美国学生世界地理教材 第111期:天空之国(4)

 It took me part of two days to climb over. 我自己翻越过去断断续续走了两天的时间。

Near the top of the Simplon Pass is a house called a hospice where I once spent the night.  在辛普朗山口顶部附近有一个房子，叫做旅客招待所，我在那住过一晚。
It is a house where certain priests 1, called monks 2, live, and the reason the hospice was built there and the reason the monks live there  这是某些叫做修道士的教士们住的地方，旅客招待所之所以建在那里，修道士之所以住在那里
is to provide a shelter for travelers and a place where they may rest safely in case they should be caught in a storm. 就是为了让旅客有一个避难所，万一遇到暴风雪他们可以进去避一避。
Few people now cross the pass, for it is so easy and so quick and so safe to go through the tunnel;  现在没有什么人从山口上过了，因为从隧道穿过去实在是方便、快捷、安全；
but before the tunnel was made underneath 3 there was no other way for people to go from Italy to Switzerland but over the top of the pass, 但在隧道建成之前，要从意大利到瑞士去，除了从山口翻过，没有任何路可走， 
and many people were traveling that way all the time.  很多人经常要走这条道。
Snow-storms and blizzards 4 were likely to happen almost any time, summer or winter, and often travelers would be lost and frozen 5 to death.  无论夏天还是冬天，雪暴和暴风雨随时都有可能发生，经常会有旅客走失而被冻死。
These good monks living in the hospice were the life-savers of the mountain pass.  旅客招待所里的善良的修道士就是山口的救命者。
They had built little huts along the mountain pathway and they had large, strong, intelligent dogs called St. Bernards  他们沿山路旁建了一些小棚屋，还养了高大、强壮又聪明的狗，叫做圣伯纳犬，
who were trained to go forth 6 from the hospice when there was a storm,  它们受过训练，遇到暴风雪时，
and search for travelers who might have been overcome, lost their way, or fallen in the snow.  它们就从旅客招待所出发去搜寻那些有可能晕倒、迷路或陷入雪中的旅客。
A dog would carry, strapped 7 to his neck, a barrel 8 filled with bread and wine.  圣伯纳犬的颈部系着一个小桶，里面装着面包和酒。
His sense of smell was so strong he could find a man even though buried in the snow, shake him back to his senses,  它的嗅觉非常敏锐，即使是深埋在雪中的人它也能发现，把他摇醒，
and drag him to the nearest hut, to wait for food and drink until the storm should stop.  然后把他拖到最近的棚屋，在那等待食物和饮料，直到暴风雪停止。
The Simplon Hospice is one of the few places in the World where any one, whether he be rich man or poor man, saint 9 or sinner,  辛普朗山口的旅客招待所是世界上少数几个这样的地方之一：任何人，无论富人还是穷人，无论圣人还是罪人，
will be housed for the night, fed, and taken care of for nothing, without question and without charge. 都可以在那获得食宿，得到照料，没有任何盘问，也不要支付任何费用。
Do you know the story of William Tell? 你知道威廉?退尔的故事吗？
Well, Switzerland has many lakes, but the most beautiful one is called the Lake of Light—Lake Lucerne， 瑞士有很多湖，但是最美丽的一个湖叫做光之湖——卢塞恩湖，
and on the shore of Lake Lucerne is a little church marking the spot where William Tell is supposed to have shot the apple off of his young son's head. 在卢塞恩湖岸边有座小教堂，这座教堂所在地据说是威廉?退尔从他小儿子头顶上射掉苹果的地方。