Lesson Nine 译文.doc

Pompeii (By?Robert?Silverberg) Not very far from Naples, a strange city sleeps under the hot Italian sun. It is the city of Pompeii, and there is no other city quite like it in all the world. Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards, yet every year thousands of people travel from distant countries to visit it. 在离那不勒斯不远的地方，一座奇特的小城寂静的沉睡在意大利炙热的骄阳之下。那就是庞培城。全世界再没有任何一个城市和庞培城相像。在庞培城中，除了蟋蟀、甲虫和蜥蜴之外，别无其他生物，然而每年都有成千上万的人从不同国度不远万里前来参观。 Pompeii is a dead city. No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years----not since the summer of the year A.D. 79, to be exact. 庞培是一座死城。确切的说自从公元79年的那个夏天开始，两千年来没有人在这里生活过。 Until that year Pompeii was a prosperous city of 25,000 people. Nearby was the Bay of Naples, an arm of the blue Mediterranean. Rich men came down from wealthy Rome to build seaside villas. Farmlands surrounded Pompeii. Rising behind the city was the 4000-foot Mount Vesuvius, a grass-covered slope where the shepherds of Pompeii took their goats to graze. Pompeii was a busy city and a happy one. 直到那年夏天庞培成还是一座拥有25000人的繁荣城市，离那不远就是蓝色地中海之臂的那不勒斯湾。一些有钱人从富有的罗马城来到这里建造海边别墅。庞培城的周围有农田环绕。在这座城市的背后矗立着4000英尺高的维苏威火山。绿草覆盖的山坡上，牧羊人赶着他们的羊群在吃草。庞培城是一座繁忙而又充满幸福感的城市。 ? It died suddenly, in a terrible rain of fire and ash. The tragedy struck on the 24th of August, A.D.79. Mount Vesuvius, which had slept quietly for centuries, erupted with savage violence. Tons of hot ash fell on Pompeii, hiding it from sight. For three days the sun did not break through the clouds of volcanic ash that filled the sky. And when the eruption ended, Pompeii was buried deep. A city had perished. 可是，在一阵可怕的火与灰的袭击中，这座城市灭亡了。这个悲剧发生在公元79年的8月24日。维苏威火山。这座沉睡了几世纪的山脉，突然剧烈的爆发了。数以吨计滚烫的火山灰落到了庞培城遮住了人们的视线。3天以来阳光都无法穿过被火山灰充斥的云层。当喷发结束的时候，庞培城被深深的掩埋了。这座城市也就消失了。 ? Centuries passed, Pompeii was forgotten. Then, seventeen hundred years later, it was discovered again. Beneath the protecting shroud of ash, the city lay intact. Everything was as it had been the day Vesuvius erupted. There were still loaves of bread in th