世界小史 第148期:坚固

 　　Shih Huang-ti built it to protect China's many hardworking and peaceable peasants and townspeople from the wild tribes of the steppes,

　　秦始皇修建它是为了保护中国众多勤劳、爱好和平的农民和民众，使其免遭草原上野蛮部落的侵犯，

　　whose warlike horsemen roamed the vast plains of inner Asia.

　　这些部落的好战的骑兵漫游在在亚洲腹地的辽阔平原上。

　　It had to be strong enough to resist their incessant¹ raids, with all their looting and killing².

　　这座城墙必须足够坚固才可以抵抗这些一再入侵的部落的掠夺和杀戮。

　　And he succeeded. Of course, over the centuries the wall has often been rebuilt and strengthened, but it is still there today.

　　他成功了。当然，几千年来长城自然也常常需要重建和加固，但它今天依然还在。

　　Shih Huang-ti didn't have a long reign³. Soon a new family ascended⁴ the throne of the Son of Heaven.

　　秦始皇本人在位时间不长。在他之后不久一个新的家族登上了天子宝座。

　　This was the Han family.

　　这就是汉朝。

　　They saw no need to undo⁵ all Shih Huang-ti's good works, and under their rule China remained strong and unified⁶.

　　他们发现没有必要破坏秦始皇建立起来的大好江山，在他们的统治之下中国仍然是一个牢固的、统一的国家。

　　But by now the Hans were no longer enemies of history.

　　但他们不再是历史的敌人了。

　　On the contrary, they remembered China's debt to the teachings of Confucius and set about searching high and low for all those ancient writings.

　　相反，他们回忆起过去认为孔子的学说对中国功不可没，于是到处搜寻这些古书。

　　It turned out that many people had had the courage not to burn them after all.

　　结果表明许多人有胆有识没有将它们烧毁。

1 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

4 ascended   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He has ascended into heaven. 他已经升入了天堂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The climbers slowly ascended the mountain. 爬山运动员慢慢地登上了这座山。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

6 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。