无论是在艺术、电影、文学，还是玩具里，我们都可以看到微缩物的身影。千百年来，人类对微小的物品情有独钟。如今，网上有专做迷你食物的烹饪频道，也有艺术家展示用日常物品创造出的独特微观模型。本期 “随身英语” 讨论为什么有些人会格外喜欢这些袖珍的物件。

　　词汇：size 尺寸

　　What do table football, a doll's house and a remote-control car all have in common? They are all smaller versions of real things. And humans have long been intrigued¹ by all things miniature. The Chinese ancient art of nut carving² sees artists sculpt³ intricate designs, including microscopic⁴ people, into fruit or nut stones. English author Mary Norton wrote the fictional⁵ book series The Borrowers – they are tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a normal-sized house. And then there are the online channels all about miniature cooking.

　　Valarmathi and Rajkumar, who run The Tiny Foods, film tiny versions of traditional Indian dishes being made, set amongst the backdrop of a minuscule⁶ village complete with teeny cooking utensils⁷. Speaking to the BBC, Valarmathi says she was inspired by her grandmother who 'used to cook in really tiny pots'. Similarly, Kate Murdoch, who runs Tiny Kitchen, makes meals cooked on a hob that's powered by a tealight. Her videos include whisking eggs in a tiny mixing bowl and then cooking omelettes in pans the size of a postage stamp.

　　And then there's the art world… The miniature artist and photographer Tanaka Tatsuya has been rising to online fame. He takes everyday small objects and turns them into new fun-size dioramas. His creations include a face mask resembling lanes in a swimming pool, watermelon mountains and some penguins⁸ on an iceberg⁹, which is in fact a bar of soap.

　　So, why do we love small things? Simon Garfield, author of In Miniature, says that holding a scaled-down world in our hands, gives us a feeling of control and helps us understand what is too big to envision at full scale, like skyscrapers¹⁰ and railways. With models, we can observe, learn and appreciate what we have – with less. He discusses how the fascination¹¹ may also relate to childhood. Toy dolls and plastic construction kits¹² make us conquerors¹³ of worlds. 'We may never have such dominion¹⁴ over the world again, unless we continue the play into adulthood¹⁵.'

　　So, just like the worlds of art and literature, why not embrace a little love of miniature?

　　词汇表

　　miniature 微型的，袖珍的

　　intricate 复杂精细的

　　microscopic 极小的，需要用显微镜才能看到的tiny 微小的

　　normal-sized 正常尺寸的

　　backdrop 背景

　　minuscule 微小的，极小的

　　teeny 很小的

　　tealight 茶蜡

　　postage stamp 邮票

　　turn into 将…变成…

　　fun-size 比普通尺寸小的

　　diorama （重现故事场景或自然世界样貌的）立体透视模型resemble 看起来像，与…相似

　　scaled-down 缩小比例的

　　full scale 全尺寸，原物大小

　　model 模型

 

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