He heard the deep behind him，and a cry Before.His own thought drove him like a goad.Dry clashed his harness in the icy cavesAnd barren chasms，and all to left and rightThe bare black cliff clanged round him，as he based His feet on juts of slippery crag that rangSharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels；And on a sudden，lo！the level lake，And the long glories of the winter moon.
6.Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge，Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern，Beneath them；and descending they were ware That all the decks were dense with stately forms，Black-stoled，black-hooded，like a dream-by these Three Queens with crowns of gold-and from them rose.
7.A cry that shivered to the tingling stars，And，as it were one voice，an agonyOf lamentation，like a wind that shrillsAll night in a waste land，where no one comes，Or hath come，since the making of the world.
8.Then murmured Arthur，“Place me in the barge.”So to the barge they came.There those three queens Put forth their hands，and took the King，and wept.
-ALFRED TENNYSON.
中文阅读
【这里的“路”指亚瑟通往天国的道路。根据种种传说，他的死，离奇而非凡。当其大限将至，三位皇后用一艘小船把他接走了，并把他送到了神的天国。因此大众才会相信亚瑟王最终会回来领导不列颠人彻底打败入侵的英格兰人。贝德维尔阁下两次都没有听从亚瑟的命令，没有把神剑扔进湖里，但第三次他执行了命令。】
1.贝德维尔阁下a一路狂奔，风驰电掣，翻山越岭，手握神剑，驻足于茫茫的芦苇荡，振臂一掷，神剑翻滚飞出。那锋利的剑刃，映着当空皓月，直闪寒光，如此闪烁而行，划出一道美妙的弧形，映在波光粼粼的湖面上，亦如一条彩带，抛向北方的黎明天际，在这个起伏跌宕的岛国冬夜，哪里都能看见它的光芒，还有那汹涌澎湃的北海，似乎也在发出应和的声响。神剑就这样光辉陨落，但在其浸入水中之前，一只白衣手臂伸出水面，如此华丽，如此妙曼，如此神秘，超乎想象，此手一把抓住剑柄，挥舞再三，然后没入这神妙的池塘，见此胜景，贝德维尔原路而回，又见我王。
2.亚瑟王发话，呼吸深沉，玉音宏亮：“我从你的眼中，窥见大功已告成。告诉我吧，你的所见所闻，到底怎样？”英勇的贝德维尔阁下如此应答：“启禀我王，我当时紧闭双眼，担心神剑的宝石让我心志动摇；神哉此剑！我即使三世为人，怕也难以再见如此神迹。我当时奋力一展手臂，神剑翻滚飞出，而当我回眸一视，一只手臂现于水中央，这神一般的手臂外面掩着白袍，美妙绝伦，a 贝德维尔阁下：亚瑟的侄子，圆桌骑士之一。
他一把抓住神剑，挥舞再三，然后拿着此剑没入水中，湖面又平静如常。”
3.亚瑟王深吸一口气，庄严回答：“大限将至，我行将离去，张开双臂扶我到墙边，以免我伤口受风寒，这样我马上就将死亡。”
4.话音刚落，他从过道边起身，忍着疼痛，慢慢用手臂支撑起身体，他那深邃的蓝色双眼，凝眸如画a，深情张望，贝德维尔阁下强忍悲痛的泪水，欲言又止；然后他屈膝跪下，把我王倦怠的双手搭在他的肩上，慢慢背起亚瑟王，一步步走过故垒萧萧的坟场。
5.一路上，亚瑟王喘息急促，好像一个人在空荡的屋里遭遇到噩梦一样。不时还喃喃自语：“快点，快点！我怕来不及了，我似乎立刻将亡。”下面的人却以神速翻山越岭，他屏住呼吸，沿途四下张望，宛如一位巨人，穿越在冰封的群山之上。他听见背后深沉的幽咽，之前还有哀婉的哭泣，但他的意志却鞭策着他不断奔向前方。酷寒的洞穴中，甲胄干涩而冰冷，左右全是枯寂的山谷，步履的回声在崖壁间回荡，最后他立足于湿滑的环形峭壁之上，那双军靴一路上帮了大忙。突然，一个平静的湖面映入眼帘，冬夜皎洁的月光，在倒影中越发清寒明亮。
6.然后一叶扁舟驶来，如丧服般黯淡，小船肃穆庄严，造访他们的人就在船上，a 凝眸如画：双眼注目凝视，看上去宛如画中。
船上的三人一身黑衣，头顶皇后金冠，宛如梦境般奇幻异常。
7.她们突然有人大哭一声，悲声震天，那是一个人的哭泣，撕心裂肺，痛断肝肠，像整夜呼啸在这片荒原上的寒风，呜咽讲述着这片土地的万古悲凉。
8.亚瑟自语：“把我移入舟中。”众人依谕行事，三位黑衣皇后随后摇橹行舟，带走了亚瑟，带走了我们永远的国王。
（阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生a）
a 阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生（1809~1892）：英国19世纪的著名诗人，在世时就获得了极高的声誉。生于英国林肯郡，出身牧师家庭，兄弟均有诗才，肄业于剑桥大学，诗作题材广泛，想象丰富，形式完美，词藻绮丽，音调铿锵。其131首的组诗《悼念》被视为英国文学史上最优秀哀歌之一，因而获“桂冠诗人”称号。其子哈勒姆·丁尼生曾任澳洲总督。--译者注15THE ENGLISH BECOME CHRISTIAN英格兰人始信基督教
complexion，colour of face.
conversion，change.
crucifix，a cross with the figure of Christ on it.
expected，looked for.
idolatry，worship of idols.
influence，power.
missionaries，persons sent forth to preach.
rescue，deliver.
1.The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity is said to have happened in this way：There was a famous Pope called Gregory the Great，who，before he was raised to the Papacy，had been filled with a desire to rescue the people of Britain from idolatry.One day in crossing the market where slaves were sold，he saw some very handsome boys，whose red and white complexion，golden hair，and soft blue eyes took his fancy at once.He asked who they were；and being told that they belonged to a nation called Angli，a he cried out，“Theyare not Angli，but Angeli.”（that is，angels）.And that very hour he formed a resolve to work for the conversion of that race of beautiful pagans.
2.It was not，however，until a letter came from ？thelbert，King of Kent，bwho had married a Christian wife，that the first missionaries left Rome forthe distant island.The journey was long，and the danger of going among the wild islanders seemed very great；so Augustine and his forty monks turned back to Rome in fear.Gregory，however，insisted that they should start again for Britain；and they accordingly passed through France and crossed the narrow sea to Kent.
3.The Kentish peasants were quite as much surprised to see the dark-faced Italian priests，as these priests were to see the smiling fields of a land in which they had expected nothing but forest and heath.A meeting between the King and the missionaries was arranged，and a very splendid scene it was.In glittering dresses the monks walked forward at a slow and solemn pace froma Angli...Angeli.-Angli is the Latin for “the English；”Angeli is the Latin for “angels.”
b A Christian wife.-Bertha，daughter of the King of the Franks，whose capital was Paris.
their dwellings to a place in the isle of Thanet where the King and the Queen sat on thrones in the open air.The sound of their voices，chanting Latin psalms，was heard，sweet and low in the distance，and then，as they came near，swelling into the full strong peal of manly music.
AUGUSTINE PREACHING TO THE ENGLISH.
4.When they came in sight，it was seen that a picture of a Man bleeding on a cross was carried before them，and that each long-robed foreigner held a silvercrucifix in his hand.Nothing could be kinder than the way in which ？thelbert received the strangers；and as soon as they declared the object of their coming，he gave them houses to livein and money for their regular support.Nor was it long until he yielded to the quiet influence of his wife Bertha，and was baptized into the Church of which Augustine was a missionary.
中文阅读
1.关于盎格鲁撒克逊人皈依基督教的历程，历来的说法大致如此：有一位名叫格雷戈里的大主教，他后来成为大名鼎鼎的罗马教皇，但在他荣膺此职之前，一直有一个坚定的理想，就是把不列颠人从原始偶像崇拜中拯救出来。有一天他路过罗马的奴隶市场，看见一些俊俏的小男孩被当作奴隶贩卖，他们肤色白里透红，满头金发，一双水汪汪的蓝眼睛是那样的招人疼爱，让格雷戈里立刻动了恻隐之心。他便问小男孩们是哪里人，回答说他们来自盎格鲁（Anglia），他于是惊呼：“根本不是盎格鲁，完全就是天使（Angeli）嘛！”于是他作出了一个神圣的决定，要让这个漂亮的异教族群成为基督徒。