美国学生人类历史第54期:古希腊人的生活(3)

 　　For the Greeks, who loved moderation in all things, did not like to treat their slaves after the fashion which afterward¹ was so common in Rome, where a slave had as few rights as an engine in a modern factory and could be thrown to the wild animals upon the smallest pretext².

　　对"万事追求适度"的古希腊人来说，他们宁愿以温 和的方式对待奴隶。之后的古罗马人要冷酷得多。罗马人的奴隶不仅如同现代工厂里的机器，没有丝毫的权利，而且常常因微小的过失，便被主人投入鲁栏喂野兽。

　　The Greeks accepted slavery as a necessary institution, without which no city could possibly become the home of a truly civilised people.

　　古希腊人视奴隶制为一种必要的制度。缺少这种制度，任何城市都不可能成为文明人舒适的家园。

　　The slaves also took care of those tasks which nowadays are performed by the business men and the professional men. As for those household duties which take up so much of the time of your mother and which worry your father when he comes home from his office, the Greeks, who understood the value of leisure, had reduced such duties to the smallest possible minimum by living amidst surroundings of extreme simplicity³.

　　奴隶们也从事像今天由商人和专业人员担任的复杂工作。至于那些占据了你母亲大部分时间，并让你父亲下班之后愁眉不展的家务劳动，古希腊人则对之不以为然。他们深谙闲适生活的价值，通过居住在最为简朴的环境里，他们把家务劳动降到了最低的程度。

　　To begin with, their homes were very plain. Even the rich nobles spent their lives in a sort of adobe⁴ barn, which lacked all the comforts which a modern workman expects as his natural right. A Greek home consisted of four walls and a roof. There was a door which led into the street but there were no windows. The kitchen, the living rooms and the sleeping quarters were built around an open courtyard in which there was a small fountain, or a statue and a few plants to make it look bright.

　　首先，古希腊人的房屋非常简朴。甚至富人们都居住在土坯的大房子里。现代工人认为是应该享受的那些舒适条件，在他们的屋子里可是一样没有。希腊人的屋子由四面墙和一个屋顶组成，有一扇通向街道的门，但没有窗户。厨房、起居室、卧室环绕着一个露天庭院，庭院里有一座喷泉或是一些小型雕塑，还有几株植物，使整个环境显得宽敞明亮。

1 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

2 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

3 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

4 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。