Yet the emotions the sight aroused were less about the building itself than about what losing it might mean. Notre Dame is an expression of humanity at its collective best. Nobody could look up into that vaulted ceiling without wondering at the cumulative genius of the thousands of anonymous craftsmen who, over a century and a half, realised a vision so grand in its structural ambition and so delicate in its hand-chiselled detail. Its survival through 850 years of political turbulence—through war, revolution and Nazi occupation—binds the present to the past.
但这一现象所引发的情感与其说是对于建筑本身，不如说是因为失去这个建筑意味着什么。巴黎圣母院是在集体意义上人性的表达。仰望拱形穹顶，无人不惊叹于成千上万无名工匠的累积神工，一个半世纪以来，工匠们实现了一个愿景，结构如此宏伟，手工雕刻的细节如此精巧。圣母院在850年的政治动荡中生存下来，经历了战争、革命和纳粹占领，将现在和历史连接起来。
The fire also binds people to each other. The outpouring of emotion it has brought forth is proof that, despite the dark forces of division now abroad, we are all in it together. When nationalism is a rising threat, shared sadness makes borders suddenly irrelevant. When politics is polarised, a love of culture has the power to unite. When extremism divides Muslim from Christian and religious people from atheists, those of all faiths and none are mourning together. An edifice built for the glory of God also represents the unity of the human spirit.
而人们彼此也因这场火联系起来。这场火引起的情感流露表明，尽管现在国外存在分裂的暗黑势力，但我们团结一致。民族主义成为一个日益严重的威胁时，共同的悲伤让边界突然变得无关紧要。政治两极分化时，对文化的热爱具有团结的力量。极端主义将穆斯林与基督徒、宗教人士与无神论者区分开时，带有各种信仰的人以及无神论者都在一起哀悼。这座为神的荣耀建造的建筑也代表了人类精神的统一。
And it will be rebuilt. The morning after the fire, the many Parisians who went to the cathedral to mourn its destruction found comfort instead. Although the spire is gone, the towers are still standing and it seems likely that the whole building can be revived. The effort to rebuild it, like the fire, will bring people together. Within 24 hours, 600m euros($677m) had been raised from businesses and rich people, and a rash of crowdfunding campaigns started. A high-resolution laser scan of the building, carried out recently, should help.
圣母院将被重建。火灾发生后的第二天早晨，许多巴黎人前往大教堂为毁坏哀悼，但却因重建得到安慰。虽然塔尖不见了，但教堂主体结构仍然矗立着，似乎整座建筑都可以恢复原样。如同火灾凝聚人心，重建圣母院的努力也将把人们团结在一起。24小时之内，企业和富人就捐了6亿欧元（合6.77亿美元），随即开展了一系列众筹活动。最近对该建筑进行的高分辨率激光扫描应该会有所帮助。
It will never be the same, but that is as it should be. As Victor Hugo wrote in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a three-volume love-letter to the cathedral: “Great edifices, like great mountains, are the work of centuries. Art is often transformed as it is being made...Time is the architect, the nation is the builder.”
虽然不可能和原来丝毫不差，但至少能修复到差不多的程度。正如维克多·雨果在《巴黎圣母院》写的那样，这封给大教堂的三卷本情书写道：“伟大的建筑，就像高山一样，是几个世纪的杰作。艺术常常在被创造的过程中被转化……时间是建筑师，国家是建设者。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
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