The Ancient Magic of Kites

马 骥

（宁夏银川景博中学）

谈到风筝，人们常会想起清代诗人高鼎那句脍炙人口的名句：“儿童散学归来早，忙趁东风放纸鸢”。但是风筝是谁在什么时候发明的，最初用作什么用途，很多人都是一头雾水。那么现代风筝背后又有哪些有趣的故事呢？

One night two millennia ago, a Han Dynasty general sent a square-shaped assemblage of bamboo and cloth into the air above enemy territory in central China.He was trying to measure how much earth his men would need to tunnel through to tear their adversaries’（敌人的）defense line.

It is one of the most famous early stories of kite flying.Similar devices were later used by other Chinese armies; they launched them after dark in whipping winds in hopes that the noise would scare off foes , and used them to deliver threats via missives（信 函）tied to the kites’ tails.In 1232, Chinese military kites dropped pages of propaganda（消息）into the compound of a Mongolian prisoners-of-war camp, inciting first a chaos and then a mass escape.

In Singapore and Borneo, fishers have long trailed lures from kites attached to their boats.In Japan, washi-paper versions, often depicting scenes from legends, have been flown for good luck since the 17th century.

Today, of course, these delicate air-craft-built from light wood or plastic frames shaped to create lift, covered in a thin material such as paper or silk,and piloted via long strings—are considered toys, not tools of warfare.And yet they have captured us for centuries, serving a range of practical and spiritual functions in cultures around the world.

Indeed, very few major cultural institutions have deemed kites worthy of preservation.But in the 1990s and early 2000s, kite flying experienced a boom in the American West and parts od Europe, due in part to the popularization of kits surfing.Groups of kiters who gathered at windswept places like the Hawaiian island of Maui, the city of Seattle in the Pacific Northwest of the US, and the Atlantic coast of France began to take interest in its lore（知识）.

Thus a wave of younger artists has been inspired to pioneer new forms.In Austria, Anna Rubin, 48,often employs ancient methods for her art, including hand-splitting the bamboo for the frames and using hand-pressed natural fibres to cover them.She wants to carry on traditions she fears may be lost by a culture fixated on the future, but she’s equally inspired by the joy of work.“Everyone should, once in their life, make a kite and fly it,”she says.

And in New York, visual artists Jacob Hashimoto,49, assembles massive installations from dozens of palm-size kites to hang from the ceiling of his studio or gallery.He inherited his interest in kite making from his father.“The kite making is a pan-cultural practice that makes it a beautiful, democratic thing,”he says.“In many ways, it’s a global property—we all own the relationship between us and the sky.”

His work is a reminder that, especially after a period of when so many people were forced to stay rooted in place, kites offer us a means to defy gravity.In the hands of a willing flier, they give us a way up and out.

【作品背景简介】本文选自2021 年9 月29 日出版的New York Times杂志，后被English Digest转载。风筝源于中国，从中国走向世界，在各国人民的努力下成了一种特有的文化和精神符号。本文契合“人与社会”的主题，用英文讲述了中国文化故事。在后疫情时代，一些外国艺术家赋予风筝新的艺术含义——适当放飞自我，寻求灵魂的自由。

全篇译文

2000 年前的一个夜晚，中国中部敌方统治的区域上方，一位汉朝将军放飞了一个由竹子和布做成的方形风筝。他试图测算出士兵坑道掘进的距离来摧毁敌人的防线。

这是关于放风筝的早期经典故事之一。后来的中国军队也使用过类似的装置。黑夜中顶着强风放飞风筝，希望利用产生的噪声吓退敌人，还用风筝尾部的连接装置投递大量传单来威慑敌方。公元1232 年，中国军队的风筝在蒙古战俘营投下大量宣传单，引起了军士哗变和随后的大逃亡。

在新加坡和马来亚的婆罗洲，渔民用系在船尾的风筝来追踪布置下的诱饵。17 世纪以来，日本人放飞描绘着传说故事的楮纸风筝来祈福。

时至今日，这些由轻质木料和塑料框架做成的精巧飞行器仍然可以产生向上的升力。只不过外覆类似纸或者丝绸的轻薄材料，用长线操控的风筝被视为玩具，而不是战争工具。尽管如此，风筝让我们痴迷了数个世纪，在全世界的各民族文化中都有着一系列实用和精神的功能。

事实上，认为风筝有保护价值的重点文化机构寥寥无几。但是二十世纪九十年代到二十一世纪之初，一定程度上在风筝冲浪活动的助推下，放风筝在美国西部和欧洲部分地区再度兴盛。成群结队的风筝爱好者聚集在强风盛行的夏威夷毛伊岛、太平洋沿岸城市西雅图和法国大西洋沿岸地区探究风筝的传说。

因此而受到启发的年轻艺术家们也开创了新的艺术形式。在奥地利，48 岁的安娜鲁斌将古代的风筝制作方法融入艺术，比如手剥竹子做框架和手工压制自然纤维覆盖其上。在一个只关注未来的文化氛围中，她担心传统可能会逐渐丢失，但她也同样感受到了制作风筝的乐趣。她说：“每个人在其一生当中都应该做一次风筝，然后放飞。”

同样在纽约，49 岁的视觉艺术家桥本·雅各布用许多手掌大小的风筝组装成了多个造型悬挂在他工作室或者画廊的房顶上。他的风筝制作兴趣来自他的父亲。他说：“风筝制作是个泛文化行为，非常美妙，很接地气。在许多方面，风筝制作是全球共享的财富，我们都具有一种天人关系。”

他的努力是个很好的提醒，特别是很多人在被迫经历了一段封闭时间后，风筝给我们提供了一个挣脱地球引力的方式。手持风筝，放飞自我。

人教版课标词汇复现

measurevt.测量；估计（必修二U2）

defensen.防御；保卫（必修二U4）

devicen.策略；仪器（必修一U1）

launchvt.发射；发起（必修三U4）

scarevt.惊吓；使害怕（必修三U2）

chaosn.混乱；杂乱；紊乱（选必三U3）

attachvt.系；绑；贴（必修三U4）

versionn.版本；说法（选必三U4）

flown.流动vt.流；流动（选必一U1）

delicateadj.精致的；脆弱的（选必三U4）

framen.画面；框架（选必三U1）

preservevt.维持；保持；保护（必修二U1）

boomn./vi繁荣；迅速发展（选必二U2）

due to由于；因为（必修二U2）

fibren.纤维；纤维制品（选必二U3）

inspirevt.鼓舞；激励（必修二U3）

propertyn.性质；财产（选必一U1）

标外词汇积累

assemblagen.组装；装配；装配艺术品

incitevt.激起；煽动

lurevt.引诱；诱惑；哄骗

splitvt.使分裂；使分离

installationn.安装；设置；装置；设施

defyvt.公然违抗；公然反对；向……挑战；质疑

阅读小练

一、根据文章内容，选择最佳答案。

1.Why does the author describe the kite story in Han Dynasty?

A.Chinese military art in Han Dynasty was so distinguished in the world.

B.Kites were even used in Han Dynasty two thousand years ago.

C.Chinese people made the best kites to serve the daily purpose.

D.Enemy’s defense line can be easily torn into pieces with the aid of kites.

2.What does the underlined word “foes”mean in the second paragraph?

A.Neighbors.B.Friends.

C.Kite runners.D.Enemies.

3.What motivates Anna Rubin to keep the tradition of making kite?

A.Ambition and dream.

B.Confidence and courage.

C.Uncertainty and imagination.

D.Responsibility and joy.

4.What might be the best title for the text?

A.China has the tradition of making the best kites since ancient time.

B.Kites spread Chinese culture among nations in an artistic way.

C.A new generation of artists is taking their creations of kites to greater heights.

D.Some major cultural institutions have deemed kites worthy of preservation.

二、用所给单词的适当形式填空。

1.It was difficult _________________________ (measure) the precise impact of the labor action.

2.People used to build strong walls round their towns as a ________________________________ (defend) against enemies.

3.When you send an e-mail you can also send a sound or graphic file as an ________________________________ (attach).

4.A radio signal has both electrical and magnetic_____________(property).

答案和解析

一、1.B。细节理解题。根据第一段第一句话和“It is one of the most famous early stories of kite flying.”可知，中国早在两千年前就在军事领域使用风筝，该部分信息主要介绍风筝的起源很早。

2.D。词义猜测题，根据上下文的提示可知，其他中国军队也这样使用过风筝，在黑夜中制造噪声恐吓敌人或者敌对势力。

3.D。细节理解题。根据第六段第三句可知，Anna Rubin 担心制作风筝的制作古法会失传，也被这份工作的快乐所感染，说明作为青年艺术家的一员，她有传承艺术的责任心，也乐在其中。

4.C。标题判断题。根据全文可知，开篇介绍了风筝的起源和古代制作工艺，然后传播到中国周边国家，中间笔锋一转，到了现今，风筝在风筝冲浪体育运动的推动下被很多年轻人热捧。其中艺术家们走在了最前面，介绍了两位先锋派风筝艺术家不仅仅传承历史，还推陈出新，创造了新的风筝艺术形式，将这项源于中国，福泽世界的技艺推向了新的高度。

二、1.to measure 2.defense 3.attachment 4.properties