世界小史 第62期:苏克斯人

 When the Greeks came to Greece, they were not yet Greeks.

当希腊人移入希腊时，他们还不是希腊人。

Does that sound strange? Yet it is true.

这听起来不奇怪吗？但是这却是真的。

For the fact is that when the tribes from the north first invaded the lands they were to occupy,

因为事实上当这些部落从北方迁入他们后来的居住地时，

they weren't yet a unified¹ people.

他们还不是统一的民族。

They spoke² different dialects and were obedient to different chieftains.

他们讲不同的方言并服从不同的首领。

They were tribes rather like the Sioux or the Mohicans you read about in stories of the Wild West,

他们的部落跟印第安人木简书中所记载的苏克斯人或马希康人没有多大区别。

and had names such as the Dorians, Ionians and Aeolians.Like the American Indians they were warlike and brave,

他们的部落几乎跟印第安人一样勇敢和好战，并被人们称为多里安人、伊安尼尔人、埃厄里尔人等等。

but in other ways they were quite different.

但是在某些方面他们跟印第安人很不一样，

The native Americans were familiar with iron, while the people of Mycenae and Crete, just as the songs of Homer tell us, had weapons made of bronze.

后者已经知道铁，而在迈锡尼和克里特的人，和荷马史诗告诉我们的一样，只用青铜武器。

And so these tribes arrived, with their wives and their children.

这些部族里的男人带着妇女和儿童移入定居，

The Dorians pushed furthest, right down into the southernmost tip of Greece which looks like a maple³ leaf and is called the Peloponnese.

多里安人做前导，他们迁徙得很远，直到希腊的最南端伯罗奔尼撒半岛，那儿看上去像一片枫树叶。

1 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。