LESSON 110 A VIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM
第一百一十课 角斗场印象记
On the eighth of November, from the high land, about fourteen miles distant, I first saw Rome;
十一月八日那天,从约相距十四英里的高地,我平生第一次俯瞰罗马城;
and although there is something very unfavorable to impression in the expectation that you are to be greatly impressed,
尽管在满怀期冀的期待中存在某种非常不适宜的印象,你必然留下极为深刻的印象,
or that you ought to be, or that such is the fashion;
或者你应该留下深刻的印象,抑或就应该是这样的印象。
yet Rome is too mighty a name to be withstood by such or any other influences.
不过,罗马太神气活现,单单它的名字就足以配得上这样或任何别的影响力。
Let you come upon that hill in what mood you may, the scene will lay hold upon you as with the hand of a giant.
不论你怀着什么样的心情,你都会从那座小山丘开始你的罗马之行,那里就像巨人之手一样呈现在你眼前。
I scarcely know how to describe the impression, but it seemed to me as if something strong and stately,
我真不晓得该如何形容这一印象,但是在我看来似乎既强烈又庄重,
like the slow and majestic march of a mighty whirlwind, swept around those eternal towers;
就像一股巨大的旋风缓慢而壮观地向前推进似的,在那些永恒的高塔四周盘旋;
the storms of time, that had prostrated the proudest monuments of the world, seemed to have left their vibrations in the still and solemn air;
将世界上最值得骄傲的名胜古迹变成一堆断壁残垣的时间风暴,似乎在寂静和肃穆的空气中留下它们的共鸣。
ages of history passed before me; the mighty procession of nations, kings, consuls, emperors, empires, and generations had passed over that sublime theater.
历史岁月在我面前匆匆而过;各个国家、列王、执政官、皇帝、帝国和一代一代人在对这令人赞叹的剧场视而不见中已成过往。