世界小史 第129期:亚历山大

 　　Alexander never realized his great ambition of mingling¹ the two peoples,

　　亚历山大的融合两个民族的伟大事业怎么也成功不了，亚历山大的融合两个民族的伟大事业怎么也成功不了，

　　even though he handed out rich dowries to 10,000 Macedonian and Greek soldiers so that they could marry Persian women,

　　虽然他赠给一万名马其顿和希腊的士兵们丰厚的结婚礼物以让他们可以娶波斯女子为妻，

　　and laid on a great wedding feast² for all.

　　他还为他们举办了隆重的庆典。

　　He had great plans. He wanted to found many more cities like Alexandria.

　　他有宏伟的计划。他想建造更多像埃及的亚历山大这样的城市。

　　He wanted to build roads, and change the face of the world with his military campaigns, whether the Greeks liked it or not.

　　他想修路，用他的军队改变世界的面貌，无论希腊人喜不喜欢。

　　Just imagine, in those days, to have a regular postal³ service running from India to Athens!

　　想象一下，假如当时从印度直至雅典就有经常性的邮政业务！

　　But in the midst⁴ of all his plans he died, in Nebuchadnezzar's summer palace, in 323 BC.

　　但是正在实施这样的计划过程中，公元前323年在尼布甲尼撒的夏宫里他死了。

　　He was 32 years old – an age when most people's lives have barely⁵ begun.

　　他死时32岁——一个大多数人正当风华正茂的年龄。

　　To the question of who should succeed him, he answered, in his fever: "He who is most worthy⁶".

　　对于谁该当他的继承人这个问题，他在高烧的折磨中回答说：“最配得上的人。”

　　But there was no one.

　　但是这样的人没有。

　　The generals and princes in his entourage were greedy, dissolute and dishonest. They fought over the empire until it fell apart.

　　他身边的所有的统帅和王公都是有贪婪的、放荡的、不讲诚信的人。他们争夺这个帝国直至它崩溃。

1 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。

2 feast   

n.盛宴，筵席，节日

参考例句：

• After the feast she spent a week dieting to salve her conscience.大吃了一顿之后，她花了一周时间节食以安慰自己。
• You shouldn't have troubled yourself to prepare such a feast!你不该准备这样丰盛的饭菜，这样太麻烦你了！

3 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

4 midst   

n.中部，中间，当中

参考例句：

• The hut is in the midst of the forest.小屋在森林深处。
• There is a thief in our midst.我们当中有小偷。

5 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

6 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。