MINECRAFT BUILDS

Did you know that the centuries-old practice of carving pumpkins into spooky faces on Halloween is actually not the original tradition? Long before pumpkins, people used to carve faces into turnips– a much more readily available veg in old-timey Ireland and Scotland, where the tradition is first recorded. It wasn't until people picked up the habit in America, where pumpkins were plentiful during the harvest time, that the Jack-O'-Lantern we all know and fear love was born.
你知道吗，在万圣节前夕将南瓜雕刻成怪异面孔的做法实际上不是原始传统？在雕刻南瓜之前，人们就已经开始往芜菁上雕刻面孔了，芜菁是一种在古爱尔兰和古苏格兰比南瓜更容易获得的蔬菜，这项传统在那里被第一次记录了下来。直到人们习惯了美洲那雕刻南瓜的习俗，在收获期间南瓜盛产的美洲，就是那个我们都知道而且诞生畏惧爱情的南瓜灯。

And thank heavens for that, because pumpkins are much easier to build in Minecraft. Turnips are small, and boring-coloured! Pumpkins are big, orange, and tasty! Can you imagine a turnip pie, or a turnip-spice latte? No thank you.

还得感谢天堂和上帝，因为在Minecraft中制作南瓜要容易得多。而芜菁不仅很小，它们的颜色看上去也很无聊！南瓜看上去又大又橘，还很好吃！难道你能想象一块芜菁派或是一杯芜菁香料拿铁吗？不了，谢谢。

Luckily for us, this builder is a much bigger fan of pumpkins than he is of turnips. You may remember Uknownymous, also known as 'Robert' to his friends and parents, from his incredible Dirt Mansion build on this very website. Now that he's built himself a lovely house to dwell in, Robert has moved on to spookier things: 'A Scarecrow's Meadow', in which a Jack-O'-Lantern-headed scarecrow looms menacingly over a field of pumpkins.
对我们来说幸运的是，这个建造者对南瓜的喜爱比对芜菁的喜爱大得多。你也许还记得Uknownymous，从他的难以置信的豪华泥屋网站上，他的父母和朋友也叫他Robert。由于他已经为自己建造了一座漂亮的房子，Robert开始着手制作更怪异的东西：“稻草人的草地”，其中有一个以南瓜灯为首的稻草人威胁地阴森地逼近着一片南瓜地。

Built as part of a 'Scary Pumpkin Carvings' competition, Robert's possessed scarecrow is based on his own childhood memories. 'My mind jumped to the idea of pumpkins in a field,' he says, 'reminding me of some nostalgic memories about some pumpkin monstrosities I saw once when I was younger in Scooby-Doo .' He put his own spin on the monsters, adding glowing evil eyes, a swirl of malicious magic, and a creepy backstory.
作为“可怕的南瓜雕刻”比赛的一部分，罗伯特拥有的稻草人是建立在他对童年的记忆的基础之上的。“我想起了之前想在田野里种南瓜的主意，”他说，“这让我想起了我小时候在史酷比里看到的一些南瓜怪的怀旧记忆。”他对于这个怪物倾尽了心血，添加了一对发光的邪恶眼睛、充满恶意的魔法漩涡还有一个令人毛骨悚然的背景故事。

'I made the pumpkins the results of experiments on the farmland,' Robert says, 'causing unexpected results.' In his tale, the local spirits of the area were tormented and tortured by the agricultural experiments, causing them to 'haunt the night' by possessing the mutated crops. 'It's a little dark,' says Robert, 'but, really, the night's darker anyway.'

“我把南瓜做为农田实验的产物，”Robert说道，“由于意外而产生的产物。”在他的故事中，当地的神灵由于农业实验而饱受折磨，通过支配变异的农作物，使他们‘在夜晚徘徊’。“这个故事听上去有点黑暗，但是实际上，夜晚反正也在变得越来越黑。”

You may notice from the pictures that Robert's possessed scarecrow does indeed look best in the dark, which is a huge challenge in Minecraft. Most things just don't look quite as good at night (unless you've got a computer beefy enough to handle the RTX version)! But Robert considers night-time a challenge, not a limitation. 'I think the dark is what I prefer building in,' he says. 'I really love adding lighting into builds, and night is when it shines most – literally!'

你可能从图片中注意到了，罗伯特拥有的稻草人确实在黑暗中看起来最好，这对Minecraft来说是巨大的挑战。大多数事情在晚上看起来都不太好（除非你的计算机足够强大到可以运行RTX版本的mc）！但是Robert认为夜间对于他是一个挑战，而不是一个对他的限制。“我觉得我更喜欢在黑暗环境中建造东西，”他说道“我真的很喜欢在建筑物中增加照明灯光，而实际上，夜晚恰恰是它最耀眼的地方！”

Look closely at the pumpkins' faces and you'll see that they're lit up from the inside with redstone lamps behind stained glass, casting a spooky orange and purple glow on the land. Not a bad idea if you're looking to spice up your own builds!
仔细观察南瓜们的脸庞，你会发现它们从内部被隐藏在染色玻璃后面的红石灯照亮了，它在大地上投射着幽灵般的橙色和紫色的光。如果你想为自己的建筑增添一点色彩，这不会是一个很烂的主意！

Despite the incredible level of detail in the build, it only took Robert six hours to complete, with the help of WorldEdit for assembly and some of the floating elements – although he built most of it the old-fashioned way. 'I prefer hand-building as much as I can, as it feels like I have the most control over the detail that way,' he says. 'I mostly use WorldEdit's copy and paste function to speed up the process!'

尽管在建造中的详细程度令人难以置信，但在WorldEdit的建造和一些漂浮元素的帮助下，Robert只花了六个小时就完成了，尽管那些浮动元素大部分都是老式不流行的。“我更喜欢尽可能地手工搭建，那样的话我能对细节有着最大的控制权，”他说道“我主要使用WorldEdit的复制和粘贴功能来加快建造！”

Many of the builders we talk to like to meticulously plan out their builds, especially when there's a team involved. But Robert likes to keep things loose when he's building. 'I have enough free reign that I like to embrace it,' he says. 'there's no way I know exactly what I want from the start.' This gives him the freedom to change things, add things, and completely start over if he gets a better idea. 'Inevitably this leads to me looking back on some builds and thinking of things I'd want to change them,' he says, 'but it's also fun to see a build unfold as a surprise as it expands.'

与我们交谈过的许多建筑者们都喜欢对他们的建筑进行周密计划，尤其是在有团队参与的情况下。但是罗伯特喜欢在建筑时保持不受约束。“我有足够的自由统治权，我喜欢拥抱我的权力，”他说道，“从一开始我就无法确切地知道自己想要从哪开始。”这给予他自由选择、增加东西的权利。如果他有一个更好的主意，那就彻底重新开始“不可避免地，这使我回顾了一些建筑并且思考在建筑上我想改变的地方”，他说道“不过看着一个建筑随着它的扩展而向着令人惊讶的方向发展也是很有趣的。”

Much like a farmer who loves his crops, Robert started with the scarecrow, and in particular, his big, glowing face, which actually ended up being his favourite part – 'which is good, as that's the whole point of the build!' Because the competition title was 'Scary Pumpkin Carvings', there were already certain expectations of pumpkinery, so Robert started with that.
就像一个喜欢他的农作物的农夫一样，Robert从稻草人开始，尤其是他那张大而发光的脸，实际上这是他最喜欢的部分——“那是极好的，因为那是建筑的全部要点！”因为比赛的比赛是“可怕的南瓜雕刻”，已经对于南瓜作品有所期望，所以Robert从那里开始。

'I set out wanting at least a pumpkin,' he says, but his creativity inspired him to take on a challenge. 'That involved magic, pumpkins, spookiness, and a farm.' He even considered adding in crows – which would have made his scarecrow a bit of a rubbish one – but eventually settled on keeping it straightforwardly spooky.

我开始着手的时候就想要至少一个南瓜，”他说道，但他的创造力鼓舞了他去接受这个挑战。“那涉及魔法、南瓜、鬼怪和一个农场。”他甚至考虑加入一个乌鸦，这会让他的稻草人看上去有点垃圾，但是最终决定让它保持直接阴森的样子。


And what a spooky build it is! The possessed pumpkin has vines growing around like limbs and a glowy, grinning face that shines out in the dark. While it looks quite pretty in the daytime, it's definitely something you don't want to see at night-time, or you may end up fertilising the crops, if you catch my drift.

而且这是一个多么令人毛骨悚然的建筑啊！这个建成的南瓜有着像四肢一样生长的藤蔓，以及一个在黑暗中发光的笑脸。虽然白天它看起来很漂亮，但它明显不是你晚上想看的东西，或者你可能会最终成为庄稼的肥料，如果你明白我的意思的话。

But the spookiest thing of all? 'There isn't a single pumpkin block in the build,' Robert admits. 'I keep forgetting that there actually arepumpkin blocks in the game!' We forgive you, Robert. But the pumpkins might not.
但最可怕的事情是什么？Robert承认道：“建造过程中一个南瓜块都没有使用到。我一直忘记游戏中实际上有南瓜块的存在！” Robert，我们会原谅你。但是南瓜可能不会。

【A55778866579 译自官网 2020 年 10 月 29 日发布的 Oh my gourd；原作者 Kate Gray】
【本文排版借助了：SPX】