小学英语的美文朗读训练是小学生学习英语的一项非常重要的基本功。下面小编整理了英语经典美文诵读小学篇,希望大家喜欢!
英语经典美文诵读小学篇摘抄
Tulips
郁金香
Joseph Addison
〔英〕约瑟夫·艾迪生
I chanced to rise very early one particular morning this summer,and took a walk into the country to divert myself among the fields and meadows, while the green was new, and the flowers in their bloom. As at this season of the year every lane is a beautiful walk, and every hedge full of nosegays, I lost myself, with a great deal of pleasure, among several thickets and bushes that were filled with a great variety of birds, and an agreeable confusion of notes,which formed the pleasantest scene in the word to one who had passed a whole winter in noise and smoke. The freshness of the dews that lay upon everything about me, with the cool breath of the morning,which inspired the birds with so many delightful instincts, created in me the same kind of animal pleasure,and made my heart overflow with such secret emotions of joy and satisfaction as are not to be described or accounted for. On this occasion I could not but reflect upon a beautiful simile in Milton: As one who long in populous city pent, Where houses thick and sewers annoy the air, Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe, Among the pleasant villages and farms,Adjoin'd from each thing met conceived delight,The smell of grain,or tended grass, or kine, Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound.
今年夏天的一个清晨,我碰巧起得很早。于是,便跑去乡间散步,希望能在绿草丛中和田野间得到一份安逸。夏天,正是绿草芬芳,百花绽放的季节。每年一到这个时节,任何一条小路都是一片美妙的景色,任何一道篱笆上都点缀着鲜花。四周满是丛生的灌木,我快乐地沉浸在鸟儿委婉动听的歌唱声中。我已经在嘈杂和浓烟中熬过了整整一个冬天,眼前的景色可谓是人间仙境。清新的露水洒落在世间万物上(包括我),还有那清爽宜人的清晨空气,周围的一切不但让鸟儿焕发出欢快的本性,也让我感到丝丝喜悦,内心深处充溢着一种神秘的、无以言表的满足与快乐。在这样的情景下,我总是不由地想起弥尔顿诗句中那个精妙的比喻:犹如长久禁锢于躁动的市井之人,择夏日的一个清晨,步出城墙,步出林立的房屋,步出水天污浊,吐纳于宜人的田间村舍。乡间万物孕育着乐趣,谷物、干草、黄牛、牛乳,每一处农家美景,每一处乡间乐赋。
Those who are conversant in the writings of polite authors receive an additional entertainment from the country, as it revives in (heir memories those charming descriptions, with which such authors do frequently abound.
那些熟悉这些名人佳作的人,在他们的脑海里总能浮现名人笔下反复出现的娇媚景色,因此他们更能从乡间美景中获得一份意外的乐趣。
那些熟悉这些名人佳作的人,在他们的脑海里总能浮现名人笔下反复出现的娇媚景色,因此他们更能从乡间美景中获得一份意外的乐趣。
I was thinking of the foregoing beautiful simile in Milton, and applying it to myself, when I observed to the windward of me a black cloud,falling to the earth in long trails of rain, which made me betake myself for shelter to a house saw at a little distance from the place where I was walking. As I sat in the porch,I heard the voices of two or three persons, who seemed very earnest in discourse. My curiosity was raised when I heard the names of Alexander the Great and Artaxerxes;and as their talk seemed to run on ancient heroes, I concluded there could not be any secret in it; for which reason thought I might very fairly listen to what they said.
正当我独自品味着弥尔顿的诗句时,忽然发现迎面飘来一团乌云,刹那间绵长的雨丝急坠而下。我赶忙起身,举目四望,向不远处的一座农舍跑去。当我坐在门廊中时,听到两三个人谈话的声音。他们似乎正在十分认真地争论着什么。听他们提到亚历山大大帝和阿塔克西斯的名字,我的好奇心立即被吸引了出来。因为他们争论的好像是古代英雄和伟人,我想里面应该不会有任何秘密。想到这儿,我想或许可以仔细地听一下他们的谈话。
After several parallels between great men,which appeared to me altogether groundless and chimerical,I was surprised to hear one say, that he valued the Black Prince more than the Duke of Venoms. How Duke of Vendos should become a rival of Black Prince,I couldn't conceive;and was more startled when I heard a second affirm, with great vehemence, that if the Emperor of Germany was not going off, he should like him better than either of them. He added,that though the season was so changeable, the Duke of Marlborough was in blooming beauty. I was wondering to myself from whence they had received this odd intelligence: especially when I heard them mention the names of several other great generals, as the Prince of Hess and the King of Sweden,who, they said, were both running away. To which they added, what I entirely agreed with them in, that the Crown of France was very weak, but that the Marshal Villars still kept his colors. At last, one of them told the company, if they would go along with him,he would show them a chimney-sweeper and a painted lady in the same bed,which he was sure would very much please them. The shower which had driven them as well as myself into the house, was now over; and as they were passing by me into the garden,I asked them to let me be one of their company.
他们先是比较了几个伟人。在我看来,这种比较根本毫无根据,纯属虚构。我十分诧异地听到其中一个人说,他认为黑 色王子远比旺多姆公爵好得多。旺多姆公爵和黑色王子怎么能作比较呢?我感到非常不解。然后,我又听到第二个人斩钉截 铁地说,如果德国皇帝不退位的话,那么他就最推崇德国皇帝。听到这里,我更是惊叹不已。这个人又补充说,尽管岁月如流水,但马尔伯勒公爵始终是风流调镜。他们从哪里知道的这些谬论,我绞尽脑汁也想不明白。还有比这更荒谬的:他们还谈到了几位将军,其中就有黑森王子和瑞典国王,他们说这两个人现在正在逃亡中。后来他们所说的,我是完全同意的。他们提到法国国王身体虚弱,维拉尔元帅却仍旧精神饱满。最后,他们当中的一个人说,如果大家同意跟他一起去,他会叫他们看到一个扫烟囱的人和一个美丽的少女“同床共枕”。他确信,这样的场景一定会令大家非常开心。我和他们都是跑到这家农舍来避雨的,此时大雨已经停了。当他们从我身旁经过,朝花园走去的时候,我便要求加入到他们的队伍之中。
The gentleman of the house told me,if I delighted in flowers, it would be worth my while;for that he believed he could show me such a blow of tulips as was not to be matched in the whole country.
农舍的主人对我说,如果我对花感兴趣的话,很值得去花园看一看。因为他相信,他让我看的那片郁金香,在全国都找不出可以与之媲美的。
I accepted the offer, and immediately found that they had been talking in terms of gardening, and that the kings and generals they had mentioned were only so many tulips,to which the gardeners, according to their usual custom,had given such high titles and appellations of honor.
我接受了他的邀请,也马上明白刚才那几个人谈论的是园艺。他们所说的国王、将帅全是郁金香的名字。花匠们按照习惯做法赋予那些花头衔或称号。
I was very much pleased and astonished at the glorious show of these gay vegetables,that arose in great profusion on all the banks about us. Sometimes I considered every leaf as an elaborate piece of tissue, in which the threads and fibers were woven together into different configurations,which gave a different coloring to the light as it glanced on the several parts of the surface. Sometimes I considered the whole bed of tulips, according to the notion of the greatest mathematician and philosopher that ever lived, as a multitude of optic instruments, designed for the separating light into all those various colors of which it is composed.
看到花团锦簇的美妙画面,我真是又惊又喜。一垄一垄的花儿,密密麻麻地将我笼罩。一时间,我觉得每一片叶子都变成一方精美别致的薄纱,经纬交错,形成一幅幅千娇百媚的画卷。阳光照在薄纱不同的角落上,叶子便映出五彩斑斓的色彩。有时我觉得,这大片的郁金香,在曾经最伟大的数学家和哲学家看来,就是由众多的光学仪器把光线分散成为的各种不同的颜色。
I was awakened out these my philosophical speculations, by observing the company often seemed to laugh at me. I accidentally praised a tulip as one of the finest I ever saw; upon which they told me, it was a common Fool's Coat. Upon that I praised another, which it seems was but another kind of Fool's Coat.
意识到大家似乎一直在嘲笑我,我这才从陶醉中清醒过来。我赞美一朵郁金香,认为它是世界上最美丽的花朵。但他们却出乎意料地告诉我,那仅仅是最普通的“愚人衣”。然后,我又去赞美另一朵,但那朵花好像也属于“愚人衣”。
I had the same fate with two or three more,for which reason I desired the owner of the garden to let me know which were the finest of the flower; for that I was so unskillful in the art, that I thought the most beautiful were the most valuable, and that those which had the gayest colours were the most beautiful. The gentleman smiled at my ignorance. He seemed a very plain honest man,and a person of good sense, had not his head been touched with that distemper which Hippocrates calls the Tulippomania;in so much that he would talk very rationally on any subject in the world but a tulip.
赞美其他两三朵花时,我遇到了相同的情况。于是,我恳求花园的主人告诉我,哪些是最好的花。因为我对花一知半解,一直以为最美的就是最有价值的,最鲜艳的就是最美的。看到我这样,主人只是一笑了之。他看上去是位单纯老实的人,有较高的品位,头脑也很理智。除了郁金香,他可以理性地谈论世间的任何事物。
He told me,that he valued the bed of flowers which lay before us, and was not above twenty yards in length and two in breadth,more than he would the best hundred acres of land in England, and added, that it would have been worth twice the money it is, if a foolish cook, maid of his had not almost ruined him in the last winter, by mistaking a handful of tulip roots for a heap of onions, and "by that means,”said he, "made me a dish of pottage that cost me above thousand pounds sterling." He then showed me what he thought the finest of his tulips, which I found received all their value from their rarity, and oddness, and put me in mind of our great fortunes, which are not always the greatest beauties.
他告诉我,他自己特别珍惜我们面前的那个花坛。虽然那个花坛不足20码长,宽也不足2码,但是即使有人用英国最肥沃的百亩良田来换,他也坚决不换。他又补充说,去年冬天,要不是他的一个愚蠢的厨娘误把一堆郁金香球茎当成了洋葱做了汤,差点要了他的命,否则,这个花坛的价钱至少是现在的两倍。他说:“厨娘做的那碗汤,花了我整整一千多英镑。”他随后又给我看了他心目中最好的郁金香。我觉得那些郁金香珍贵的原因,主要是稀有,形态也非常奇异。由此我想到,不论我们有多少财富,都没有什么可珍贵的。
I have often looked upon it as a piece of happiness,that I have never fallen into any of these fantastical tastes,nor esteemed anything the more for its being the uncommon and hard to be met with,For this reason I look upon the whole country in springtime as a spacious garden, and make as many visits to a spot of daisies or a bank of violets,as a florist does to his borders or parterres. There is not a bush in blossom within a mile of me,which I am not acquainted with,nor scarce a daffodil of cowslip that withers away in my neighborhood without my missing it, I walked home in this temper of mind through several fields and meadows with hand unspeakable pleasure, not without reflecting on the bounty of Providence which has made the most pleasing and most beautiful objects the most ordinary and most common.
我从来没有捕风捉影的嗜好,不会因为某样东西不同寻常、很稀有,便用不同的眼光看待它。我认为这是一件高兴的事。因此,我把春日的乡野看作是一座花园,时常去看看雏菊,看看紫罗兰,就像花匠照看自己的花坛一样。周围绽放的每一朵花儿,都是那么的熟悉,我不会错过一朵水仙、一簇迎春,即使它们的凋谢我也都知道。带着这种心情,我穿过几处农田,几片草地,向家走去。我想,这是普罗维登斯的赏赐,他把那些最令人高兴的、最美丽的事物变得那么平凡,那么简单。
英语经典美文诵读小学篇鉴赏
A White Rose
一朵白蔷薇
Bing Xin
冰心
How come I stand alone by the river? The hazy sky is that dawn or dusk? Where can I inquire? I simply feel I am in an ocean of flowers, amid the flowers mixed a few white roses.
怎么独自站在河边上?这朦胧的天色,是黎明还是黄昏?何处询问,只觉得眼前竟是花的世界。中间杂着几朵白蔷薇。
There she comes,she comes down from the hill. With a bunch of flowers in hands,she appears in a plain white dress with beautiful make up.
她来了,她从山上下来了。靓妆着,仿佛是一身编白,手里抱着一大束花。
"Come hither,give you a white rose,you may pin on the lapel,”I say. She beams with a word,but I can not hear.However, I seem to no pick one,and she does not wear it,holding the flowers still, she walks forward.
我说,“你来,给你一朵白蔷薇,好替在襟上。”她微笑说了一句话,只是听不见。然而似乎我竟没有摘,她也没有戴,依旧抱着花儿,向前走了。
Looking up the path she passed, I can see both sides of the path covered with blooming flowers, drooping flowers, and fallen flowers.
抬头望她去路,只见得两旁开满了花,垂满了花,落满了花。
I suppose white flower is better than red flower all the time yet why didn't I pick one, and she didn't wear one?
我想白花终比红花好;然而为何我竟没有摘,她也竟没有戴?
What's the place forward? Why not go with her?
前路是什么地方,为何不随她走去?
It's over, the flowers disappear, and the dream awakes,what may be ahead? If I had picked one, had she been wearing it?
都过去了,花也隐了,梦也醒了,前路如何?便摘也何曾戴?
英语经典美文诵读小学篇赏析
To Rome by Pisa and Siena
经比萨和锡耶纳到罗马
Charles Dickens
〔英〕查尔斯·狄更斯
There is nothing in Italy,more beautiful to me,than the coast-road between Genoa and Spezzia. On one side:sometimes far below, sometimes nearly on a level with the road,and often skirted by broken rocks of many shapes:there is the free blue sea,with here and there a picturesque felucca gliding slowly on;on the other side are lofty hills, ravines besprinkled with white cottages,patches of dark olive woods,country churches with their light open towers, and country houses gaily painted. On every bank and knoll by the wayside, the wild cactus and aloe flourish in exuberant profusion;and the gardens of the bright villages along the road,are seen,all blushing in the summer-time with clusters of the Belladonna, and are fragrant in the autumn and winter with golden oranges and lemons.
在我看来,位于热那亚和斯培西亚之间的那条滨海大道,意大利再没有什么可以与之相媲美的了。一面是奔腾的蓝色海洋,它时而水位很低,时而几乎与路面持平,海水的边缘被碎石隔成许多不同的形状,海面上还随处有别致的三桅小帆船慢慢飘过。另一面则是高高的山丘,峡谷周围布满了白色的村舍,还有黑色的橄榄树、乡村教堂和它那明亮敞开的城堡,以及涂彩明快的庄园点缀。路旁的每处浅滩和小山上,生长着茂盛的野生的仙人掌和芦荟。沿路的明亮的庄园里,在夏日,可以看到一簇簇盛开的红色颠茄花;而在秋、冬季节,金橘和柠橡的芳香溢满庄园。
Some of the villages are inhabited, almost exclusively, by fishermen;and it is pleasant to see their great boats hauled up on the beach,making little patches of shade,where they lie asleep, or where the women and children sit romping and looking out to sea,while they mend their nets upon the shore.There is one town,Camoglia, with its little harbour on the sea,hundreds of feet below the road; where families of mariners live, who, time out of mind,have owned coasting-vessels in that place, and have traded to Spain and elsewhere. Seen from the road above, ii is like a tiny model on the margin of the dimpled water, shining in the sun. Descended into,by the winding mule-tracks it is a perfect miniature of a primitive seafaring town; the saltest, roughest, most piratical little place that ever was seen. Great rusty iron rings and mooring-chains, capstans, and fragments of old masts and spars,choke up the way;hardy rough-weather boats,and seamen's clothing,flutter in the little harbour or are drawn out on the sunny stones to dry;on the parapet of the rude pier, a few amphibious-looking fellows lie asleep,with their legs dangling over the wall,as though earth or water were all one to them, and if they slipped in, they would float away, dozing comfortably among the fishes;the church is bright with trophies of the sea,and votive offerings,in commemoration of escape from storm and shipwreck. The dwellings not immediately abutting on the harbour are approached by blind low archways,and by crooked steps, as if in darkness and in difficulty of access they should be like holds of ships, or inconvenient cabins under water; and everywhere,there is a smell of fish, and sea-weed, and old rope.
有些村庄,所有居住的村民几乎都是渔民。他们被巨大的船只拖上海滩,形成一些荫凉,渔民会躺在那里休息;妇女和孩子们坐在那里边织网边嬉闹,远眺大海。看到这样的情景会令你感觉很快乐。有一个叫卡莫格利亚的小镇,它的小海港在大路下面数百英尺的地方。水手们的家就在那里。很久以前,他们拥有那里的沿海贸易船只,与西班牙和其他地方进行贸易往来。从大路上看去,小海港就像是泛着涟漪的大海边缘上的一个小模型,在阳光的照射下闪着光芒。沿着蜿蜒的骡车道下去,你会发现它是一个原始航海小镇完美的缩影,那将是你生平所见的最有咸味、最粗野、最具海盗气息的小地方。大量锈蚀的铁环、锚索、绞盘和旧船桅的断片和碎屑堆满了道路。饱经风浪的船只和水手的衣服,或是在小海港中摆动,或是铺在阳光下的石头上晾干。在粗糙的码头护墙上,几个像两栖动物一样的家伙正躺在那里睡觉。他们的腿悬挂在墙外,似乎对他们来说无所谓水与陆。如果掉入水中,他们就漂走,在鱼儿们之间舒服地磕睡一会。海上战利品和祭祀的贡品醒目地摆在教堂里,这是为了纪念水手们从暴风雨和船难中的逃生。水手们的房屋不是直接与海港相接,而是通过隐蔽而低矮的拱门和弯曲的台阶逐步接近,如同在黑暗和艰难中,他们摸索进入船舱或不便的水下房仓的通道一样。到处是鱼腥味、海藻和破绳索。
The coast-road whence Camoglia is described so far below,is famous, in the warm season,especially in some parts near Genoa, for fire-flies. Walking there on a dark night,[have seen it made one sparkling firmament by these beautiful insects:so that the distant stars were pale against the flash and glitter that spangled every olive wood and hillside, and pervaded the whole air.
从滨海大道可以远远地看到下面的卡莫格利亚。温暖的季节里,卡莫格利亚,尤其是热那亚附近的那些地方,以萤火虫而出名。漆黑的夜晚在那里漫步,我看到那些美丽的昆虫使天空闪闪发光:那闪烁的光芒点缀了每片橄榄树林和每座小山丘,照亮了整个天空,连远处的星星也黯然失色。
It was not in such a season, however, that we traversed this road on our way to Rome. The middle of January was only just past, and it was very gloomy and dark weather; very wet besides. In crossing the fine pass of Bracco, we encountered such a storm of mist and rain,that we travelled in a cloud the whole way. There might have been no Mediterranean in the world,for anything that we saw of it there,except when a sudden gust of wind,clearing the mist before it, for a moment,showed the agitated sea at a great depth below, lashing the distant rocks and spouting up its foam furiously. The rain was incessant; every brook and torrent was greatly swollen;and such deafening leaping, and roaring, and thundering of water, I never heard the like of in my life.
然而,在我们前往罗马经过这里时,却没赶上这样的季节。此时正值一月中旬,天气阴郁,还很潮湿。在横越美丽的伯拉科关口时,我们遭遇了浓雾和暴风雨,以至于整个旅途都是阴郁的天气。我们根本看不到地中海的存在,只有突然的一阵狂风吹走眼前浓雾的那一刻,才能看到下面很深的澎湃海水,抽打着远处的岩石,猛烈地喷出它的泡沫。雨不停地下着,每一条小溪和急流都迅速地涨起来,这样双耳欲聋的撞击声、咆哮声和轰鸣声,是我从未听到过的。
Hence,when we came to Spezzia,we found that the Magra,an unbridged river on the high-road to Pisa, was too high to be safely crossed in the Ferry Boat, and were fain to wait until the afternoon of next day, when it had, in some degree, subsided. Spezzia,however, is a good place to tarry at; by reason,firstly, of its beautiful bay;secondly, of its ghostly Inn;thirdly, of the head-dress of the women, who wear, on one side of their head, a small doll's straw hat, stuck on to the hair; which is certainly the oddest and most roguish head-gear that ever was invested.
当我们到达斯培西亚时,发现马格拉河水位太高,以至于乘渡船不能安全过河。马格拉河上又没有通往比萨的桥梁。于是,我们欣然接受了事实,等第二天下午水势稍平时再过河。不过,斯培西亚却是个滞留的好地方。首先是因为它那美丽的海湾,其次是恐怖的客栈,最后则是那里女性的头饰。女人们在头的一侧,都佩戴一顶玩偶草帽,这种草帽的确是那种最怪异、最顽皮的设计。
The Magra safely crossed in the Ferry Boat-the passage is not by any means agreeable, when the current is swollen and strong-we arrived at Carrara, within a few hours. In good time next morning, we got some ponies, and went out to see the marble quarries.
我们乘渡船安全地渡过了马格拉河—当水流湍急、河水上涨时,渡河一点也不令人惬意—数小时后,我们到达卡拉拉。第二天早上,我们找来了几匹小马去参观采石场。
They are four or five great glens, running up into a range of lofty hills, until they can run no longer, and are stopped by being abruptly strangled by Nature. The quarries, or "caves,”as they call them there, are so many openings, high up in the hills, on either side of these passes,where they blast and excavate for marble: which may turn out good or bad:may make a man's fortune very quickly, or ruin him by the great expens of working what is worth nothing. Some of these caves were opened by the ancient Romans, and remain as they left them to this hour. Many others are being worked at this moment; others are to be begun tomorrow, next week,next month;others are unbought,unthought of and marble enough for more ages man has passed since the place was restored to,lies hidden everywhere:patiently awaiting its time of discovery.
采石场从四五个巨大的峡谷,向上一直延伸到一群高山上,直到被大自然的鬼斧神工挡住去路,不能再延伸为止。采石场,或者当地人们所谓的“窑洞”,其实就是在山上的很多洞穴。人们可以在这些洞穴中的任何一个洞口爆炸,开凿大理石。这种开采运气可好可坏,它可以使一个人暴富,也可以使一个人倾其所有,血本无归。这些山洞有些是古罗马人开采的,至今仍保留着被遗弃时的样子;另外有许多山洞是新近开采的;有一些可能会在明天、下周、下个月开始开采;还有的尚未被人承包,未被考虑到。自这里被修复以来,就有足够多的大理石隐藏在各处,供未来的人开采:耐心地等待被发现的时刻。
Carrara, shut in by great hills, is very picturesque and bold Few tourists stay there;and the people are nearly all connected,in one way or another, with the working of marble. There are also villages among the caves, where the workmen live. It contains a beautiful little Theatre,newly built; and it is an interesting custom there,to form the chorus of labourers in the marble quarries, who are self-taught and sing by ear. I heard them in a comic opera,and in an act of "Norms";and they acquitted themselves very well;unlike the common people of ltaly generally, who (with some exceptions among the Neapolitans) sing vilely out of tune, and have very disagreeable singing writes.
卡拉拉城为群山环抱,风景独特,地势险峻。很少会有游客在那里逗留。这里的人,或多或少几乎都与大理石开采相关联。有些村庄也坐落在这些石窟中,开采大理石的人就住在那里。村里还有一座漂亮的小剧院,是不久前刚刚建成的。在那里有一个有趣的习俗,就是组建采石场的工人合唱队。他们都是自学歌曲,靠耳朵辨音唱歌。我听过他们在名为《诺玛》幽默剧中的演唱,他们能将自己的情怀表达得淋漓尽致,通常也不会像普通的意大利人(除了某些那不勒斯人之外)那样唱歌跑调,不堪入耳。
From the summit of a lofty hill beyond Carrara, the first view of the fertile plain in which the town of Pisa lies-with Leghorn,a purple spot in the flat distance-is enchanting. Nor is it only distance that lends enchantment to the view; for the fruitful country, and rich woods of olivetrees through which the road subsequently passes, render it delightful.
从卡拉拉之外的一座高山的顶部,第一眼看到的肥沃平原—比萨镇的所在地—更是迷人。而来亨却只是远处平原上的紫色斑点。并不仅仅是距离才成就这种迷人的风景,还有那丰饶的物产,大量的橄榄树林,和蜿蜒于林间的道路,都给人赏心悦目的感觉。
The moon was shining when we approached Pisa,and for a long time we could see, behind the wall, the leaning Tower,all awry in the uncertain light;the shadowy original of the old pictures in school-books, setting forth“The Wonders of the World".Like most things connected in their first associations with school-books and school-times, it was too small. I felt it keenly. It was nothing like so high above the wall as I had hoped. It was another of the many deceptions practiced by Mr.Harris,Bookseller, at the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard,London. His Tower was a fiction,but this was a reality-and,by comparison,a short reality. Still,it looked very well,and very strange, and was quite as much out of the perpendicular as Harris had represented it to be. The quiet air of Pisa too;the big guard-house at the gate, with only two little soldiers in it; the streets with scarcely any show of people in them;and the Arno, flowing quaintly through the center of the town;were excellent.So, I bore no malice in my heart against Mr. Harris (remembering his good intentions),but forgave him before dinner, and went out, full of confidence, to see the Tower next morning.
到达比萨时已是深夜。在好长的一段时间里,我们都能看到围墙后面的斜塔,在朦胧的月光中更显得倾斜。这就是教科书中古老图片的阴影原形,正向世人展示着“世界奇迹“。与很多教科书、学生时代初次相关联的事物一样,它太渺小了。我对此的感受十分强烈,想象中的城堡能高出围墙许多,这与我的想象迥然不同。书商哈里斯先生在伦敦圣保罗教堂一角售书,这是他的另一个诡计。他所说的斜塔是编造出来的,眼前的这个斜塔才是真实的。而且相比较而言,现实中的斜塔比虚构的还要矮一截。尽管如此,它看上去却很出色,很特别,倾斜的程度与哈里斯所说的完全一样。比萨也很安静;门口的警卫室里只有两个小士兵在执勤;街上的行人很是罕见;亚诺河优雅地流过城镇中心……这一切都那么美好。我心里对哈里斯先生并无半点怨恨之意(只记得他的好意),于是在晚饭前就原谅了他。然后第二天一早,又满怀信心地去看斜塔了。
I might have known better; but, somehow, I had expected to see it, casting its long shadow on a public street where people came and went all day. It was a surprise to me to find it in a grave retired place,apart from the general resort, and carpeted with smooth green turf. But, the group of buildings, clustered on and about this verdant carpet: comprising the Tower, the Baptistery,the Cathedral, and the Church of the Campo Santo:is perhaps the most remarkable and beautiful in the whole world;and from being clustered there, together, away from the ordinary transactions and details of the town,they have a singularly venerable and impressive character. It is the architectural essence of a rich old city, with alt its common life and common habitations pressed out, and filtered away.
我本应对斜塔了解甚详的,可是我想象中的斜塔却是这样的:它将倒影落在大街上,在那里人们终日来来去去。我惊讶地发现,斜塔是在一座荒旧的墓地里,这与一般的观光胜地不同;塔的四周有郁郁葱葱的草地;草地四周有一些建筑群其 中有斜塔、洗礼堂、大教堂、圣广场教堂。或许,圣广场教堂是世界上最雄伟的、最显著的建筑物。它们都坐落于此,远离世俗与城市的喧嚣,给人异乎寻常的庄严和肃穆。它们是绝经沧桑的古老城市的建筑精华,渗透并浓缩了老城中的平凡生活和平凡居所。
If Pisa be the seventh wonder of the world in right of its Tower, it may claim to be, at least, the second or third in right of its beggars. They waylay the unhappy visitor at every turn,escort him to every door he enters at, and lie in wait for him,with strong reinforcements, at every door by which they know he must come out. The grating of the portal on its hinges is the signal for a general shout, and the moment he appears, he is hemmed in,and fallen on,by heaps of rags and personal distortions. The beggars seem to embody all the trade and enterprise of Pisa. Nothing else is stirring, but warm air. Going through the streets,the fronts of the sleepy houses look like backs. They are all so still and quiet, and unlike houses with people in them, that the greater part of the city has the appearance of a city at daybreak, or during a general siesta of the population. Or it is yet more like those backgrounds of houses in common prints, or old engravings, where windows and doors are squarely indicated,and one figure (a beggar of course)is seen walking off by itself into illimitable perspective.
如果比萨因其斜塔成为世界第七大奇观,那么,因其乞丐之多至少也可位居第二或第三了。乞丐们会在每一个拐弯处围截不幸的游客,一直尾随他进门;然后在每一扇他有可能出来的门外,就会有更多的乞丐等他。门嘎吱声响起时,就是总攻的信号,他出来的那一刻已被乞丐们包围,落入衣衫槛褛、身体畸形的乞丐们手中。似乎乞丐遍及比萨的所有贸易和行业。除了暖风,一切都是静止的。走过街道,你会发现,那些了无生气的房屋的前门与后院没什么分别。它们都是那样的静寂,就像是无人居住的房屋一样。城市里更多的是像拂晓时分的景象,或是人们午睡时的样子。或者,它们更像那些常见读物或旧雕版图上的背景屋舍,门窗都是方形的,一个身影(当然是个乞丐)正从那里走开,向远方走去。