书城历史英国历史读本:与《英国语文》同步的经典学生历史读本
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第27章 远古时期的英格兰,公元1154年前(27)

6.Hereward then went to his uncle,who was an abbot,and asked to be made a knight.The ceremony was completed in the usual way,with the midnight vigil in the church.For the offence of knighting Hereward,the abbot would have been expelled by the Conqueror;but he died in time to prevent this.A Norman monk was then sent to take the abbot’s place;but the men of Ely managed,before he came,to seize all the gold and silver in the abbey,and carry it off to their camp among the reeds.

7.The new abbot then sought the aid of the French knight who held Hereward‘s lands,and together they went to hunt for the plunderers in a confused series of swamps,all overgrown with willows and tall bulrushes.While the French knight was beating the ground,or rather the mud,in vain,Hereward,who knew every inch of the district,suddenly appeared before the bewildered abbot,as he was prudently waiting on the edge,and carried him off a prisoner to the central camp,from which he did not get free until he had paid a heavy ransom.

中文阅读

1.话说东盎格利亚b有位首领叫利奥弗里克,他有位大名鼎鼎的儿子,就是赫里沃德。人们都知道,东盎格利亚人培育他们的小孩可是出了名的冷峻严厉。他们会拎着婴儿的脖子和脚踝,一下把他们扔上屋顶,让其在斜屋顶上自己爬,以此判定孩子是否强壮。如果小孩子能自己用手和膝盖慢慢爬行,那么就被认为有保留并养育的价值;如果他掉了下来,那他就只有到外邦去碰运气了,东盎格利亚不会让他留下。

2.赫里沃德从小就在这样的环境中长大,养成了勇猛大胆、行事乖张的个性;不仅如此,其良好的身体素质在同龄人中也是出类拔萃,赫里沃德从小常常在各类运动比赛中拔得头筹。要是在摔跤时被人撂倒,他会马上拔剑站起,把一场友谊赛搞成生死决斗!

a The Isle of Ely.-The northern part of Cambridgeshire.

b 东盎格利亚:即现今的诺福克与萨福克一带。

3.这样的个性脾气自然让很多人不喜欢他,他还常常与同伴和邻居吵架,搞得大家鸡犬不宁。后来他父亲实在没有办法,只得请求忏悔者爱德华国王将这个不肖之子定为歹徒。于是赫里沃德只好背井离乡,开始了流浪者的生活。

4.赫里沃德的坚毅勇敢的确超乎常人,尤其是在一个战乱的时代,所以他后来的英勇事迹被写进了民歌,当时的乐师伶人在王宫夜宴之后演奏的曲目,常常就有关于他的歌曲。当这些消息传入他家乡时,听闻曾经那个被驱逐的个性男孩居然成了战争英雄,人们都不禁哑然失笑。

5.诺曼征服之后不久,赫里沃德便返乡。他发现一位法国爵士居然占领了他父王的土地,便立刻组织人马,准备赶走这些入侵者。但是当时法国人背后有征服者威廉撑腰,于是赫里沃德另想办法,在伊利岛上建立了一个避难营,四面皆用栅栏包围,确保能抵抗敌人的任何袭击。

6.赫里沃德又找到他的一位在修道院当院长的叔叔,让他叔叔授予他骑士称号。授予仪式按计划进行了,程序一如往常,最后还要守夜至凌晨才结束。但是给这样一个通缉犯授勋可是非法乱纪的事件,按征服者威廉之规定,他叔叔修道院院长之位肯定是保不住了。不过在撤职的谕旨到达以前,他这位叔叔就去世了,于是一位诺曼修道士被派遣过来,继任院长之职。赫里沃德在此人到任以前,席卷了修道院里所有的金银财物,一溜烟跑回了他那掩映在芦苇荡里的避难营中。

7.见此局面,这位新来的院长向主管当地的法国骑士寻求帮助,并且集合起人马来到了他藏身的这片沼泽地。但这里柳树成林,乱草丛生,几乎无路可走,这让他们大伤脑筋。就在法国骑士气得跺脚,准备挖泥开路之时,对这一区域极为熟悉的赫里沃德突然现身。这下让正站在一边等待开路的新院长惊慌失措,束手就擒成了俘虏,新院长被押回到赫里沃德营中,直到交付一大笔赎金之后,才获得自由。

32

SIEGE OF THE CAMP OF REFUGE

围攻避难营

1071A.D.(公元1071年)

companions,friends;followers.

defended,guarded.

league,union.

stationed,posted.stratagem,trick;device.supposed,thought.

1.Movements so daring brought William the Conqueror in person to the scene.With the quick eye of a man used to war,the King saw that the only hope of success lay in making a solid road across the swamps and pools which defended the Camp of Ely.It was a very difficult task in itself;and in the face of active foes,who burned the works and killed the workmen,it was tenfold more so.

2.In those days,when a man gave proof of having more than common power,he was supposed to have made a league with wicked spirits,who helped him,in the hope of destroying his soul.Hereward was thought to be a wizard;and so a witch on a wooden tower was pushed through the fens,that her spells might defeat or render useless those of the English chief.The reeds were set on fire by the English,and the flames catching the tower,burned the witch and the workmen together.

3.Matters seemed hopeless,when some faithless monks of Ely offered to show a secret path through the fens into the isle,on condition that their convent should be spared.Along this winding way a file of Normans passed,and attacked the camp so fiercely as to slay a thousand of its defenders.When Hereward saw that his wooden walls were pierced and taken,he waded through the bogs with a few chosen companions,until he came to the banks of a Lincolnshire stream,where some Saxon fishermen were sitting in their boats,having just made a successful haul with their nets.

4.Finding that these poor men were going to sell their fish to some Norman knights,stationed not far off,Hereward resolved to try a stratagem.He and his men lay down in the bottom of the boats,and were covered by the fishermen with straw.The latter then rowed on,until they came to the place where the dainty Normans were waiting for the first course of their dinner.

5.The fishermen went up to strike a bargain,and,while the talk was going on,out sprang Hereward and his men with their battle-axes,and set upon the knights,some of whom did not stay to be killed,but fled on foot from their sudden foes.The horses of the Normans proved very welcome to the tired hero and his men,who rode off rejoicing in the success of their plot.It is said that Hereward afterwards married a rich English lady,and was taken into friendship by the Conqueror.

中文阅读

1.赫里沃德胆大包天的事迹让征服者威廉知道了,于是他决定御驾亲征。公元1071年,他率部来到了这片沼泽地,这位久经沙场的老将用眼睛瞄了一下四周,立即得出判断,唯一的希望只有立即修路,才能让大军穿过这些坑坑洼洼的沼泽池塘,到达赫里沃德所在的伊利避难营。不过这可是个极其困难的任务,更何况他们面对的是赫里沃德这样一个劲敌。他们一边修,赫里沃德就一边放火烧,还杀修路工人,这个任务更是难上加难了。

2.在那时,如果一个人显示出超乎常人的能力,人们便认为他内心深处一定是有邪恶的幽灵在作怪,正是这些东西帮助了他,并且会慢慢毁掉他本身的灵魂。赫里沃德就被诺曼大军认为是一个有法力的男巫,于是他们找来一个巫婆,给她建了一个木台,让她施法消除障碍,好让他们能顺利捉拿这个负隅顽抗的英国首领。但他们的算盘又打错了,赫里沃德很快就放火烧了周围的芦苇,火焰不仅吞噬了巫婆的木台,把巫婆连同修路的工人也一起烧死了。

3.诺曼大军几乎绝望了,但就在这时,伊利岛上几位不忠的修道士充当了带路党。他们给诺曼大军指引了一条隐秘的小路,可以穿过栅栏直接通向岛上的大本营,他们开出的条件是岛上的修道院里的僧众在大军开进之后能被赦免。沿着这条羊肠小道,一帮诺曼人闯了进去,对岛上的大本营展开了猛烈的攻击,杀了将近一千人。赫里沃德眼见他的防御木墙被攻破,立即带上他事先选好的随从,穿过泥塘逃跑了。他们一直跑到林肯郡的河边,当时河边正有一帮渔人在船上打渔,而且收获颇丰。

4.经过打探,赫里沃德得知这帮穷人将会把鱼卖给驻扎在不远处的诺曼骑士团,于是眉头一皱,计上心来。他和他的人躺在这些船的底部,让这些渔人在他们身上盖上稻草。然后再划船前行,就这样慢慢到达了诺曼军营,诺曼人正在那里眼巴巴地等待着他们的晚餐。

5.渔人们于是上前讨价还价,就在他们谈得热火朝天的时候,赫里沃德和他的人一跃而起,抡起战斧,朝着这帮诺曼骑士砍去。被砍死的不少,剩下的自然拔腿就跑。缴获的马匹可让赫里沃德和他的战士们高兴极了,于是他和众人骑上马,怀揣着大功告成的喜悦,绝尘而去。据说后来赫里沃德娶了一位很有钱的英国女人做妻子,还和征服者威廉成了很好的朋友。

33

THE BURIAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

征服者威廉之葬礼

1087A.D.(公元1087年)

aisle (ile),wing;passage.

bestow,place;bury.