世界小史 第125期:亚历山大

 "What do you want of me?" asked Alexander. "Only that you treat me as befits a king."

“你对我有什么要求？”亚历山大问。“我要你像对待君王那样对待我。”

"And that is all?" "That is all," came the reply, "there is no more to be said."

“没有别的要求了？” “没有了，” 对方回答说，“这就是我的全部要求了。”

Alexander was so impressed that he gave Porus back his kingdom.

这给亚历山大留下深刻的印象，他竟让波罗斯回到了他的王国。

He himself wished to march on even further towards the east, to the even more mysterious and unknown peoples who lived in the valley of the River Ganges.

他自己想继续东进，向恒河河谷的更陌生、更神秘的民族地区进军。

But his soldiers had had enough.

可是这时他的士兵们却不愿意了。

They didn't want to march on to the end of the world.

他们不愿意越走越远一直走到世界的尽头。

They wanted to go home.

他们想回家。

Alexander begged and pleaded¹ and threatened to go on alone.

亚历山大请求他们，他威胁他们，说是他要独自一个人干。

He shut himself up in his tent and refused to come out for three whole days.

他赌气呆在他的帐篷里，整整三天他都没离开自己的帐篷。

But in the end the soldiers had their way, and he was forced to turn back.

但最后士兵们一再坚持，他不得不折回。

But they did agree to one thing: they wouldn't go home by the same route².

但是有一点他迫使他们同意了：他们不从他们来时的原路返回。

1 pleaded   

恳求，请求( plead的过去式和过去分词 )； 提出…为借口[理由]； （向法庭）陈述案情； （在法庭）申辩，认罪，辩护

参考例句：

• She pleaded with him not to go. 她恳求他不要离开。
• She wept and pleaded until he agreed to do as she wished. 她哭着恳求他，一直到他答应按她的愿望去做。

2 route   

n.路径，途径，路线；vt.确定路线，按规定路线发送

参考例句：

• On the way home, we took an indirect route.回家的路上，我们绕了一个大圈。
• The plane did not fly the usual commercial route.飞机没有沿通常的商业航线飞。