c Parma Alexander Farnese.-A famous general in the service of Philip II.of Spain.
d The fire of Antwerp.-Fire aimilar to that with which the people of Antwerp had attacked the Spaniardssome years previously.
which made the succeeding darkness the more terrible.Next morning the Spanish ships were all scattered in different directions owing to this panic;and the English sailors easily destroyed or defeated the fragments of the fleet,which in its unbroken form had seemed really invincible.
11.Those ships of the Spanish fleet which escaped made their way northward,followed to FlamboroughaHeadby the pursuing English.
b
THE ENGLISH ATTACKING THE SPANIARDS.
Away past St.Abb’s Head,
and round the shoulder of Aberdeenshire,fled theill-fated galleons,with their smaller attendants,and stretched right across the Moray Firth to that channel which first admits a passage into the wide Atlantic from the North Sea.
12.So,round the north and west of Scotland,past the coast of Ireland,and across the Bay of Biscay,they went-those fifty-three broken ships,manned with a small number of pale and ragged men,who had but little food and less appetite to eat it.And thus ended the expedition,by means of which King Philip the Second of Spain intended to conquer England,and inflict onProtestantism a blow from which it was never to recover.
中文阅读
1.在1588年7月的一个傍晚,一帮英格兰海军官兵正在“普利茅斯山崖”的草地上玩滚球c比赛,突然看见远处大海的天际线上出现了一个白点。它越来越近,不一会儿就能看清这是一艘三桅帆船,每一面帆布都撑得满满的,正全速向着普利茅斯港口驶来。这样的情况对海军将士们而言,已经遇到不止一次了;他们停下比赛,相互争论着这艘船的来历,因为他们在此集结的目的就是注意观察可能的来犯之敌,那就是骄傲自满的西班牙国王菲利普麾下的“无敌舰队”。
2.船靠岸后,船长气喘吁吁地跑上山崖,神情慌张地告诉海军将士们他在早上看见了西班牙人的巨型战舰群,他还被其中一艘追赶,幸好他的小船速度快,甩掉a Flamborough Head.-On the coast of Yorkshire.
b St.Abb‘s Head.-On the coast of Berwick.
c 草地滚球:起源于英格兰宫廷,是一项集运动竞技和休闲娱乐于一体的时尚运动,至今已具有数百年的历史。可以单人或多人一组进行比赛,主要是以投掷球与目标球的距离最近为规则。--译者注了追赶的大船侥幸逃脱。众将官一听,都立即跑开准备起锚出海;享有盛誉的航海家与探险家德雷克a当时也在场,他却坚持认为应该将比赛打完再去,他说:“因为我们有足够的时间打完比赛后再去打西班牙人。”
3.尽管风向不利,英国舰队当晚还是驶出了港口,第二天一早,这些小舰船上的人们就远远看见了西班牙无敌舰队。这些巨型战舰在海面上呈半月形排开,宛如木制的海上城堡,前后蜿蜒足足长达7英里。
4.无敌舰队的战舰形态各异,大小不等。其中有一艘巨大帆船,船帆的龙骨用橡木制成,像城墙一样厚;桅杆上缠绕的锚索细密紧致,好似板球拍手柄上紧密规整的绳子一样。还有一艘三桅军舰,外形像一艘罗马大帆船,上面有大量苦工们,他们一个挨一个地排列着,划动沉重的船桨。另外还有许多小一点的战舰在半月形的舰队阵列中错落陈列。
5.当时英格兰海军司令是来自埃芬汉姆的霍华德b勋爵,他仔细观察了这些巨型战舰,让他们从自己的小舰船队列旁悠然驶过。然后,当它们向着加来方向驶去一段距离之后,英国舰船的火炮便从后方向这些离去的船只猛烈开火了。
6.在这第一轮交火中,英军舰队打了漂亮的一仗;西班牙战舰的加农火炮由于过于沉重而不能调低炮口,炮弹从英军舰队头上飞过,落到了老远的地方。英军战舰还有另外一个优势,那就是船小好调头,这让他们能轻松自如地在西班牙舰队的庞大的战舰周围机动游走。
7.两支舰队相继驶过英吉利海峡,朝着多佛海峡扬帆而去--西班牙打头,英格兰殿后;两军一路激烈交火,只要火力尚可持续,便均不示弱。舰队的航速很慢,整整用了一周时间才到达加来;在比加来更远的敦刻尔克c,帕尔马公爵d已布下重兵准备迎接英军入侵。帕尔马公爵率领的士兵从来没有上过西班牙的舰船,如今就快近在咫尺了。
8.一天晚上,一帮胆大的英国海军找来八只驳船,事先在船上装满了持久且猛烈的可燃物,比如树脂、松香之类,然后慢慢靠近了西班牙舰队。当距离这些凌乱的大船已经足够近时,他们将这八只驳船点燃火,让它们乘着海风撞进了西班牙的舰船阵列之中。
9.西班牙人曾经以同样的方式遭受过袭击,因此见此情景,有人开始惊呼“安特卫普的大火e又来了”。加之当时正值漆黑的半夜,身处这片未知海域本就让人心a 德雷克:即弗朗西斯·德雷克爵士,史上著名的海军将领和航海家。他在1577-1580年间完成了环球航行,当时他正在霍华德手下担任海军副司令官。卒于1596年。
b 霍华德:即霍华德·查尔斯,后来成为诺丁汉伯爵,卒于1624年。
c 敦刻尔克:位于法国北部,地处多佛以东45英里。当时此地为一个佛兰芒人聚居的城镇,查尔斯二世在1664年将其卖给了法国国王。
d 帕尔马公爵:即亚历山大·法尔内塞,西班牙国王菲利普二世麾下著名的军事将领。
e 安特卫普的大火:多年前安特卫普人就是以类似的火攻方式袭击了西班牙人。
生胆怯,西班牙人全部方寸大乱,于是一时尖叫惊呼四起,每艘舰船都各自奋力逃命,生怕沾染上周围烈火熊熊的驳船。
10.这样精巧构思的火攻突然爆发,常常会让漆黑的海上之夜好像半边天都被突然点亮,而又让随后的黑暗更加让人恐怖。西班牙舰船全都因为这样的恐惧而疯狂逃散,到早上一看,海面上的舰船横七竖八一片混乱。英国海军像砍瓜切菜一般,非常轻易就将这些舰船全部击败,而且都完好无损,外观看还真像“无敌”的样子。
11.那些侥幸逃走的西班牙舰船一路北退,被英军一直追赶到夫兰巴洛海岬a。然后他们又向圣阿布斯海岬b方向逃窜,绕过阿伯丁郡的海角逃之夭夭。一路上由几艘倒霉的主舰领头,其他若干小船跟随其后,队列向右延伸到马里湾,经过那里的海峡从北海进入了宽广的大西洋。
12.最后绕过苏格兰西北部,经过爱尔兰,穿过比斯开湾,53艘破船终于逃向了西班牙。船上的人全都面如菜色、衣衫褴褛,因为船上食物本就极少,而且遭此惊吓,都无心进食了。这场远征如此收场了,西班牙国王菲利普二世征服英格兰的宏伟计划就这样谢幕了,这一结果对新教的发展也产生了巨大打击,使其从此一蹶不振,对后世影响深远。
a 夫兰巴洛海岬:位于约克郡海岸。
b 圣阿布斯海岬:位于贝里克郡海岸。
99
ELIZABETH AT TILBURY
伊丽莎白在蒂尔伯里
bulwarks,decks.clarions,trumpets.forlorn,deserted.galleons,large ships.harry,rob.
menacing,threatening.pennons,flags.shattered,broken up.swarthy,dark.tattered,in fragments.
1.Let them come,come never so proudly,O’er the green waves in tall array;Silverclarions menacing loudly,“All the Spains”on their pennons gay;High on deck of their gilded galleysOur light sailors they scorn below:-We will scatter them,plague,and shatter them,Till their flag hauls down to the foe!
For our oath we swear By the name we bear,By England‘s Queen,and England free and fair,-Hers ever,and hers still,come life,come death:
God save Elizabeth!
2.Sidonia,Recalde,and Leyva
Watch from their bulwarks in swarthy scorn;Lords and princes by Philip’s favour:
We by birthright are noble born!Freemen born of the blood of freemen,Sons of Crecyand Floddenare we:
We shall sunder them,fire,and plunder them,-a Sidonia,Recalde,and Leyva.-Spanish leaders.The Duke of Medina Sidonia was the High Admiral.
b Crecy.-In the north of France,where the Black Prince gained a great victory in 1346.
c Flodden.-In the north of England,where the English defeated the Scots in 1513.
English boats on the English sea!
And our oath we swear By the name we bear,By England‘s Queen,and England free and fair,-Hers ever,and hers still,come life,come death:
God save Elizabeth!
3.Drake and Frobisher,
Hawkins and Howard,
Ralegh,Cavendish,Cecil,and Brooke,Hang like wasps by the flag-ships towered,Sting their way through the thrice-piled oak:-Let them range their seven-mile crescent,Giant galleons,canvas wide!
Ours will harry them,board,and carry them,Plucking the plumes of the Spanish pride.
For our oath we swear By the name we bear,By England’s Queen,and England free and fair,-Hers ever,and hers still,come life,come death:
God save Elizabeth!
4.Has God risen in wrath and scattered?
Have his tempests smote them in scorn?
c
Past the Orcades,
dumb and tattered,