世界小史 第78期:火山地区

 　　As sometimes happens in volcanic¹ regions, there was a fissure² in the ground from which vapor³ issued.

　　像在火山地区常见的那样, 蒸汽使地面产生裂缝。

　　If anyone inhaled⁴ it, it literally⁵ clouded their mind. It was as if they were drunk or delirious⁶, and nothing they said made any sense.

　　任何人一吸入这种蒸汽，他们就神志不清。他们好像喝醉了或精神混乱, 他们说的话让人听不懂。

　　The very meaninglessness of these utterances⁷ seemed deeply mysterious to the Greeks, who said that "the god himself speaks through a mortal mouth".

　　这些人说的根本毫无意义的言语令希腊人感到极其神秘，人们认为“神自己通过一个凡人的嘴在说话”。

　　So they had a priestess – whom they called Pythia – sit over the fissure on a three-legged stool,

　　就这样人们让一个女祭司——人们叫她皮蒂娅——坐在架在缝隙上的一把三脚座椅上，

　　while other priests interpreted her babble⁸ as predictions of the future.

　　其他的祭司们解释她神神叨叨的话来预言未来。

　　The shrine⁹ was known as the Delphic Oracle¹⁰, and at difficult moments of their lives Greeks from everywhere made pilgrimages to Delphi, to consult the god Apollo.

　　这片有名的圣地叫德尔菲神谕，在各种艰难处境下各地的希腊人都来此地朝圣，询问阿波罗神。

　　The answer they received was often far from clear, and could be understood in a variety of ways.

　　回答自然常常不是很容易就能听懂，人们可以对它们作出不同的解释，

　　And in fact we still say that a vague or enigmatic answer is "oracular".

　　所以人们今天仍还称模糊不清的、深奥莫测的回答为“神谕性的，谜似的”。

1 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

2 fissure   

n.裂缝；裂伤

参考例句：

• Though we all got out to examine the fissure,he remained in the car.我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝，他却呆在车上。
• Ground fissure is the main geological disaster in Xi'an city construction.地裂缝是西安市主要的工程地质灾害问题。

3 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

4 inhaled   

v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼，深深吸了一口气。
• Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 delirious   

adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的

参考例句：

• He was delirious,murmuring about that matter.他精神恍惚，低声叨念着那件事。
• She knew that he had become delirious,and tried to pacify him.她知道他已经神志昏迷起来了，极力想使他镇静下来。

7 utterances   

n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论

参考例句：

• John Maynard Keynes used somewhat gnomic utterances in his General Theory. 约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯在其《通论》中用了许多精辟言辞。 来自辞典例句
• Elsewhere, particularly in his more public utterances, Hawthorne speaks very differently. 在别的地方，特别是在比较公开的谈话里，霍桑讲的话则完全不同。 来自辞典例句

8 babble   

v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语

参考例句：

• No one could understand the little baby's babble. 没人能听懂这个小婴孩的话。
• The babble of voices in the next compartment annoyed all of us.隔壁的车厢隔间里不间歇的嘈杂谈话声让我们都很气恼。

9 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

10 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。