So the people went back to Mr. G. and told him to go ahead.  于是人们回到吉先生那里让他去干。

Then Ghiberti tried, but he was able to go only a little way and couldn’t go any farther. 吉贝尔蒂就开始尝试，但他只让工程进展了一点点就再也干不下去了。

So then the people went back to Brunelleschi again. 于是人们又回到布鲁内莱斯基那里，去恳求他。

“If you’ll make that Ghiberti keep still and not say another word,” said Mr. B.  “如果你们能让那个吉贝尔蒂保持安静，不再唠叨，”布先生说，

“I will go on as I started,” and he did,  “那我就会像当初那样继续干下去。”他说到做到，

finishing the first and one of the most beautiful domes of its kind i. t. w. W. , and no one to this day knows exactly how he did it. 终于完成了世界上第一个圆顶，也是世界上同类圆顶中最漂亮的，迄今为止没有人知道他到底是怎样做到的。

Although Ghiberti was such a poor “sport,” he was, however, a great sculptor.  尽管在这次“比赛”中吉贝尔蒂显得心胸狭隘，没有气度，但他却是个了不起的雕刻家。

Right across the street from the cathedral with the dome which Brunelleschi built is a low,  就在布鲁内莱斯基建造的圆顶的大教堂的街对面，有一座低矮的六面建筑，

six-sided building called a baptistery, because they baptized children there.  叫个洗礼堂，因为人们在这里给孩子行洗礼。

The doors of this baptistery are made of bronze, and on these doors Ghiberti made bronze figures and scenes of some of the Bible stories.  这个洗礼堂的门是用青铜做的，在这些门上吉贝尔蒂雕刻了一些青铜人像和《圣经》故事中的一些场景。

One of these pictures in bronze shows Abraham about to sacrifice his son on the altar as he was told to do by God. 在其中一幅青铜画里，亚伯拉罕按照上帝的旨意正准备把自己的儿子供放到祭坛上。

“They are fit to be the gates to Paradise!” said another great Florentine artist when he saw these doors.  “它们真的很适合做天堂的大门！”佛罗伦萨另一位艺术家看到这些门时说。

The artist who said this was named Michelangelo, and he lived in Italy at the same time as Columbus.  说这话的艺术家叫做米开朗基罗，他和哥伦布是同一时代的意大利人。

Columbus was never at home; he was away from Italy almost all his life, discovering new countries.  哥伦布从来都不在家；他几乎一生都不在意大利，而在外面发现新国家。

But Michelangelo never left Italy; he stayed at home.  但米开朗基罗从来没有离开过意大利；他始终待在家里。

He spent his whole life there making beautiful drawings, paintings, sculptures, and buildings,  他一辈子的时间都用来创作美丽的素描、油画、雕像和建筑，

for an artist in those days did every kind of artistic work, from making necklaces to churches, as well as painting and sculpture. 因为那个时代的艺术家不但绘画雕刻，还做各类艺术品：小到一根项链，大到一座教堂。

One day Michelangelo found a block of marble which some one had thrown away because it had a crack in it. 一天米开朗基罗看见了一块大理石，那是别人丢弃的，因为上面有道裂缝。

Michelangelo said that he saw in this block of marble the figure of young David,  米开朗基罗说他在这块大理石里看到了年轻大卫的人影，

so he set to work with his chisel and cut the figure of the young shepherd boy out of the marble.  于是他拿起凿子劲头十足地动起手来，把这块大理石雕刻成那个年轻牧羊人的人像。

In Florence there are two huge copies of this statue several times bigger than a man,  在佛罗伦萨有两座巨大的大卫雕像的仿制品，比真人大好几倍，

and in thousands of other places in the World there are small copies in plaster, and you may have one of these copies in your own home. 在世界上许许多多地方都有小型的大卫石膏雕像仿制品，你家里也许就有这样一个仿制品。