美国学生人类历史 第146期:教皇与皇帝之争(2)

 The people of the early Middle Ages never saw a textbook of Roman history. 中世纪的人们从未读过任何一本有关罗马历史的教科书。

They were ignorant of many things which every school-boy today knows before he has entered the third grade. 事实上，他们在许多事情上显得非常无知，甚至连现代的小学三年级儿童应该了解的起码知识他们都不具备。

But the Roman Empire, which is merely a name to you, was to them something very much alive. 但对于罗马帝国，它在你们现代读者看来仅仅是一个空泛的名词，而在他们眼里却不亚于活生生的现实。

They felt it. They willingly recognised the Pope as their spiritual leader because he lived in Rome and represented the idea of the Roman superpower. 他们用皮肤和心灵体会到它的存在。他们甘心情愿地承认教皇是自己的精神领袖，因为教皇住在罗马城，代表着罗马帝国这一深人人心的伟大观念。

And they were profoundly grateful when Charlemagne, and afterwards Otto the Great, revived the idea of a world-empire 当查理曼大帝及后来的奥托大帝复兴了"世界帝国"的梦想，

and created the Holy Roman Empire, that the world might again be as it always had been. 创建起神圣罗马帝国，人们打心眼里是觉得欣喜和感激，因为他们心目中的世界本该是这个样子。

But the fact that there were two different heirs to the Roman tradition placed the faithful burghers of the Middle Ages in a difficult position. 不过，罗马传统存在着两个不同继承人这一事实，却将中世纪虔诚顺服的自由民们推向了尴尬的两难处境。

The theory behind the mediaeval political system was both sound and simple. 支撑中世纪政治制度的理论明确而简单，

While the worldly master (the emperor) looked after the physical wellbeing of his subjects, the spiritual master (the Pope) guarded their souls. 即世俗世界的统治者（皇帝）负责照顾臣民们物质方面的利益，而精神世界的统治者（教皇）负责照顾他们的灵魂。

In practice, however, the system worked very badly. 不过在实际执行的时候，这一体系暴露出许多难以克服的毛病。

The Emperor invariably tried to interfere¹ with the affairs of the church and the Pope retaliated² and told the Emperor how he should rule his domains³. 皇帝总是试图插手教会事务，而教皇针锋相对，不断指点皇帝应怎样管理他的国家。

Then they told each other to mind their own business in very unceremonious language and the inevitable⁴ end was war. 继而，他们开始用很不礼貌的语言相互警告，让对方别多管闲事。这样一来二往，双方便免不了要大打出手了。

Under those circumstances, what were the people to do, A good Christian⁵ obeyed both the Pope and his King. 在此情形下，普通老百姓能怎么办呢？一个好的基督徒是既忠于教皇又服从国王的。

But the Pope and the Emperor were enemies. 可教皇与皇帝成了仇人。

Which side should a dutiful subject and an equally dutiful Christian take? 作为一个负责任的国民，同时又是一个虔诚的教徒，他到底应该站在哪一边呢

1 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

2 retaliated   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• When he once teased her for her inexperience, she retaliated. 有一次，他讥讽她没有经验，她便反唇相讥。 来自辞典例句
• The terrorists retaliated by killing three policemen. 恐怖分子以杀死三名警察相报复。 来自辞典例句

3 domains   

n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产

参考例句：

• The theory of thermodynamics links the macroscopic and submicroscopic domains. 热力学把宏观世界同亚微观世界联系起来。 来自辞典例句
• All three flow domains are indicated by shading. 所有三个流动区域都是用阴影部分表示的。 来自辞典例句

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 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。