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Chapter 34
第三十四章
The crusades
十字軍東征
But all these different quarrels were forgotten when the Turks took the holy land, desecrated the holy places and interfered interfered seriously with the trade from east to west. Europe went crusading
當土耳其人奪取圣地，褻讀圣靈，并嚴重阻斷了東西方的貿(mào)易時，所有內(nèi)部的爭吵便統(tǒng)統(tǒng)被忘記。歐洲人開始了十字軍東征。
During three centuries there had been peace between Christians and Moslems except in Spain and in the eastern Roman Empire, the two states defending the gateways of Europe. The Mohammedans having conquered Syria in the seventh century were in possession of the Holy Land. But they regarded Jesus as a great prophet (though not quite as great as Mohammed), and they did not interfere with the pilgrims who wished to pray in the church which Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, had built on the spot of the Holy Grave. But early in the eleventh century, a Tartar tribe from the wilds of Asia, called the Seljuks or Turks, became masters of the Mohammedan state in western Asia and then the period of tolerance came to an end. The Turks took all of Asia Minor away from the eastern Roman Emperors and they made an end to the trade between east and west.
三個世紀以來，除了守衛(wèi)歐洲門戶的兩個國家--西班牙和東羅馬帝國，基督徒和穆斯林之間一直保持著基本的和平。在公元7世紀，穆罕默德的信徒征服了敘利亞，控制了基督教的圣地。但他們同樣把耶穌視為一位偉大的先知（雖然不如穆罕默德偉大），并不阻止前來朝圣的基督徒。在康士坦丁大帝的母親圣海倫娜于圣基的原址上修建的大教堂里，基督朝圣者被允許自由 祈禱。可到了11世紀，來自亞洲荒原的一支韃靼部落，人稱塞爾柱人或土耳其人，他們征服了西亞的穆斯林國家，成為基督教圣地的新主人。于是，基督教和伊斯蘭教相互妥協(xié)的時期就此結束。土耳其人從東羅馬帝國手里奪取了小亞細亞的全部地區(qū)，使東西方之間的貿(mào)易陷人完全的停滯。
Alexis, the Emperor, who rarely saw anything of his Christian neighbours of the west, appealed for help and pointed to the danger which threatened Europe should the Turks take Constantinople.
東羅馬皇帝阿歷克西斯平常心思全部放在東方，對西方的基督教鄰居少有理會，此時卻向歐洲的兄弟們求援。他指出，一旦土耳其人奪取君士坦丁堡，使通向歐洲的大門打開，他們一樣將陷入土耳其騎兵的直接威脅之下。
The Italian cities which had established colonies along the coast of Asia Minor and Palestine, in fear for their possessions, reported terrible stories of Turkish atrocities and Christian suffering. All Europe got excited.
一些意大利城市在小亞細亞和巴勒斯坦沿岸擁有小塊的貿(mào)易殖民地。由于擔心失去自己的財產(chǎn)，便散布一些可怕的故事，繪聲繪色地描述土耳其人是何等殘暴且如何迫害、屠殺 當?shù)鼗酵降摹Ｂ牭竭@些故事，整個歐洲沸騰了起來。
