№.3 - During this long period, the Greek ideas inherited from the age of freedom underwent a gradual process of transformation. Some of the old ideas, notably those which we should regard as specifically religious, gained in relative importance; others, more rationalistic, were discarded because they no longer suited the spirit of the age. In this way the later pagans trimmed the Greek tradition until it became suitable for incorporation in Christian doctrine.

【译文】在这个漫长的时期里，从自由的时代所继承下来的希腊观念经历了一番逐渐转化的过程。某些古老的观念，尤其是那些我们认为最富于宗教色彩的观念，获得了相对的重要性；而另外那些更富理性主义色彩的观念则因为它们不再符合时代的精神，就被人们抛弃了。后来的异教徒们就是以这种方式整理了希腊的传统，使它终于能够被吸收到基督教的教义里来。

【小编评注】此即罗素对古希腊罗马哲学的看法。

【短语笔记】gain in - 增加, 增进

【举一反三】gain ground - 前进，进步，进展；gain on - 赶上，追上；gain over - 把 ... 争取过来，把 ... 说服

【例】

(1)No practice, no gain in one's wit.（纸上得来终觉浅，要知此事须躬行。）

(2)The fierce campaign by several anti-Maastricht movements has been gaining ground. （几个反马斯特里赫特运动团体组织的激烈运动不断发展壮大着。）

(3)As he slithered across the mud I gained on him. （当他在泥泞中滑行的时候，我超过了他。）

(4)The Kuomintang won a resounding victory，gaining over 70 percent of votes cast. （国民党获得了彻底的胜利，他们拉到了超过百分之七十的选票。）

№.4 - What had happened in the great age of Greece happened again in Renaissance Italy: traditional moral restraints disappeared, because they were seen to be associated with superstition; the liberation from fetters made individuals energetic and creative, producing a rare florescence of genius; but the anarchy and treachery which inevitably resulted from the decay of morals made Italians collectively impotent, and they fell, like the Greeks, under the domination of nations less civilized than themselves but not so destitute of social cohesion.

【译文】在希腊的伟大时代里出现过的事，再一次出现于文艺复兴的意大利：传统的道德束缚消失了，因为它们被人认为是与迷信结合在一起的；从羁绊中获得的解放，使得个人精力旺盛而富于创造力，从而便产生了极其罕见的天才的奔放；但是由于道德败坏而不可避免地造成的无政府状态与阴谋诡诈，却使得意大利人在集体方面成为无能的了，于是他们也象希腊人一样，倒在了别的远不如他们文明、但不象他们那样缺乏社会团结力的民族的统治之下了。

【小编评注】罗素对文艺复兴时期意大利变迁的论述，旨在说明道德对于社会发展和人类文明所起到的保障作用。中国著名哲学家杨国荣教授也曾在著书中写到：“作为人的社会性的一种表征，道德构成了社会秩序与个体整合所以可能的必要担保。”

【短语笔记】result from - 产生于，由 ... 引起，由于

【举一反三】spring from - 起源于，出身于，来自；由 ... 引起或造成

【例】

(1)Soil damage can result from flooding, the effects of chemicals, or the removal of nutrients that help plants grow.（洪水、化学品的影响，以及植物生长所需营养的流失都会对土地造成伤害。）

(2)In the Middle Ages, wealth sprang largely from the land. （在中世纪，财富主要来自土地。）

№.5 - Social cohesion is a necessity, and mankind has never yet succeeded in enforcing cohesion by merely rational arguments. Every community is exposed to two opposite dangers: ossification through too much discipline and reverence for tradition, on the one hand; on the other hand, dissolution, or subjection to foreign conquest, through the growth of an individualism and personal independence that makes co-operation impossible.

【译文】社会团结是必要的，但人类迄今还不曾有过单凭说理的论辩就能加强团结的事。每一个社会都受着两种相对立的危险的威胁：一方面是由于过分讲纪律与尊敬传统而产生的僵化，另一方面是由于个人主义与个人独立性的增长而使得合作成为不可能，因而造成解体或者是对外来征服者的屈服。

【小编评注】每一方都是部分正确的而又部分错误的，冲突必然存在。所以文艺复兴，及其后的宗教改革运动和启蒙运动，实际上是理性文化的复归。从历史背景分析，也是因为希腊罗马的古典文明中具有比其他文明区域更多的理性成分因素。

【短语笔记】succeed in - 成功;顺利完成

【例】A company that fail to reinvent products according to customers' needs probably cannot succeed in business. （一个公司若不能根据消费者的要求革新产品，可能就不会在商业上取得成功。）