But to return to the Colosseum; we went up under the conduct of a guide upon the walls and terraces, or embankments, which supported the ranges of seats.
还是回到角斗场吧。我们在导游的引导下登上围墙和台地,以及用来支撑座位的路堤。
The seats have long since disappeared; and grass overgrows the spots where the pride, and power, and wealth, and beauty of Rome sat down to its barbarous entertainments.
那些座位早已不见踪影,昔日骄傲、强大、集天下财富与一身和美轮美奂的罗马人坐下来欣赏野蛮娱乐的地方,如今已经草长人非。
What thronging life was here then! What voices, what greetings, what hurrying footsteps upon the staircases of the eighty arches of entrance!
这里昔日人头攒动!在入口八十座拱门的台阶上,喊叫声、欢呼声和急匆匆的脚步声此起彼伏!
And now, as we picked our way carefully through the decayed passages, or cautiously ascended some moldering flight of steps,
现在,当我们小心地穿过已经废弃的通道,或者谨慎地登上还处在腐朽状态的台阶,
or stood by the lonely walls—ourselves silent, and, for a wonder, the guide silent, too—there was no sound here but of the bat,
或者倚着孤独冷清的围墙而立时——我们一语皆无,导游也默不作声——除了蝙蝠,什么动静也没有;
and none came from without but the roll of a distant carriage, or the convent bell from the summit of the neighboring Esquiline.
要不是远方的四轮马车的车辙,或者从附近埃斯奎林山顶传来的女修道院暮钟,这里了无生气。
It is scarcely possible to describe the effect of moonlight upon this ruin.
几乎无法形容月光下废墟的别样印象。