Since its inception, it always seemed as though HBO’s “Game of Thrones” was the bane of college kids’ existence — homework seems boring when compared to Jon Snow’s climactic battle against the White Walkers. But now, students can put their knowledge of Westeros to good use in a new George R.R. Martin-themed class offered by the University of British Columbia.
HBO電視臺(tái)的《權(quán)力的游戲》自開(kāi)播以來(lái)，似乎大學(xué)生們對(duì)學(xué)業(yè)已不再那么關(guān)注，反而注意力放在了雪諾對(duì)抗異鬼的經(jīng)典之戰(zhàn)上。不過(guò)現(xiàn)在這一局面已經(jīng)改變了，英屬哥倫比亞大學(xué)得同學(xué)們可以將自己從《權(quán)力的游戲》中所學(xué)的維斯特洛大陸的知識(shí)運(yùn)用到一堂關(guān)于喬治·馬丁的主題課程了。

The class is titled “Our Modern Medieval: ‘The Song of Ice and Fire’ as contemporary Medievalism,” and aims to use the popularity of the series to point out the way history is transformed in the public consciousness by fiction.
課程的名字叫做“現(xiàn)代人的中世紀(jì)世界：‘冰與火之歌’，試圖通過(guò)該劇的廣泛認(rèn)知度來(lái)說(shuō)明小說(shuō)是怎樣改變公眾所認(rèn)知的歷史。

“Martin’s works hold an influential place in the popular modern imagined medieval, largely supplanting any real notion of the European Middle Ages,” says Professor Robert Rouse, via The Independent. The presence of dragons serves as a clue that Martin wasn’t looking to flawlessly re-create the real medieval period, but Rouse explains that the series also offers commentary on modern day.
在接受英國(guó)獨(dú)立報(bào)采訪(fǎng)時(shí)，Robert Rouse教授說(shuō)，“馬汀的作品對(duì)現(xiàn)代人所構(gòu)建出來(lái)的中世紀(jì)社會(huì)有著深遠(yuǎn)的影響，可以說(shuō)替代了關(guān)于歐洲中世紀(jì)的任何確鑿的觀(guān)念“。

The presence of dragons serves as a clue that Martin wasn’t looking to flawlessly re-create the real medieval period, but Rouse explains that the series also offers commentary on modern day.The class will “be considering Martin’s works as much for what they tell us about our own moment,” Rouse says, “as for what they tell us about our ideas of the past.”
作品中龍的出現(xiàn)說(shuō)明馬汀并不是純粹的描繪真實(shí)的中世紀(jì)景象，Rouse教授解釋說(shuō)，《權(quán)力的游戲》同時(shí)也在批判當(dāng)今的世界。這堂課將會(huì)討論馬汀的作品給我們現(xiàn)代世界帶來(lái)的一些啟示，以及我們對(duì)歷史的思考”。

The best part of the course has got to be the required reading — all five seasons of “Game of Thrones” in addition to Martin’s five super-detailed novels must be watched in order to be prepared for the first class discussion.
課程最精彩的部分肯定是閱讀要求了—馬汀的五部《權(quán)力的游戲》電視劇和所有的原著小說(shuō)都必須在開(kāi)課前預(yù)習(xí)完，以便在課堂上討論。