全民纹身

Reporter： From sailors to celebrities to the Prime Ministers wife， tattoos have been making their mark on all kinds of people for centuries. Now its estimated around one in five British adults has one.

Historians say they were once the preserve of the upper classes. Churchills mother is rumoured to have had a tattoo on her wrist.

But body art has dipped in and out of the mainstream following fashion， social convention and cultural change， and today， it seems its as popular as ever. Last month veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby had his first tattoo， a scorpion on his shoulder， describing it as something hed always wanted. And earlier this year Winifred Turner， from Dorset， is thought to have become the oldest person in Britain to have a tattoo， when she had a design dedicated to her late husband inked on her arm at the age of 92.

Host： Gemma， what do you make of this？ Sandra Howard has decided to go ahead and have a temporary one at first， try it out. We saw David Dimbleby there have one. We saw a lady， one of the oldest ladies to have a tattoo…

Gemma （Dr. of Tattoo History）： Mm hmm.

Host：…in the country， wanting to commemorate the memory of her husband. Is it something thats spanning the generations much more now， do you think？

Gemma： I， well， I think typically its something that people will get when theyre younger. Its quite unusual for people David Dimblebys age to get a tattoo， but， I mean， theres no reason why you shouldnt， and， you know， there are all sorts of reasons why people get tattoos. For some people its purely decorative， its purely about something being quite fashionable or something aesthetic. But thats just a small part of the reason， really. A lot， for a lot of people its a commitment because， obviously， the permanence is a big part of it， so I would encourage Sandra not to necessarily shy away from that because thats part of the experience. And also to commemorate things as well， so memorial tattoos are…are quite popular as well.

Host： Its a statement as well though， isnt it？ I mean， explain to our viewers， they will see what， that you obviously have a tattoo across your chest， but what does it say and what does it mean to you？

Gemma： Well， obviously this one is literally a statement. Its a…its an old proverb， “Nothing human is alien to me.” It…its backwards so I can read it in the mirror， so， on the one hand it is a statement， its very prominent， its very visible. It can be quite confronting to other people， but it is very much for me， its an inward-facing tattoo. Its only something that can be deciphered in a mirror.

記者：从水手到名人，再到首相夫人，几百年来，纹身已经出现在各种各样的人身上了。目前，据统计，大概五分之一的英国成人有纹身。历史学家说，纹身曾是上层阶级独有的。据说丘吉尔的母亲在手腕关节处就有一个纹身。

然而，身体艺术与主流的流行时尚、社会传统和文化变化有关，而今天，它似乎与从前一样受欢迎。上个月，资深播音员大卫·丁布尔比拥有了第一个纹身——他肩膀上的一只蝎子，他说这是他一直想要的东西。92岁的威妮弗蕾德·特纳来自英国多塞特。据说今年早些时候，她在手臂上刻上为已故丈夫设计的纹身，成为了英国最大年纪的纹身者。

主持人：吉玛，你对此有什么看法？桑德拉·霍华德决定去纹身，但先来一个临时的纹身试试看，我们看到了大卫·丁布尔比去纹身，还有一位女士，她是英国其中一位最大年龄的纹身女士……

吉玛（纹身历史博士）：嗯嗯。 主持人：……想要铭记对丈夫的回忆。你认为，纹身现在是否被更加多不同年龄层的人所接受？

吉玛：我，呃，我认为，通常情况下，人们会在年轻的时候去纹身。像大卫·丁布尔比在这个年纪去纹身是比较少见的，但是，我觉得，这不代表你不能纹身，你知道，人们纹身的理由有很多。对某些人来说，那纯粹只是装饰，只是为了追逐时尚，或是出于审美上的原因。然而，这些只是其中一小部分的原因，真的是这样。对很多人来说，纹身是一种承诺，因为，很明显，它的永久性是很重要的原因，所以，我会鼓励桑德拉，不要为此感到不好意思，因为那是一种体验，也是为了留个纪念，所以有纪念意义的纹身也是相当受欢迎的。

主持人：它同时也表明一种观点，对吗？我想说，请你给我们的观众解释一下，他们会看到的，很明显你的前胸有一个纹身，它写的是什么？它的意义是什么？

吉玛：呃，很明显，这确实是一种观点。这是一……这是一句古老的格言，“所有人的缺点我都有”。它是反转来写的，这样我就可以在镜子中看到。一方面，这表明一种观点，很突出，很明显。它可能会让其他人感到不舒服，但这对我来说是很有意义的，这是一种面向自我的纹身。这句话只有在镜子中才能辨读出来。