美国学生人类历史 第75期:罗马和迦太基(3)
时间：2019-02-21 作者：英语课 分类：美国学生人类历史
英语课
Carthage could not possibly tolerate such competition. The young rival must be destroyed lest the Carthaginian rulers lose their prestige as the absolute rulers of the western Mediterranean 1. The rumors 2 were duly investigated and in a general way these were the facts that came to light.
迦太基可不能容忍这样的竞争，新兴强权的出现对它就如同梦魇。必须趁羽翼未丰，扼杀掉这个年轻的对手，否则迦太基将威望大跌，失去作为西地中海绝对统治者的地位。经过仔细调查，终于搞清楚了大致的真实情形。
The west coast of Italy had long been neglected by civilisation 3. Whereas in Greece all the good harbours faced eastward 4 and enjoyed a full view of the busy islands of the Aegean, the west coast of Italy contemplated 5 nothing more exciting than the desolate 6 waves of the Mediterranean. The country was poor. It was therefore rarely visited by foreign merchants and the natives were allowed to live in undisturbed possession of their hills and their marshy 7 plains.
长期以来，意大利西海岸一直是被文明之光忽略的地区。在希腊，所有的良港都面朝东方，注视着商业繁忙、生意兴隆的爱琴海岛屿，分享文明与通商的便利。而与此同时，意大利西海岸则一无所有，除地中海冰冷的波涛拍击着荒芜的海岸，再没有任何激动人心的事情发生。这是一片极端贫穷的地区，外国的商人们少有造访。当地的士著居民安静寂寞地生活在绵延的丘陵和遍布沼泽的平原之上，似乎与世隔绝。
The first serious invasion of this land came from the north. At an unknown date certain Indo-European tribes had managed to find their way through the passes of the Alps and had pushed southward until they had filled the heel and the toe of the famous Italian boot with their villages and their flocks. Of these early conquerors 8 we know nothing. No Homer sang their glory. Their own accounts of the foundation of Rome (written eight hundred years later when the little city had become the centre of an Empire) are fairy stories and do not belong in a history. Romulus and Remus jumping across each other's walls (I always forget who jumped across whose wall) make entertaining reading, but the foundation of the City of Rome was a much more prosaic 9 affair.
这片土地上发生的第一次严重侵略来自北方。在某个日期不详的时刻，一些印欧种族的游牧部落开始从欧洲大陆 向南迁移。他们在白雪皑皑的阿尔卑斯群山中婉蜒前进，发现了翻越山脉的隘口，随即潮水般地涌进亚平宁，延伸到部族的村庄与牲畜遍布于这个形状酷似长靴的半岛。对于这些早期的征服者，我们知之甚少。如果没有一个荷马人曾歌唱过他们的辉煌往昔，他们的战功与远征则难作信史。他们自己对于罗马城建立的记述，则产生于800年之后。当时这座小城已经成长为一个大帝国的宏伟中心。这些记述不过是些神话故事，与真实的历史相去甚远。罗慕洛斯和勒莫斯跳过了对方的城墙，但到底谁跳过了谁的墙，我一直记不清楚。它们是有趣的睡前读物，让不肯安睡的孩子们着迷。但说到罗马城建立的真实过程，那无疑是一件乏味而单调的事情。
adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的
- The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
- Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷
- Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.文明，文化，开化，教化
- Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
- This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。
adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部
- The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
- The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。
adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂
- The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
- We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。
adj.沼泽的
- In August 1935,we began our march across the marshy grassland. 1935年8月，我们开始过草地。
- The surrounding land is low and marshy. 周围的地低洼而多沼泽。
征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )
- The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
- The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。