现代大学英语精读第二版课文翻译

2021年1月22日发(作者：卫中正)
Pompeii

very far from Naples, a strange city sleeps under the hot Italian sun. It is the city
of
Pompeii,
and
there
is
no
other
city
quite
like
it
in
all
the
world.
Nothing
lives
in
Pompeii
except crickets and beetles and lizards, yet every year thousands of people travel from
distant countries to visit it.
1.
在离那不勒斯不远的地方，一座奇特的小城寂静的沉睡在意大利炙热的骄阳之下。那就是庞
培城。全世界再没有任何一个城市和庞培城相像。在庞培城中，除了蟋蟀、甲虫和蜥蜴之外，别无
其他 生物，然而每年都有成千上万的人从不同国度不远万里前来参观。

i is a dead city. No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years----not
since the summer of the year . 79, to be exact.
2.
庞培是一座死城。确切的说自从公 元
79
年的那个夏天开始，两千年来没有人在这里生活过。

that year Pompeii was a prosperous city of 25,000 people. Nearby was the Bay
of Naples, an arm of the blue Mediterranean. Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build
seaside
villas.
Farmlands
surrounded
Pompeii.
Rising
behind
the
city
was
the
4000-foot
Mount
Vesuvius, a grass-covered slope where the shepherds of Pompeii took their goats to graze.
Pompeii was a busy city and a happy one.
3.
直到那年夏天庞培成还是一座拥有25000
人的繁荣城市，离那不远就是蓝色地中海之臂的那
不勒斯湾。一些有钱人从富有 的罗马城来到这里建造海边别墅。庞培城的周围有农田环绕。在这座
城市的背后矗立着
4000
英尺高的维苏威火山。绿草覆盖的山坡上，牧羊人赶着他们的羊群在吃草。
庞培城是一座繁忙而 又充满幸福感的城市。

Vesuvius, which had slept quietly
for centuries, erupted with
savage
violence.
Tons of hot ash fell on Pompeii, hiding it from sight. For three days the sun did not break
through
the
clouds
of
volcanic
ash
that
filled
the
sky.
And
when
the
eruption
ended,
Pompeii
was
buried
deep.
A
city
had
perished.
4.
可是，在一阵可怕的火与灰的袭击中，这座城市灭亡了。
这个悲剧发生在公元
7 9
年的
8
月
24
日。维苏威火山。这座沉睡了几世纪的山脉，突然剧 烈的爆发
了。数以吨计滚烫的火山灰落到了庞培城遮住了人们的视线。
3
天以来阳光都 无法穿过被火山灰充斥
的云层。当喷发结束的时候，庞培城被深深的掩埋了。这座城市也就消失了。
5. Centuries passed, Pompeii was forgotten. Then, seventeen hundred years later, it
was
discovered
again.
Beneath
the
protecting
shroud
of
ash,
the
city
lay
intact.
Everything
was as it had been the day Vesuvius erupted. There were still loaves of bread in the ovens
of the bakeries. In the wine shops, the wine jars were in place, and on one counter could
be seen a stain where a customer had thrown down his glass and fled.
5.
几个世 纪过去了，庞培城几乎被遗忘了。不过，
1700
年后，人们又重新发现了它。在火山灰
的保护下，这座城市完好无损的躺在那里。一切都是维苏威火山喷发那天的样子。面包店烤箱里依
然有 尚未出炉的面包，在卖红酒的店里，酒坛子依然放在原处，在柜台前，人们扔下酒杯逃命的痕
迹清晰可见 。

6. To
go
to
Pompeii
today
is
to
take
a
trip
backward in
time.
The
old
city
comes
to
life
all around you. You can almost hear the clatter of horses
’
hoofs on the narrow streets,
the
cries
of
children
and
the
laughter
of
the
shopkeepers.
The
sky
is
cloudlessly
blue,
with
the
summer
sun
high
in
the
sky.
The
grassy
slopes
of
great
Vesuvius
rise
to
the
heavens
behind
the
city,
and
sunlight
shimmers
on
the
waters
of
the
bay
a
thousand
yards
from
the
city
walls.
Ships from every nation are in port and strange languages can be heard in the streets.
6.
今天，去庞培可以称得上是一次体验时光倒流的旅行，古老的城市在你的周围仿佛又重新充
满了活力。你几乎能听到狭窄街道上的马蹄声，孩子们的哭闹声和店主们的笑声。蔚蓝的天空万里
无云，盛夏的烈日在空中高悬。城市的背后维苏威火山长满青草的山坡伸向天空，阳光在城墙外
100 0
多码的海湾水面上闪烁发光。从世界各国驶来的船只停在港内，大街上还能听到各种不同的语
言。

was Pompeii on its last day. And so it is today, now that the volcanic ash has
been cleared away. A good imagination is all you need to restore it to activity. 7.
这就
是庞 培的最后一天。也就是今天，火山灰已经清理完毕，你需要一个很丰富的想象力来把它恢复到
现实当中。

8. At dawn
on August 24, in
the year
.
79, Pompeii
’
s 25,000 people awakened to another
hot day in that hot summer. There was going to be a contest in the arena that night and the
whole town was looking forward to the bloody fights of the gladiators. The children headed
toward
school,
carrying
slates
and
followed
by
their
dogs.
In
the
forum
the
town
’
s
important
men had gathered after breakfast to read the political signs that had been posted during
the night. Elsewhere in the forum the wool merchants talked business. The banker was going
over
his
account
books.
At
the
inn
later-rising
travellers
from
the
East
awakened
and
yawned
and called for breakfast.
8.
在公元
79
年
8
月
24
日黎明，庞培城的人们在炎热的夏天中迎来了新的一天，原本在那天晚
上竞技场有一场竞赛 ，全城百姓都期待着角斗士们的血腥搏斗，孩子们提着石板跟在狗的后面去上
学，在城镇广场上全城的重 要人士在早饭后都聚集起来看张贴好的政治公告。在广场的其他地方，
羊毛商正在谈生意；旅馆里刚刚起 床的游客还在打着哈欠叫早餐。

quiet morning moved slowly along. There was nothing very unusual about Pompeii.
But
tragedy
was
on
its
way.
Beneath
Vesuvius
’
vine-covered
slopes
a
mighty
force
was
about
to
break
loose.
At
one
o
’
clock
in
the
afternoon
the
critical
point
was
reached.
The
mountain
blew
up,
raining
death
on
thousands.
Down
in
Pompeii,
four
miles
from
the
summit,
a
tremendous
explosion was heard.
9.
安静的早上，时间慢慢过去。庞培城没有什么异常。但是一场悲剧正在逼近，在维苏威火山
藤蔓覆盖的山坡下一股巨大的力量即将爆发。在下午一点钟，这股力量到达了临界点。火山爆发
了，死 亡向成千上万的人们降临。山下的庞贝城，距离山顶有四英里，巨大的爆炸声清晰可闻。

10.
“
What
was
that?
”
people
cried
from
one
end
of
town
to
another.
They
stared
at
each
other, puzzled, troubled. Were the gods fighting in heaven?
10.
“那是什么？”人们哭喊着从一座城跑到应一座城，他们互相瞪着眼睛看

在猜测，在忧
虑。难道是众神在天堂里打架么？

11.
“
Look!
”
somebody shouted.
“
Look at Vesuvius!
”

11.

“看
!
”一些人喊道，“看维苏威火山！”

12.

Thousands
of
eyes
turned
upward.
Thousands
of
arms
pointed.
A
black
cloud
was
rising
from the shattered summit of the mountain. Higher and higher it rose. Like the trunk of a
tree, it rose in the air, branching out as it climbed.
12.
上万双眼睛齐刷刷的向上面望去，上万只胳 膊指向那里，一阵乌云从粉碎的山顶向上升起，
乌云越升越高，像一棵大树伸向填空，如枝条似的展开。

passed. The sound of the explosion died away, but it still reverberated in everyone
’
s
ears.
The
cloud
over
Vesuvius
continued
to
rise,
black
as
night,
higher
and
higher.
A
strange
rain began to fall on Pompeii----a rain of stones. The stones were light. They were pumice
stones,
consisting
mostly
of
air
bubbles.
These
poured
down
as
though
there
had
been
a
sudden
cloudburst. The pumice stones did little damage. 13.
几分钟过去了，爆炸声逐渐消失，但每个
人仍然能听到 回音维苏威火山的黑云继续上升，暗如黑夜，越升越高。一阵奇怪的雨开始飘落——
石块雨。石块是浅色 的。这是浮石，大多数还夹杂着空气中的气泡。这些浮石倾泻而下，如同瞬间
的倾盆大雨一般。不过这些 浮石几乎没有破坏。