女王80大壽？您一定會(huì)說(shuō)，英國(guó)女王伊麗莎白二世不是在4月21日剛剛過(guò)完生日嗎？原來(lái)，英國(guó)女王有兩個(gè)“生日”，4月份那個(gè)是她的80歲誕辰，而6月17日這個(gè)則是她的官方生日。為此，英國(guó)華夏文化協(xié)會(huì)為女王準(zhǔn)備了一件特殊禮物——一個(gè)繪有女王肖像的中國(guó)鼻煙壺，由中國(guó)內(nèi)畫大師張?jiān)鰳腔〝?shù)月制作而成。

portrait of the queen on the front	three Chinese characters of "Kang Er Shou" on the back

請(qǐng)看《人民日?qǐng)?bào)》相關(guān)報(bào)道：When the whole Britain is looking forward to the official celebration of the Queen's 80th birthday, a snuff bottle with the Queen's portrait painted on its inside by a Chinese artist was presented here on Wednesday as a special gift.

The bottle portrait was done by Zhang Zenglou, one of the most prominent artists specializing in snuff bottle painting, known as inside-painting.

報(bào)道中的snuff bottle就是聞名于世的工藝制品“鼻煙壺”。Snuff原指用力“吸氣”，可引申為“（吸）鼻煙”，如：My father used to take snuff.（我父親過(guò)去常吸鼻煙。）另外，若snuff和介詞out連用，常常用來(lái)指代“死去”、“扼殺”，例如：Greedy heirs waited for the old man to snuff out. （貪心的繼承人只待著老頭斷氣。）

Snuff bottle（鼻煙壺）是工藝制品中的一朵奇葩，它將玉石、水晶、瑪瑙、瓷等與繪畫和書法藝術(shù)結(jié)合，被雅士們視為珍貴文玩。據(jù)傳，鼻煙的原料是優(yōu)質(zhì)煙草，它最初被印第安人視為神圣的祭品。1492年，哥倫比亞發(fā)現(xiàn)新大陸后，煙草和鼻煙開始在世界各地傳播。鼻煙壺最早由意大利教士利瑪竇帶入中國(guó)，而中國(guó)自制鼻煙壺則始于清朝初年。

請(qǐng)看一個(gè)例句：Snuff bottle is a traditional Chinese folk craft，which first appeared in China in the mid17th century. What makes a snuff bottle special is not its practical use but that it is painted on the inside.（鼻煙壺是中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)民間工藝品，最早出現(xiàn)在17世紀(jì)中期。鼻煙壺的價(jià)值不在于其用途，而在于其內(nèi)畫藝術(shù)。）


(英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津陳蓓編輯）