水果中的毒蛇進入她房間後咬傷了她。但也許是有毒的發簪，或簡單的一杯毒藥。但她確實仔細計畫了自己的死亡。
OK, so the final curtain comes down on Cleopatra– but what about the answer to today’s quiz question, Sophie?
所以克莉奧派特拉的故事落下帷幕。但是今天問題的答案還沒揭曉呢？
OK. I asked: which country was Cleopatra’s family originally from? Is it…a) Macedonia, b) Ethiopia or c) Egypt?
好的。我的問題是：克莉奧派特拉的家庭來自哪個國家？a) 馬其頓， b) 衣索比亞，還是 c)埃及？
I said… Egypt! Of course it is!
我選的是埃及！當然是埃及啦！
And that’s the wrong answer, Neil. It’s actually a) Macedonia. Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greek origin that ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great.
這不是正確答案！正確答案是馬其頓。克莉奧派特拉是托勒密王朝的一員，該家族是馬其頓希臘血統，在亞歷山大大帝死後統治了埃及。
You learn something new every day! Talking of which, here are the words we learned in this programme:
每天都能學到新知識！說到這裡，我們再來看看今天學到的單詞：
the jury’s out on something 某事尚未確定
prominent 顯著的
attributes 特徵
wily 聰明的
sibling 兄弟姐妹
ruthless 冷酷無情的
charisma 領袖氣質
underrate 低估，看低
spectacle 奇觀，壯觀
calculated 有計劃的
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分鐘英語就到這裡。我們下次再會！
Bye!
再見！
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