The poison gas thickened as the terrible night advanced. It was possible to protect oneself from the pumice stones but not from the gas, and Pompeiians died by the hundreds. Carbon monoxide gas prevents the body from absorbing oxygen. Victims of carbon monoxide poisoning get sleepier and sleepier until they lose consciousness, never to regain it. All over Pompeii, people lay down on beds of pumice stones, overwhelmed by the gas, and death came quietly to them.
夜越来越深,毒气越来越浓。人们躲得过浮石,但躲不过毒气。成百成百的庞贝人死于毒气。一氧化碳气体使人体不能吸收氧气,中毒者越来越疲倦,直到失去意识,再也无法醒来。在庞贝的各个角落,人们气体中毒后躺在浮石堆上,静静地死去。
All through the endless night, Pompeiians wandered about the streets or crouched in their ruined homes or clustered in the temples to pray. By morning few remained alive. Not once had Vesuvius stopped hurling pumice stones and ash into the air, and the streets of Pompeii were filling quickly. At midday on August 25, exactly twenty-four hours after the beginning of the first eruption, a second eruption occurred. A second cloud of ash rose above Vesuvius' summit. The wind blew ash as far as Rome. But most of the new ash descended on Pompeii.
在整个漫长的夜里,庞贝人在街上漫无目的地游荡,或者蹲在已经毁坏的家里,或是聚集在寺庙里祈祷。到次日清晨,几乎没有人还活着。维苏威山始终不停地向天空喷发浮石和火山灰,庞贝的街道很快就被填满了。8月25日中午,在火山喷发正好24小时之后,发生了第二次爆发。火山灰形成的烟云再次从维苏威山顶升起,风把火山灰吹到了遥远的罗马,但是大部分还是落到了庞贝。
The deadly shower of stones and ash went into its second day. But it no longer mattered to Pompeii whether the eruption continued another day or another year. For by midday on August 25, Pompeii was a city of the dead.
浮石和火山灰构成的致命“阵雨”持续到第二天。至于爆发是再持续一天,还是一年,对庞贝城已经无关紧要了。因为到8月25日正午时,庞贝已是一座死城。
来源:可可英语 //m.moreplr.com/daxue/201705/507849.shtml