全民紋身

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

Historians say they were once the preserve of the upper classes. Churchill’s mother is 1）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 it’s as popular as ever. Last month 2）veteran broadcaster 3）David Dimbleby had his first tattoo， a 4）scorpion on his shoulder， describing it as something he’d 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？ 5）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 that’s spanning the generations much more now， do you think？

Gemma： I， well， I think typically it’s something that people will get when they’re younger. It’s quite unusual for people David Dimbleby’s age to get a tattoo， but， I mean， there’s no reason why you shouldn’t， and， you know， there are all sorts of reasons why people get tattoos. For some people it’s purely decorative， it’s purely about something being quite fashionable or something aesthetic. But that’s just a small part of the reason， really. A lot， for a lot of people it’s 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 that’s part of the experience. And also to commemorate things as well， so memorial tattoos are…are quite popular as well.

Host： It’s a statement as well though， isn’t 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. It’s a…it’s an old proverb， “Nothing human is alien to me.” It...it’s backwards so I can read it in the mirror， so， on the one hand it is a statement， it’s very prominent， it’s very visible. It can be quite 6）confronting to other people， but it is very much for me， it’s an inward-facing tattoo. It’s only something that can be 7）deciphered in a mirror.

記者：從水手到名人，再到首相夫人，幾百年來，紋身已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)在各種各樣的人身上了。目前，據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，大概五分之一的英國成人有紋身。歷史學(xué)家說，紋身曾是上層階級獨(dú)有的。據(jù)說丘吉爾的母親在手腕關(guān)節(jié)處就有一個紋身。

然而，身體藝術(shù)與主流的流行時尚、社會傳統(tǒng)和文化變化有關(guān)，而今天，它似乎與從前一樣受歡迎。上個月，資深播音員大衛(wèi)·丁布爾比擁有了第一個紋身——他肩膀上的一只蝎子，他說這是他一直想要的東西。92歲的威妮弗蕾德·特納來自英國多塞特。據(jù)說今年早些時候，她在手臂上刻上為已故丈夫設(shè)計(jì)的紋身，成為了英國最大年紀(jì)的紋身者。

主持人：吉瑪，你對此有什么看法？桑德拉·霍華德決定去紋身，但先來一個臨時的紋身試試看，我們看到了大衛(wèi)·丁布爾比去紋身，還有一位女士，她是英國其中一位最大年齡的紋身女士……

吉瑪（紋身歷史博士）：嗯嗯。

主持人：……想要銘記對丈夫的回憶。你認(rèn)為，紋身現(xiàn)在是否被更加多不同年齡層的人所接受？

吉瑪：我，呃，我認(rèn)為，通常情況下，人們會在年輕的時候去紋身。像大衛(wèi)·丁布爾比在這個年紀(jì)去紋身是比較少見的，但是，我覺得，這不代表你不能紋身，你知道，人們紋身的理由有很多。對某些人來說，那純粹只是裝飾，只是為了追逐時尚，或是出于審美上的原因。然而，這些只是其中一小部分的原因，真的是這樣。對很多人來說，紋身是一種承諾，因?yàn)椋苊黠@，它的永久性是很重要的原因，所以，我會鼓勵桑德拉，不要為此感到不好意思，因?yàn)槟鞘且环N體驗(yàn)，也是為了留個紀(jì)念，所以有紀(jì)念意義的紋身也是相當(dāng)受歡迎的。