冰与火之歌系列之《权力的游戏》第249期:第十八章 凯特琳(31)(在线收听

   When they finally spied Castle Black, its timbered keeps and stone towers looked like nothing more than a handful of toy blocks scattered on the snow,  待他们终于见到黑城堡,却发现那不过是这面广大冰墙下的木造城楼和石砌高塔,看起来简直就像散布雪地的玩具积木。

  beneath the vast wall of ice. The ancient stronghold of the black brothers was no Winterfell, no true castle at all.  黑衫军的古老堡垒远不如临冬城,甚至称不上是座像样的城堡。
  Lacking walls, it could not be defended, not from the south, or east, or west; but it was only the north that concerned the Night's Watch, and to the north loomed the Wall.  它没有城墙,无法抵御来自东西南三方面的攻击,守夜人部队惟一关心的只有北方,而高耸在黑堡北边的正是绝境长城。
  Almost seven hundred feet high it stood, three times the height of the tallest tower in the stronghold it sheltered.  长城高近七百尺,足足是它所庇护的要塞上最高的塔楼的三倍。
  His uncle said the top was wide enough for a dozen armored knights to ride abreast.  叔叔说城墙之宽,足以让十二名全副武装的骑士并肩共骑。
  The gaunt outlines of huge catapults and monstrous wooden cranes stood sentry up there, like the skeletons of great birds, and among them walked men in black as small as ants. 巨大的弩炮和怪兽般的投石机守卫着城墙,行走其上的黑衣军渺小如同蝼蚁。
  As he stood outside the armory looking up, Jon felt almost as overwhelmed as he had that day on the kingsroad, when he'd seen it for the first time.  如今站在兵器库外向上看去,琼恩感受的震慑丝毫不亚于当日在国王大道上初见之时。
  The Wall was like that. Sometimes he could almost forget that it was there, the way you forgot about the sky or the earth underfoot,  绝境长城就是如此,有时你会忘记其存在,一如你对头顶长空和脚下大地司空见惯,不以为意,
  but there were other times when it seemed as if there was nothing else in the world.  但有时又仿佛是举世间惟一真切的存在。
  It was older than the Seven Kingdoms, and when he stood beneath it and looked up, it made Jon dizzy.  它比七大王国还要古老,每当琼恩站在城墙下抬头仰望,总是头晕目眩。
  He could feel the great weight of all that ice pressing down on him, as if it were about to topple, and somehow Jon knew that if it fell, the world fell with it. 他可以感觉到雄浑繁厚的冰层向他重压而来,仿佛城墙崩塌要将他掩埋。琼恩隐约知道,倘若哪天长城真的陷落,整个世界必将随之瓦解。
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