Wars and Fairy-Tales 战争和童话故事

Though Italian is the language of music, the people of Germany are quite as musical as the Italians.  尽管意大利语是音乐的语言，德国这个民族像意大利人一样喜爱音乐。

But their music is very different from the music of the Italians.  但德国音乐与意大利音乐截然不同，

Some of their music is warlike, big and loud, and yet some of it is gentle and sweet,  有些德国音乐让人联想到战争场面，气势宏大，声音响亮，而有些则柔和甜美。

and the most famous cradle songs and Christmas carols have been written by Germans.  最著名的摇篮曲和圣诞颂歌都是德国人谱写的，

“Silent Night, Holy Night” is one. Musical plays are called operas.  《平安夜》就是其中之一。音乐剧被称为歌剧。

Some of the greatest operas in the World have been composed by Germans. 世界上最伟大的一些歌剧也是由德国人创作的。

Cradle songs and Christmas carols don’t seem to go well with fighting.  摇篮曲和圣诞颂歌似乎很难与战争联系起来。

But the Germans, besides being very musical, have also been very warlike.  但是，德国人，除了喜爱音乐之外，还非常好战。

You have all heard of the two terrible World Wars, World War I and World War II.  你们都听说过两次可怕的世界大战，第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战。

Most of the countries of the World took part in these two wars.  世界上的大多数国家都参加了这两次大战。

In each war Germany fought almost all the other countries in the World and, even with almost all the rest of the World against her, she nearly won both times. 在每次大战中，德国几乎与其他所有参战国开战，甚至全世界没有参战的国家都把德国看成敌人。德国差一点赢了两次大战。

After World War II the countries that had beaten Germany divided Germany up to keep her from starting any more wars.  第二次世界大战之后，那些打败德国的国家将德国分而治之，防止它再挑起战争。

Russia took Eastern Germany. The United States, Great Britain, and France ruled Western Germany.  俄罗斯占领了德国东部，美国、英国和法国统治了德国西部，

So there came to be two Germanies, West Germany and East Germany. 这样就出现了两个德国——东德和西德。

Which do you like better, fairy-tales or true stories?  童话故事和真实故事，哪一个你更喜欢？

Some of the World’s best fairy-tales have been made in Germany.  世界上最好的一些童话故事就是在德国创作的。

Stories, poems, songs, and operas have been written about fairy people and real people  德国人写了许多故事、诗歌、歌曲和歌剧，描述童话里的人物，

who once lived on the hills and in the caves by the side of a river in Germany called the Rhine.  也描述了曾经生活在德国莱茵河畔的山上和洞穴里的真实的人物。

The Rhine starts from a glacier in the Swiss Alps and runs north along the west side of Germany and through Holland. 莱茵河发源于瑞士阿尔卑斯山脉的冰川，沿着德国西侧向北流淌，流经荷兰。

On both sides of the Rhine are steep hills and rocks and on top of these hills are castles built many years ago.  莱茵河两岸都是陡峭的山坡和岩石，在这些山顶上有很久以前建造的城堡。

The men who built these castles were called robber barons, and they built their castles on these hills so that they could rob and would be safe from their enemies.  修建这些城堡的人被称为强盗贵族。他们在山上修建城堡既便于抢劫，又能避开敌人的攻击。

The poor people, who lived down in the valleys, had to give part of the things they raised to the barons;  住在山谷里的穷人不得不将自己种植的一部分东西送给这些强盗贵族。

if they did not do so, the barons would swoop down on them with their men and take what they wanted and destroy the people’s homes.  否则，这些强盗贵族就会率众从山上冲向他们，任意抢夺东西，再毁掉他们的房子。

The people knew it was useless to attack the barons because of their strong castles.  穷人们知道反击这些贵族是没用的，因为他们有坚固的城堡。