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8章 远古时期的英格兰,公元1154年前(8)

5.And then what a scene of confusion there was!Britons,with their blue breasts bare,and their yellow locks matted with blood,trying all that wild bravery could do against the well-trained Romans-women shrieking and wringing their hands,or,forgetting their sex in the horror of the time,rushing to grapple in deadly fight with the Roman soldiers-noise and slaughter everywhere-and everywhere the Roman sword drinking blood,and spilling life upon the grass.

6.When Boadicea,who had come to battle dressed as for a festival,in a robe of bright colours,a loose flowing cloak,and a golden collar,saw the slaughter of her people and the speedy ruin of all her hopes,she did what heathens thought it very noble to do,-she put an end to her life by swallowing poison.

中文阅读

1.不久之后,一位英勇无比的不列颠女人又与罗马人展开了对决。她的名字叫波阿迪西亚,是爱西尼a部落的王后。当罗马统治者深入蒙那b岛,任意屠戮躲入橡树林的德鲁伊僧侣时,这位英勇的女人便站了出来,鼓动她在诺福克的人民参加战斗。

2.与罗马人开战,她有充分的理由。她的丈夫早前去世,留下一半财产,希望她们孤儿寡母能赖以过活。但贪婪的罗马人却将财产全部抢走了,当她向他们索要属于她的那一部分时,他们不仅不给,还用鞭子狠狠抽打她。

3.这让她出离愤怒,于是她驾着战车,拿着长矛,组织了一次不列颠勇士的集会。会上她讲述了这段屈辱的故事,听者无不振臂高呼复仇。他们冲向罗马人的据点,肆意杀人放火。在罗马人回马应战之前,一共有七万人被杀。当然,之后便是大战降临。

a 爱西尼:一个位于如今诺福克郡的部落。

b 蒙那:即如今的安格尔西岛,位于威尔士西北部。

4.公元61年,这场大战发生在埃塞克斯的低浅海岸附近。罗马人背对大海迎战,无数的不列颠人蜂拥而至,可以设想,他们几乎包围了敌人并把他们逼入死角。不列颠人的胜利几乎已经注定,所以他们把妻女们都带来,让她们在排成一列的轿子里,远远地在海滩边缘观看他们的胜利。但是这时罗马人团结一致、背水一战,变成一个楔子阵型,以凶猛的战法突破了不列颠人的防线,最终把不列颠的残兵败将击退到了轿子边缘。

5.接下来场面更加混乱!不列颠战士们光着膀子,黄色头发沾满血迹,拼尽他们最大的勇气与训练有素的罗马人进行搏斗。女人们尖叫着与敌人扭打,有的更是在惊惶中忘记了自己的性别,冲向罗马士兵与他们一决生死。然而罗马的刀剑却所向披靡,草地上到处都躺着不列颠人的遗体。

6.决战之时,波阿迪西亚像迎接节日庆典一样,穿着一套鲜艳亮丽的礼服,雅致飘逸的披风衬托着金色的衣领。当她看见她的人民惨遭如此屠杀,她的希望立即全然破灭。于是她按照异教徒认为的高贵的方式了结了生命,服毒自杀了。

09

BOADICEA

波阿迪西亚

61A.D.(公元61年)

abhorred,hated.celestial,heavenly.counsel,advice.empire,highest power.

indignant,scornful and angry.invincible,unconquerable.matchless,unequalled.

mien,manner;look.pregnant,filled;teeming.progeny,offspring.renowned,famed.

resentment,sense of wrong;anger.

vengeance,suffering;return for injury.

1.When the British warrior Queen

Every burning word he spoke Full of rage and full of grief:-3.“Princess!if our aged eyesWeep upon thy matchless wrongs,’Tis because resentment tiesAll the terrors of our tongues.

4.”Rome shall perish!-write that word In the blood that she has spilt!

a The Roman rods.-A reference to the public scourging inflicted on Boadicea.

b Druid.-A priest of the ancient Britons:said to be so named from the oak (Welsh derw,Greek drus,oak),for which the Druids had great reverence.The accepted account is,that the Druids were destroyed bySuetonius Paulinus in 61A.D.

Perish,hopeless and abhorred,Deep in ruin as in guilt.

5.“Rome,for empire far renowned,Tramples on a thousand states;Soon her pride shall kiss the ground-aHark!the Goth

is at her gates!

6.”Other Romans shall arise,Heedless of a soldier‘s name;Sounds,not arms,shall win the prize,bHarmony

the path to fame.

7.“Then the progeny that springs From the forests of our land,Armed with thunder,clad with wings,cShall a wider world

command.

8.”Regions Caesar never knew,

d

Thy posterity

Where his eagles

shall sway;

never flew-

None invincible as they.“-

9.Such the bard’s prophetic words,Pregnant with celestial fire,Bending as he swept the chords Of his sweet but awful lyre.

10.She,with all a monarch‘s pride,Felt them in her bosom glow;a The Goth is at her gates.-A reference to the barbarian hordes-Goths,Vandals,and Huns-which in the fifth century attacked and over threw the Roman Empire.The Druid is made to see in vision some of these hosts,which entered Italy from Gaul,seizing the gates of Rome.

b Harmony.-The priest,in his vision,foresees the time when Italy shall become famous for the cultivation of the art of music.

c A wider world.-The Druid predicts that the British Empire shall one day become greater than that of Rome.

d Thy posterity.-Thy successors is the meaning.The statement never was true of Boadicea’s “posterity;”for the bulk of the English nation belongs to the Teutonic and not to the Celtic race.

e His eagles.-The Roman standards.

Rushed to battle,fought,and died -

b

Dying,hurled them

at the foe:-

11.“Ruffians!pitiless as proud,

Heaven awards the vengeance due;-Empire is on us bestowed-Shame and ruin wait for you!”

-WILLIAM COWPER

中文阅读

1.当这位英勇的不列颠王后在罗马人的荆条c下流血汩汩之时,那愤愤不平的苦楚芳容,多么希望她故土的众神能为她主持公道:

2.华盖般的橡树下端坐着我族圣贤与先民耆旧,德鲁伊长老d,他满腔悲伤愤怒,化作铿锵激烈的言辞滔滔:

3.“王后!若您所受之巨大不公让我等老泪纵横,那是愤恨让我们凝噎并消除我们的恐惧,您可知道?

4.罗马将会毁灭!这句话将写入她飞溅的鲜血!毁灭,绝望而令人憎恨地毁灭,彻底变成废墟,他们的罪恶无可救药。

a Fought,and died.-Cowper adopts the account of Boadicea‘s death which represents her as having been slain in battle.

b Them.-”The bard’s prophetic words.“

c 罗马人的荆条:指罗马人鞭打波阿迪西亚。

d 德鲁伊长老:古代不列颠人的牧师。前文说过,如此得名是源于橡树,德鲁伊僧侣们对此树极为崇拜。信史记载,公元61年德鲁伊僧侣被苏托努斯·保利努斯残杀。

5.罗马,这个举世皆知的帝国,践踏了千百邦国之国土;但不久她就会匍匐在地,听吧,蛮夷之族a已在她门外喧闹!

6.新的罗马将会崛起,非再以武力威恃天下;音乐,而非军队,将为她赢得荣誉,和谐b才是国家通向文明之路的法宝。

7.那时我土之子孙依然承草木之甘露,将结成如虎添翼之王师,在更广阔的世界c遍行王道。

8.恺撒根本无法想象您的后裔d所改变的世界,他们将拥有罗马鹰旗e从未飘扬的土地任何力量都不能屈服他们纤毫。”

9.游子的预言如斯,字句间孕育着圣火,一如扫弦而过的琴音,雅致悦耳却不失庄严风貌。

10.她,满怀一个君主的全部荣德,在心中感受到民族的英勇顽强,她冲向战场,浴血奋战直到阵亡f,死,也要把如许言辞g当做扔向敌人的尖刀。

a 蛮夷之族:指野蛮部落在15世纪攻陷罗马并摧毁了罗马王权,这里是假设德鲁伊长老看见这一幕,蛮族军队从高卢攻入意大利,直锁罗马的咽喉要塞。

b 文明和谐:喻指这位先知已经预见到后来的意大利因音乐艺术而闻名于世。

c 更广阔的世界:指德鲁伊长老预示有一天英国王权会比罗马王权更加有力而伟大。

d 您的后裔:指她的子孙后代。但“波阿迪西亚的后裔”这个陈述有误,因为后来英国人的绝大部分人种属于日耳曼人,而不是她所代表的凯尔特人。

e 罗马鹰旗:罗马军团的标志。

f 奋战直到阵亡:作者古柏采纳了波阿迪西亚是最终战死的说法。

g 如许言辞:指上文游子的预言。

11.“恶棍们!尔等如此冷酷邪恶却不以为耻,上天的报应迟早会降落在你们身上,王权最终将属我英伦,羞耻而覆灭的下场我在此提前向尔等宣告!”

(威廉·古柏a)

a 威廉·古柏(1731~1800):英国诗人。他是那个时代最受欢迎的诗人之一,通过描绘日常生活和英国乡村场景,改变了18世纪自然诗的方向,他是浪漫主义诗歌的先行者之一。--译者注10AGRICOLA阿格里科拉

civllize,refine;tame.conquer,subdue.dirks,daggers.

discovered,found out.estuaries,firths.introduced,brought in.