Pompeii译文

Pompeii

very far from Naples, a strange city sleeps under the hot Italian sun.

It

is

the

city

of

Pompeii,

and

there

is

no

other

city

quite

like

it

in

all

the

world.

Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards, yet every year

thousands of people travel from distant countries to visit it.

1.

在离那不勒斯不远的地方，

一座奇特的小城寂静的沉睡在意大利炙热的骄阳之 下。

那

就是庞培城。

全世界再没有任何 一个城市和庞培城相像。

在庞培城中，

除了蟋蟀、

甲虫和蜥

蜴之外，别无其他生物，然而每年都有成千上万的人从不同国度不远 万里前来参观。

i

is

a

dead

city.

No

one

has

lived

there

for

nearly

two

thousand

years----not since the summer of the year A.D. 79, to be exact.

2.

庞培是一座死城。确切的说自从公元

79< /p>

年的那个夏天开始，两千年来没有人在这里

生活过。

that year Pompeii was a prosperous city of 25,000 people. Nearby was

the

Bay

of

Naples,

an

arm

of

the

blue

Mediterranean.

Rich

men came

down

from

wealthy

Rome

to

build

seaside

villas.

Farmlands

surrounded

Pompeii.

Rising

behind

the

city

was the 4000-foot Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered slope where the shepherds of

Pompeii took their goats to graze. Pompeii was a busy city and a happy one.

3.

直到那年夏天庞培成还是一座拥有

25000

人的繁荣城市，

离那不远就是蓝色地中海之

臂的那不勒斯湾。

一些有钱人从富有的罗马城来到这里建造海边别墅。< /p>

庞培城的周围有农田

环绕。在这座城市的背后矗立着

4000

英尺高的维苏威火山。绿草覆盖的山坡上，牧羊人赶

着他们的羊群在吃草。庞培城是一座繁忙而又充满幸福感的城市。

died suddenly, in a terrible rain of fire and ash. The tragedy struck on

the

24th

of

August,

A.D.79.

Mount

Vesuvius,

which

had

slept

quietly

for

centuries,

erupted

with

savage

violence.

Tons

of

hot

ash

fell

on

Pompeii,

hiding

it

from

sight.

For

three

days

the

sun

did

not

break

through

the

clouds

of

volcanic

ash

that

filled

the

sky.

And

when

the

eruption

ended,

Pompeii

was

buried

deep.

A

city

had

perished.

4.

可是，在一 阵可怕的火与灰的袭击中，这座城市灭亡了。这个悲剧发生在公元

79

< br>年的

8

月

24

< br>日。维苏威火山。这座沉睡了几世纪的山脉，突然剧烈的爆发了。数以吨计滚烫的火

山灰落到了庞培城遮住了人们的视线。

3

天以来阳光都无法穿 过被火山灰充斥的云层。当喷

发结束的时候，庞培城被深深的掩埋了。这座城市也就消失 了。

5. Centuries passed, Pompeii was forgotten. Then, seventeen hundred years

later,

it

was

discovered

again.

Beneath

the

protecting

shroud

of

ash,

the

city

lay

intact. Everything was as it had been the day Vesuvius erupted. There were still

loaves

of

bread

in

the

ovens

of

the

bakeries.

In

the

wine

shops,

the

wine

jars

were

in

place,

and

on

one

counter

could

be

seen

a

stain

where

a

customer

had

thrown

down

his glass and fled.

5.

几个世纪过去了，庞 培城几乎被遗忘了。不过，

1700

年后，人们又重新发现了它 。

在火山灰的保护下，这座城市完好无损的躺在那里。一切都是维苏威火山喷发那天的样 子。

面包店烤箱里依然有尚未出炉的面包，在卖红酒的店里，酒坛子依然放在原处，在柜 台前，

人们扔下酒杯逃命的痕迹清晰可见。

6. To

go

to

Pompeii

today

is

to

take

a

trip

backward

in

time.

The

old

city

comes

to life all around you. You can almost hear the clatter of horses

’

hoofs on the

narrow

streets,

the

cries

of

children

and

the

laughter

of

the

shopkeepers.

The

sky

is

cloudlessly

blue,

with

the

summer

sun

high

in

the

sky.

The

grassy

slopes

of

great

Vesuvius rise to the heavens behind the city, and sunlight shimmers on the waters

of

the

bay

a

thousand

yards

from

the

city

walls.

Ships

from

every

nation

are

in

port

and strange languages can be heard in the streets.

6.

今天，

去庞培可以称得上是一次体验时光倒流的旅行，

古老的城市在你的周围仿佛又

重新充满了活力。

你几乎能听到狭窄街道上的马蹄声，

孩子们的哭闹声和店主们的笑声。

蔚

蓝的天空万里无云 ，

盛夏的烈日在空中高悬。

城市的背后维苏威火山长满青草的山 坡伸向天

空，阳光在城墙外

1000

多 码的海湾水面上闪烁发光。从世界各国驶来的船只停在港内，大

街上还能听到各种不同的 语言。

was Pompeii on its last day. And so it is today, now that the volcanic

ash

has

been

cleared

away.

A

good

imagination

is

all

you

need

to

restore

it

to

activity.

7.

这就是庞培的最后一天。

也就是今天，

火山 灰已经清理完毕，

你需要一个很丰富的想象力

来把它恢复到现实 当中。

8. At

dawn

on

August

24,

in

the

year

A.D.

79,

Pompeii

’

s

25,000

people

awakened

to

another

hot

day

in

that

hot

summer.

There

was

going

to

be

a

contest

in

the

arena

that night and the whole town was looking forward to the bloody fights of the

gladiators.

The

children

headed

toward

school,

carrying

slates

and

followed

by

their

dogs. In the forum the town

’

s important men had gathered after breakfast to read

the political signs that had been posted during the night. Elsewhere in the forum

the wool merchants talked business. The banker was going over his account books.

At

the

inn

later- rising

travellers

from

the

East

awakened

and

yawned

and

called

for

breakfast.

8.

在公元

79

年

8

月< /p>

24

日黎明，庞培城的人们在炎热的夏天中迎来了新的一天，原本

在那天晚上竞技场有一场竞赛，

全城百姓都期待着角斗士们的血 腥搏斗，

孩子们提着石板跟

在狗的后面去上学，在城镇广场上全 城的重要人士在早饭后都聚集起来看张贴好的政治公

告。在广场的其他地方，羊毛商正在 谈生意；旅馆里刚刚起床的游客还在打着哈欠叫早餐。

quiet morning moved slowly along. There was nothing very unusual about

Pompeii.

But

tragedy

was

on

its

way.

Beneath

Vesuvius

’

vine- covered

slopes

a

mighty

force

was

about

to

break

loose.

At

one

o

’

clock

in

the

afternoon

the

critical

point

was

reached.

The

mountain

blew

up,

raining

death

on

thousands.

Down

in

Pompeii,

four

miles from the summit, a tremendous explosion was heard.

9.

安静的早 上，

时间慢慢过去。

庞培城没有什么异常。

但是一场悲剧正在逼近，

在维苏

威火山藤蔓覆盖的山坡下一 股巨大的力量即将爆发。

在下午一点钟，

这股力量到达了临界点 。

火山爆发了，

死亡向成千上万的人们降临。

< br>山下的庞贝城，

距离山顶有四英里，

巨大的爆炸