美国学生人类历史 第123期:穆罕默德(2)

 The story of Ahmed, the son of Abdallah and Aminah (usually known as Mohammed, or "he who will be praised,"; reads like a chapter in the"Thousand and One Nights." 阿哈默德是阿布达拉和阿米娜的儿子，世人皆称他为"穆罕默德"，意思是"该受赞美的人"。他的生平事迹读起来就像《一千零一夜 》里的一个故事。

He was a camel-driver, born in Mecca. 穆罕默德生于麦加，原来的职业是赶骆驼行商者。

He seems to have been an epileptic and he suffered from spells of unconsciousness when he dreamed strange dreams and heard the voice of the angel Gabriel, 他似乎患过癫痫病，每逢发病便会昏迷不醒。昏迷期间，他做了奇特的梦，听见大天使迦伯列向他说话。

whose words were afterwards written down in a book called the Koran. 这些话后来被记载到圣书《古兰经》里。

His work as a caravan¹ leader carried him all over Arabia and he was constantly falling in with Jewish merchants and with Christian² traders, 因为作商队首领，穆罕默德走遍了阿拉伯各地，经常与犹太商贾和基督徒生意人交往。

and he came to see that the worship of a single God was a very excellent thing. 通过和他们的接触，穆罕默德认识到崇拜唯一的上帝是件很有益的事情。

His own people, the Arabs, still revered³ queer stones and trunks of trees as their ancestors had done, tens of thousands of years before. 当时他的阿拉伯人民还如其几千年前的祖辈一样，敬拜奇怪的石头和树干。

In Mecca, their holy city, stood a little square building, the Kaaba, full of idols⁴ and strange odds⁵ and ends of Hoo-doo worship. 在他们的圣城麦加，至今保存着一座方形神殿，其中供奉的黑石等许多器物就属于伏都教崇拜的遗迹。"

Mohammed decided⁶ to be the Moses of the Arab people. He could not well be a prophet and a camel-driver at the same time. 穆罕默德决心成为阿拉伯人的摩西。他不能一边赶骆驼，一边当先知。

So he made himself independent by marrying his employer, the rich widow Chadija. 于是，他迎娶了他的雇主查迪雅，一个有钱的寡妇 ，先使自己获得了经济上的独立。

Then he told his neighbours in Mecca that he was the long-expected prophet sent by Allah to save the world. 之后，他开始向邻居们布道，称自己就是众人期盼已久的先知，真主安拉派遣他来拯救世界。

The neighbours laughed most heartily⁷ and when Mohammed continued to annoy them with his speeches they decided to kill him. 听罢他的话，邻居们不仅不理会，反而大加嘲笑。但穆罕默德非常执着，继续向邻居们讲道，终于让他们觉得烦扰了。

They regarded him as a lunatic and a public bore who deserved no mercy. 他们将他视为疯子和令人讨厌的家伙，根本不值得同情，决意要杀死他。

Mohammed heard of the plot and in the dark of night he fled to Medina together with Abu Bekr, his trusted pupil. 穆罕默德获悉了这一阴谋，和他最信任的学生阿布·伯克尔一起，连夜出逃麦地那。

This happened in the year 622. It is the most important date in Mohammedan history and is known as the Hegira-the year of the Great Flight. 这件事情发生在公元622年。它后来成为伊斯兰教历史上最重要的一个日子，即穆斯林纪元--纪念穆罕默德出走麦地那。

1 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

4 idols   

偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像

参考例句：

• The genii will give evidence against those who have worshipped idols. 魔怪将提供证据来反对那些崇拜偶像的人。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• Teenagers are very sequacious and they often emulate the behavior of their idols. 青少年非常盲从，经常模仿他们的偶像的行为。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。