你根本不知道甘道夫到底是何方神聖：英語精讀講義

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

《魔戒》裡有許多不同種類的人，

Elven people,

精靈人，

Dwarven people,

矮人人，

tree people,

樹人，

half-sized people,

半身人，

even people people.

甚至還有一般人類。

There's like a million pages of background

有大約一百萬頁的背景故事

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

講述這個遠比書本和電影深奧得多的世界，

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

但如果你不想全部讀完，

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

這裡有個4分鐘的總結，我們從巫師說起。

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

大家很容易誤以為這裡的巫師和其他作品裡一樣，是受過魔法訓練的人類，

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

但在《魔戒》中，巫師算是階級相對較低的天使。

They're called Istari,

他們被稱為Istari（巫師），

get ready for lots of names in this video,

做好準備，這部影片會出現很多名字，

and there are five of them.

他們一共有五位。

Saruman the White,

白袍薩魯曼，

Gandalf the Grey,

灰袍甘道夫，

Radagast the Brown,

褐袍瑞達加斯特，

and the two Blue Wizards.

以及兩位藍袍巫師。

Their power comes mostly from being supernatural 文法

他們的力量主要來自他們的超自然身份，

and not so much from book learning.

而不是從書本上學來的。

They're sent, by who? 用詞

他們被派來——被誰派來的？

We'll get to that in a second, 表達脈絡

這個我們待會兒再說——

to help the people of the world stand against evil,

來幫助世人對抗邪惡，

not wildly successfully either. 語氣意圖

雖然效果也不怎麼好。

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

薩魯曼是這五位中思想如金屬與齒輪般冰冷的領袖，

gets corrupted.

他被腐化了。

Radagast gets distracted by all the pretty nature.

瑞達加斯特則是被大自然的美景給分了心。

The Blue Wizards just kind of fade into the East,

藍袍巫師則是消失在東方，

possibly starting cults of magic.

可能去創立魔法邪教了。

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

只有甘道夫一直對這項使命忠心耿耿。

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

既然有天使，自然就有神。

And in this universe, that's Eru Ilúvatar.

在這個宇宙中，神就是Eru Ilúvatar（伊露維塔）。

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

起初，只有Eru和無盡永恆的虛無，

which is rather boring,

這實在有點無聊，

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

所以他創造了許多天使來陪伴他。

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

Ilúvatar的天使被稱為Ainur（埃努），分為兩大陣營，

the Valar, guardians of the world,

分別是世界的守護者Valar（維拉），

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

數量大概是14或15個，取決於你怎麼算，

and their servants, the Maiar.

以及他們的僕人Maiar（邁雅）。

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

所以，這些巫師就是Istari，是Maiar的一個分支，

which serve the Valar, all created by Ilúvatar.

他們侍奉Valar，且全部由Ilúvatar所創造。

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

Ilúvatar和他所有的天使一起唱歌，創造了世界。

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

一開始的合聲非常美妙，但有一個名叫Melkor（魔苟斯）的Valar，

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

光聽Melkor這個名字，你就知道會發生什麼事了，

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

甚至都不用知道他還是最聰明、最強大的天使，

and also a bit of a loner. 片語搭配

而且還是個有點孤僻的傢伙。

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

Melkor不想只做合唱團裡的一員，

like his dimmer Valar co-workers.

就像他那些比較遲鈍的Valar同事一樣。

He wanted his own song in creation,

他想在創世中擁有自己的歌曲，

and so his voice became discordant from the others

於是他的聲音與其他人的聲音產生了不協和音，

and created all the suffering and evil in the world.

並在世界上創造了所有的痛苦與邪惡。

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

但Melkor的歌聲也將一些Maiar吸引到了他這邊，

including the Balrogs,

包括Balrogs（炎魔），

which means the Balrog is a low-level angel,

這意味著炎魔也是一種低階天使，

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

讓他在戰力等級上和甘道夫處於同一水準，

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

這也解釋了為什麼一個老人能和一隻巨大的岩漿怪物抗衡。

Through his discordant singing,

透過他不協和的歌聲，

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

Melkor還在世界上創造了一些邪惡生物，

such as the dragons and trolls,

比如龍和食人妖，

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

這終於讓我們說到了不是天使的東西。

Other Valar also made their own non-angelic creations,

其他Valar也創造了自己的非天使造物，

though in a more cooperative spirit with Ilúvatar.

儘管他們與Ilúvatar的精神更加契合。

Manwë makes the great eagles,

Manwë創造了巨鷹，

Aulë made the dwarves,

Aulë創造了矮人，

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

而他的妻子Yavanna創造了世界上所有的動植物，

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

然後又用ents（樹人）為這個小任務畫上了句號，

her own race of sentient creatures.

也就是她自己創造的有知覺的生物。

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

雖然Ilúvatar似乎很樂意讓他的Valar去創造大部分的事物，

he did personally create men and elves,

但他親自創造了人類和精靈，

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

這讓他們顯得很特別，在某種程度上超越了其他所有生物。

Sorry, dwarves.

抱歉了，矮人們。

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

在這兩個種族中，人類是Ilúvatar最偏愛的孩子，

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

他以此來表現這點：讓人類的壽命比其他所有生物都短，

and also the gift of death. 文化背景

並且賜予了他們死亡的禮物。

Thanks a lot, Dad. 語氣意圖

真是謝謝你啊，老爸。

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

但他們短暫的生命將他們與其他生物區分開來，

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

他們不像其他人那樣被創世之樂和世界所束縛，

and so are able to forge their own futures. 慣用語

因此能夠創造屬於他們自己的未來。

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

這些特質使他們成為中土世界中「能幹實事」的物種。

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

另一方面，精靈與世界聯繫緊密，

they're practically made of nature.

他們簡直就是由自然構成的。

Same with the dwarves in their own way,

矮人也有他們自己的方式，

and the ents, of course.

當然，樹人也是。

These species all but follow the flow of nature, 用詞

這些物種幾乎只會順應自然的規律，

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

這部分也是為什麼人類很難讓他們去做任何事情的原因，

even when faced with armies of orcs, 文法

哪怕是面臨著半獸人大軍，

which brings us to orcs. 表達脈絡

接著我們就來說說半獸人（orcs）。

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

Melkor很強大，但他無法創造出像精靈和人類那樣偉大的生物，

and so cheated by corrupting some of them in the beginning

於是他作弊了，一開始就腐化了他們中的一部分，

and selectively breeding them over the generations into these creatures.

並且經過幾代人的選擇性繁殖，變成了這些怪物。

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

Melkor幹的這些折磨精靈、製造怪物、

recruiting angels from the other side, eventually,

從對面招募天使的勾當，最終，

but unsurprisingly, led to a war that Melkor loses

毫無意外地引發了一場戰爭，Melkor輸了，

and got him banished into the void. 文法

並被流放到了虛空之中。

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

《魔戒》中所有的衝突，都發生在那場

the epic good versus evil fight of that universe.

這個宇宙史詩般的善惡大戰很久之後。

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

Sauron（索倫），書中引起所有麻煩的大反派，

was just one of the Maiar,

其實只是Maiar之一，

though an unusually powerful one,

儘管是一個異常強大的Maiar，

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

他的職業生涯是從給Melkor當副手開始的。

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

戰後，他確實製造了一枚戒指來凝聚自己的力量，

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

但那就是另一個故事了。

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

最後但同樣重要的是，我們還有哈比人。

Even though they seem related to dwarves,

儘管他們看起來跟矮人有點關係，

what with living underground and the vertical challenge, 講解

畢竟都住在地下，個頭也不高，

hobbits are a subspecies of men.

但哈比人其實是人類的一個亞種。

For such an important and pivotal race, 文法

作為一個如此重要和關鍵的種族，

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

關於他們起源的記載卻少之又少，只有「與人類有關」這句話。

Turns out, with a million pages, 表達脈絡

事實證明，即便有一百萬頁，

you still can't talk about everything,

你也無法談及所有事情，

just like in a 4-minute video.

就像在一個4分鐘的影片裡一樣。