美国学生人类历史 第2期:前言(2)

 　　I saw the heart of time. I could hear the heavy pulse beats of the rapid seconds-one-two-three-up to sixty.

　　我仿佛看见了时间的心脏，我听见了飞速流逝的时间那沉重的脉搏声，一秒、两秒、三秒，一直到六十秒。

　　Then a sudden quivering noise when all the wheels seemed to stop and another minute had been chopped off eternity¹.

　　随着一阵猛然的震颤声，所有的齿轮仿佛一齐停止了转动，被从永恒的时间长河中切割了下来。

　　Without pause it began again-one-two-three-until at last after a warning rumble² and the scraping of many wheels a thunderous voice, high above us, told the world that it was the hour of noon.

　　并不间断的重新开始它的--一--二--三--直到最后，在一个警告的轰声与许多齿轮的磨擦之后，高高在我们头顶之上，一声震耳的雷鸣，报告世上的人们此时已是正午了。

　　On the next floor were the bells.

　　一层是许许多多的钟。

　　The nice little bells and their terrible sisters.

　　还有体形巨大、令人害怕的巨型大钟。

　　In the centre the big bell, which made me turn stiff with fright when I heard it in the middle of the night telling a story of fire or flood.

　　房间正中是一口大钟。当它在半夜敲响，告之某一处大火或洪水的消息时，我总是吓得浑身僵硬、汗不敢出。

　　In solitary³ grandeur⁴ it seemed to reflect upon those six hundred years during which it had shared the joys and the sorrows of the good people of Rotterdam.

　　而现在，大钟却笼罩在寂寞庄严的气氛里， 仿佛正在回思过去600年里，它和鹿特丹人民一道经历了那些欢乐和哀愁。

　　Around it, neatly⁵ arranged like the blue jars in an old-fashioned apothecary⁶ shop, hung the little fellows,

　　大钟的身边是挂着一些小钟，它们整齐规矩的样子活像老式药店至摆放的大口瓶子。

　　who twice each week played a merry tune⁷ for the benefit of the country-folk who had come to market to buy and sell and hear what the big world had been doing.

　　它们每星期奏两次悦耳的曲子，给进城来作买卖的，或来听新闻的乡下人一点消遣。

　　But in a corner-all alone and shunned⁸ by the others-a big black bell, silent and stern, the bell of death.

　　但在一个犄角上--独自一个，为别的吊钟所远避的--有一只寂静而且严肃的大黑钟，那是报丧钟。

　　Then darkness once more and other ladders, steeper and even more dangerous than those we had climbed before, and suddenly the fresh air of the wide heavens.

　　我们接着往上爬，再度进入一片漆黑当中。此时，梯子也比刚才的更陡峭、更危险。爬着爬着，突然间，我们已经 呼吸到广阔天地的清新空气了。

　　We had reached the highest gallery.

　　我们到达了塔楼的最高点。

　　Above us the sky.

　　头上是高远的碧空，

　　Below us the city-a little toy-town, where busy ants were hastily crawling hither and thither⁹,

　　脚下是城市——一个积木搭建的玩具般的城市。人们像蚂蚁似的匆匆来去，

　　each one intent upon his or her particular business, and beyond the jumble¹⁰ of stones, the wide greenness of the open country.

　　人人专注 于自己的心思，忙着自己的事情。远处，在一片乱石堆外，是乡村宽广的绿色田野。

　　It was my first glimpse of the big world.

　　这是我对辽阔世界的最初一瞥。

　　Since then, whenever I have had the opportunity, I have gone to the top of the tower and enjoyed myself.

　　从此一有机会，我就上到塔楼顶上去自得其乐。

　　It was hard work, but it repaid in full the mere¹¹ physical exertion¹² of climbing a few stairs.

　　登上楼顶是一件很费力气的事情，可我体力上的付出却得到了充分的精神回报。

　　Besides, I knew what my reward would be.

　　何况我又知道我的报酬是什么。

　　I would see the land and the sky, and I would listen to the stories of my kind friend the watchman, who lived in a small shack¹³, built in a sheltered corner of the gallery.

　　并且，我清楚这份回报是什么。我可以极目纵览大地和天空，我可以从我好心的朋友——塔楼看守人那里听到许许 多多的故事。在塔楼的一个隐蔽的角落里搭着一间小房子，看守人就住在里面。

　　He looked after the clock and was a father to the bells, and he warned of fires,

　　他负责照顾城市的时钟，也是呵护其它大小钟的细心的父亲。他还密切地注视着城 市，一有火灾的迹象就敲钟发出警讯。

　　but he enjoyed many free hours and then he smoked a pipe and thought his own peaceful thoughts.

　　但他也享受不少闲暇的时间，有时抽一筒烟，想想他个人的宁静的思想。

　　He had gone to school almost fifty years before and he had rarely read a book,

　　差不多在五十年之前，他也进过学校，他很少读书，

　　but he had lived on the top of his tower for so many years that he had absorbed the wisdom of that wide world which surrounded him on all sides.

　　但在这塔顶上住过这许多年，也就吸收了他周围大世界里的不少知识。

1 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

2 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

3 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

4 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

5 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

6 apothecary   

n.药剂师

参考例句：

• I am an apothecary of that hospital.我是那家医院的一名药剂师。
• He was the usual cut and dry apothecary,of no particular age and color.他是那种再普通不过的行医者，说不出多大年纪，相貌也没什么值得一提的。

7 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

8 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 thither   

adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的

参考例句：

• He wandered hither and thither looking for a playmate.他逛来逛去找玩伴。
• He tramped hither and thither.他到处流浪。

10 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 exertion   

n.尽力，努力

参考例句：

• We were sweating profusely from the exertion of moving the furniture.我们搬动家具大费气力，累得大汗淋漓。
• She was hot and breathless from the exertion of cycling uphill.由于用力骑车爬坡，她浑身发热。

13 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。