The Slave Ship is an 1840 oil painting by Turner in the Romantic Maritime style.

《奴隶船》是透纳创作于1840年的一幅浪漫主义海景油画。

On the surface， it looks like an innocent painting of a stormy sea with a ship middle left struggling to find its passage through. Look closer. You will see bodies. You will see body parts. You will see shackles. You will see swarming fish and birds and other sea creatures. What is happening？

表面上，这看似一幅纯粹描绘风暴中大海的画作，画面中间偏左的部分有一艘船在奋力前行。仔细看，就会看到尸体，会看到尸块，会看到镣铐，会看到成群的鱼、鸟和其他海洋生物。出了什么事？

During the Atlantic slave trade， slave ship owners would take out insurance policies on their human cargo. Turner’s The Slave Ship depicts the practice of throwing cargo （again—Humans） overboard in stormy seas in order to collect the money from the insurance they have taken out， often when the men and women have become too sick from the appalling conditions to be of value in the slave markets.

在跨大西洋奴隶贸易中，奴隶船的船主会为他们贩运的人货（奴隶）投保。透纳的《奴隶船》所描绘的就是船主为获取保险金而在风暴来临的大海上把货物（即人）扔到海里，通常扔掉的是那些因环境恶劣而变得体衰病弱、在奴隶市场上卖不出去的男男女女。

The Slave Ship shows the inclemency of nature and the horror of human nature： black slaves have been thrown overboard for reasons of profit.

《奴隶船》展示了大自然的残酷和人性的恐怖：为了牟利将黑人奴隶丢弃海中。

A spectacular orange horizon appears to break， as if at dawn， over a scene of horror and alarm. Yet it might take us a few moments to realize what exactly is happening， so assertive is the gleam of the sun at the center. It is the strong darkening of the sky on the left that testifies to the incoming typhoon. Similarly the fact that the slave ship has raised its sails to gain speed and， hopefully， move out of its way. Finally， the tumult of the sea all over leaves us in doubt that a storm is about to invest anyone and anything left in this space.

似乎已是拂晓，地平线一片壮观的橙色，像要打破海上那恐怖和惊悚的一幕。