你根本不知道甘道夫到底是什么：英语精读讲义

The Lord of the Rings has lots of different kinds of people,

《指环王》里有很多不同种类的人，

Elven people,

精灵人，

Dwarven people,

矮人人，

tree people,

树人，

half-sized people,

半身人，

even people people.

甚至还有人类。

There's like a million pages of background

有大约一百万页的背景故事

explaining this world that goes much deeper than the books or the movies,

解释着这个远比书本和电影深奥得多的世界，

but if you don't want to read it all,

但如果你不想全读完，

here's a 4-minute summary starting with wizards.

这里有个4分钟的总结，咱们先从巫师说起。

It's easy to mistake the wizards as humans trained in magic like elsewhere, 語法

我们很容易误以为这里的巫师和其他作品里一样，是修炼了魔法的人类，

but in the Lord of the Rings wizards are low-ish level angels.

但在《指环王》里，巫师算是地位相对较低的天使。

They're called Istari,

他们被称为Istari（巫师），

get ready for lots of names in this video,

做好准备，这个视频里会有很多名字，

and there are five of them.

他们一共有五位。

Saruman the White,

白袍萨鲁曼，

Gandalf the Grey,

灰袍甘道夫，

Radagast the Brown,

褐袍瑞达加斯特，

and the two Blue Wizards.

以及两位蓝袍巫师。

Their power comes mostly from being supernatural 語法

他们的力量主要来自他们的超自然身份，

and not so much from book learning.

而不是从书本上学来的。

They're sent, by who? 用詞

他们被派来——被谁派来的？

We'll get to that in a second, 表達脈絡

这个咱们待会儿再说——

to help the people of the world stand against evil,

来帮助世人对抗邪恶，

not wildly successfully either. 語氣意圖

虽然效果也不怎么好。

Saruman, the leader of the five with a mind of metal and wheels, 習語

萨鲁曼是这五位中思想如金属与齿轮般冰冷的领袖，

gets corrupted.

他被腐化了。

Radagast gets distracted by all the pretty nature.

瑞达加斯特被大自然的美景给分了心。

The Blue Wizards just kind of fade into the East,

蓝袍巫师则消失在了东方，

possibly starting cults of magic.

可能去创立魔法邪教了。

And it's only Gandalf that stays true to the quest. 短語搭配

只有甘道夫一直对这项使命忠心耿耿。

Now, where there's angels, there's a god. 語法

既然有天使，自然就有神。

And in this universe, that's Eru Ilúvatar.

在这个宇宙中，神就是Eru Ilúvatar（伊露维塔）。

In the beginning, there was naught but Eru and the infinite timeless nothing, 講解

起初，只有Eru和无尽永恒的虚无，

which is rather boring,

这实在有点无聊，

so he created lots of angels to keep him company. 短語搭配

所以他创造了许多天使来陪伴他。

Ilúvatar's angels are called the Ainur and are divided into two groups,

Ilúvatar的天使被称为Ainur（埃努），分为两大阵营，

the Valar, guardians of the world,

分别是世界的守护者Valar（维拉），

of which there are 14 or 15 depending on who you want to count,

数量大概是14或15个，取决于你怎么算，

and their servants, the Maiar.

以及他们的仆人Maiar（迈雅）。

So, the wizards are the Istari, a subset of the Maiar, 用詞

所以，这些巫师就是Istari，是Maiar的一个分支，

which serve the Valar, all created by Ilúvatar.

他们侍奉Valar，且全部由Ilúvatar创造。

Ilúvatar and all his angels sang together to make the world.

Ilúvatar和他所有的天使一起唱歌，创造了世界。

The harmony started out great, but there was one Valar named Melkor, 短語動詞

一开始的和谐非常美妙，但有一个名叫Melkor（魔苟斯）的Valar，

and just from the name Melkor, you know what's going to happen

光听Melkor这个名字，你就知道会发生什么了，

even before learning he's also the smartest and the most powerful of the angels,

甚至都不用知道他还是最聪明、最强大的天使，

and also a bit of a loner. 短語搭配

而且还是个有点孤僻的家伙。

Melkor didn't want just to be part of the chorus

Melkor不想只做合唱团里的一员，

like his dimmer Valar co-workers.

就像他那些比较迟钝的Valar同事一样。

He wanted his own song in creation,

他想在创世中拥有自己的歌曲，

and so his voice became discordant from the others

于是他的声音与其他人的声音产生了冲突，

and created all the suffering and evil in the world.

并在世界上创造了所有的痛苦与邪恶。

But Melkor's song also attracted some Maiar to his side,

但Melkor的歌声也将一些Maiar吸引到了他这边，

including the Balrogs,

包括Balrogs（炎魔），

which means the Balrog is a low-level angel,

这意味着炎魔也是一种低阶天使，

making him on the same level of the power org chart as Gandalf, 語法

让他在战力等级上和甘道夫处于同一水平，

which explains why an old man can hold his ground against a giant lava monster. 習語

这也解释了为什么一个老头能和一只巨大的岩浆怪物抗衡。

Through his discordant singing,

通过他那不和谐的歌声，

Melkor also created some of the evil creatures in the world,

Melkor还在世界上创造了一些邪恶生物，

such as the dragons and trolls,

比如龙和食人妖，

which finally gets us to things that aren't angels.

这终于让我们说到了不是天使的东西。

Other Valar also made their own non-angelic creations,

其他Valar也搞了自己的非天使造物，

though in a more cooperative spirit with Ilúvatar.

尽管他们与Ilúvatar的精神更加契合。

Manwë makes the great eagles,

Manwë创造了巨鹰，

Aulë made the dwarves,

Aulë创造了矮人，

and his wife Yavanna made all of the animals and plants in the world

而他的妻子Yavanna创造了世界上所有的动植物，

before capping off that minor task with the ents, 短語動詞

然后又用ents（树人）为这个小任务画上了句号，

her own race of sentient creatures.

也就是她自己创造的有知觉的生物。

While Ilúvatar seemed happy to leave it to his Valar to make most of the stuff, 語法

虽然Ilúvatar似乎很乐意让他的Valar去创造大部分的东西，

he did personally create men and elves,

但他亲自创造了人类和精灵，

which makes them special and kind of above all the other living creatures.

这让他们显得很特别，在某种程度上超越了其他所有生物。

Sorry, dwarves.

抱歉了，矮人们。

And of these two, the men are Ilúvatar's favorite children,

在这两个种族中，人类是Ilúvatar最偏爱的孩子，

and he shows this by giving men shorter lives than everybody else,

他以此来表现这点：让人类的寿命比其他所有生物都短，

and also the gift of death. 文化背景

并且赐予了他们死亡的礼物。

Thanks a lot, Dad. 語氣意圖

真是谢谢你啊，老爸。

But their short lives set them apart from the other creatures, 短語動詞

但他们短暂的生命将他们与其他生物区分开来，

and they aren't tied to the music of creation and the world like everyone else,

他们不像其他人那样被创世之乐和世界所束缚，

and so are able to forge their own futures. 習語

因此能够创造属于他们自己的未来。

These qualities make them the get-stuff-done species of Middle-earth. 用詞

这些特质使他们成为中土世界中“能干实事”的物种。

Elves on the other hand are so connected to the world, 表達脈絡

另一方面，精灵与世界联系紧密，

they're practically made of nature.

他们简直就是由自然构成的。

Same with the dwarves in their own way,

矮人也有他们自己的方式，

and the ents, of course.

当然，树人也是。

These species all but follow the flow of nature, 用詞

这些物种几乎只会顺应自然的规律，

and it's partly why the humans have such a hard time getting them to do anything, 語法

这部分也是为什么人类很难让他们去做任何事情的原因，

even when faced with armies of orcs, 語法

哪怕是面临着兽人大军，

which brings us to orcs. 表達脈絡

接着我们就来说说兽人（orcs）。

Melkor was powerful, but couldn't make his own creatures as great as the elves and men,

Melkor很强大，但他无法创造出像精灵和人类那样伟大的生物，

and so cheated by corrupting some of them in the beginning

于是他作弊了，一开始就腐化了他们中的一部分，

and selectively breeding them over the generations into these creatures.

并且经过几代人的选择性繁殖，变成了这些怪物。

This business Melkor was up to of torturing elves, making monsters,

Melkor干的这些折磨精灵、制造怪物、

recruiting angels from the other side, eventually,

从对面招募天使的勾当，最终，

but unsurprisingly, led to a war that Melkor loses

毫无意外地引发了一场战争，Melkor输了，

and got him banished into the void. 語法

并被流放到了虚空之中。

All of the conflict in the Lord of the Rings comes long after

《指环王》中所有的冲突，都发生在那场

the epic good versus evil fight of that universe.

这个宇宙史诗般的善恶大战很久之后。

Sauron, the big bad who caused all of the trouble in these books, 用詞

Sauron（索伦），书中引起所有麻烦的大反派，

was just one of the Maiar,

其实只是Maiar之一，

though an unusually powerful one,

尽管是一个异常强大的Maiar，

who started his career as Melkor's lieutenant. 短語搭配

他的职业生涯是从给Melkor当副手开始的。

After the war, he did make a ring to focus his strength, 語法

战后，他确实制造了一枚戒指来凝聚自己的力量，

but that's a story for another time. 表達脈絡

但那就是另一个故事了。

Last but not least, we have the hobbits. 表達脈絡

最后但同样重要的是，我们还有霍比特人。

Even though they seem related to dwarves,

尽管他们看起来跟矮人有点关系，

what with living underground and the vertical challenge, 講解

毕竟都住在地下，个头也不高，

hobbits are a subspecies of men.

但霍比特人其实是人类的一个亚种。

For such an important and pivotal race, 語法

作为一个如此重要和关键的种族，

there is little written of their origin other than the phrase related to men.

关于他们起源的记载却少之又少，只有“与人类有关”这句话。

Turns out, with a million pages, 表達脈絡

事实证明，即便有一百万页，

you still can't talk about everything,

你也无法谈及所有事情，

just like in a 4-minute video.

就像在一个4分钟的视频里一样。