change its own nature
本帖最后由 enti 于 2018-10-20 14:35 编辑There is another way in which the biographies of things change over time. One of the key tasks of museum scholarship, and above all of museum conservation science, is to keep returning to our objects, as new technologies allow us to ask new questions of them. The results, in recent years especially, have frequently been astonishing, opening up fresh lines of investigation and discovering unsuspected meanings in what we thought were familiar things. At the moment, objects are changing fast. The most striking instance in this book is surely the jade axe from Canterbury (Chapter 14), whose origin we can now trace to the very boulder from which it was originally chipped, high on a mountain in northern Italy. In consequence we have a new understanding of the trade routes of early Europe and a fresh set of hypotheses about the significance of the axe itself, especially valued, perhaps, because it came from above the clouds and far away. New methods of medical examination allow us intimate knowledge of the ailments of the ancient Egyptians (Chapter 1) and of the talismans they took with them into the afterlife. The medieval Hedwig beaker (Chapter 57), long famous for its ability to change water into wine, has also recently changed its own nature. Thanks to new analysis of the glass, it may now with some confidence be sourced to the eastern Mediterranean, and with less confidence (but great enjoyment) speculatively linked to a particular moment in medieval dynastic history and to a colourful character in the history of the Crusades. Science is rewriting these histories in totally unexpected ways.
nature
--- the essential qualities or characteristics by which something is recognized
然而 “ change its own nature" 这里是什么意思呢？,中译本是 ”有了更明确的身世“， 这是怎么关联起来的呢？ 本书中译本
物品在时光中经历的改变还有另一种方式。博物馆研究的关键任务以及博物馆保存学的首要任务之一，便是不断重新检视这些物品，用新的技术手段来寻找新的发现。而其结果——尤其是最近，常有一些惊人发现——或为研究找出新的方向，或为我们早已熟悉的物品发掘出意料之外的内涵。眼下，物品正在发生迅速改变。本书中最惊人的例子当数来自坎特伯雷的玉斧（第14节），我们如今已能追溯到它最初的开采地——意大利北部的高山之巅——从而对欧洲早期的贸易路线有了全新认知，同时对玉斧本身的意义也萌生了一系列新的猜想。它的价值有很大一部分就在于它来自遥远的白云之上的山巅。新的医学检查方式也使我们了解到古埃及人（第1节）曾患过什么疾病，又为来世携带了哪些避邪物。中世纪的海德薇玻璃杯（第57节），一直以能变清水为美酒而闻名，近来也有了更明确的身世。仰仗最新的玻璃分析技术，我们几乎可以确定它来自地中海东岸，甚至可以进一步推测（证据不足，但这充满乐趣），它与中世纪的某一特定时期、与十字军历史中的某位风云人物相关。科学正用人们意想不到的方式改写着历史。 中译本根据上下文修改了措辞而已：
而其结果——尤其是最近，常有一些惊人发现——或为研究找出新的方向，或为我们早已熟悉的物品发掘出意料之外的内涵。
例子1，属于为研究找出新的方向:本书中最惊人的例子当数来自坎特伯雷的玉斧（第14节），我们如今已能追溯到它最初的开采地——意大利北部的高山之巅——从而对欧洲早期的贸易路线有了全新认知，同时对玉斧本身的意义也萌生了一系列新的猜想。它的价值有很大一部分就在于它来自遥远的白云之上的山巅。新的医学检查方式也使我们了解到古埃及人（第1节）曾患过什么疾病，又为来世携带了哪些避邪物。
例子2，属于发掘出意料之外的内涵:中世纪的海德薇玻璃杯（第57节），一直以能变清水为美酒而闻名，近来也有了更明确的？？。仰仗最新的玻璃分析技术，我们几乎可以确定它来自地中海东岸，甚至可以进一步推测（证据不足，但这充满乐趣）
？？部分当然应该是表示「内涵」的词语，中译本作者改了措辞，根据下文「来自……」写成了「身世」而已 感谢回复
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