評(píng)論
打印
Pompeii
龐貝
Robert Silverberg
羅伯特·西爾弗伯格
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.
距那不勒斯不遠(yuǎn)，一座奇特的城市在意大利熾熱的太陽(yáng)下沉睡，這就是龐貝古城，世界上沒(méi)有哪一座城市與它雷同。除了蟋蟀、甲殼蟲(chóng)、蜥蜴，這里沒(méi)有其他生物。不過(guò)每年還是有成千上萬(wàn)的人從遙遠(yuǎn)的國(guó)度到此參觀。
Pompeii is a dead city. No one has lived there for nearly two thousand years—not since the summer of the year AD 79, to be exact.
龐貝是座死城。確切地說(shuō)，自從公元79年夏天以來(lái)，將近2000年里無(wú)人在此居住。
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 4,000-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.
在那年之前，龐貝是一座擁有25000人口的繁榮城市。附近的那不勒斯灣就像是藍(lán)色的地中海的一條長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的臂膀。有錢(qián)人從富裕的羅馬到這里來(lái)建海邊別墅。龐貝被農(nóng)田環(huán)繞，其后方是高達(dá)4000英尺的維蘇威山。山坡上長(zhǎng)滿(mǎn)了青草，龐貝的牧羊人常把羊群趕到這里放牧。那時(shí)的龐貝是座繁忙的城市，也是座歡樂(lè)的城市。
It died suddenly, in a terrible rain of fire and ash. The tragedy struck on the 24th of August, AD 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.
但它突然間就在烈火和灰塵中消亡了。這場(chǎng)悲劇發(fā)生在公元79年8月24日。維蘇威山在沉睡了幾個(gè)世紀(jì)后以巨大的威力爆發(fā)。成噸炙熱的火山灰落向龐貝城，將它淹沒(méi)。連續(xù)三天，陽(yáng)光都沒(méi)有穿透天空中火山灰形成的塵霧。火山爆發(fā)之后，龐貝被深埋地下，一座城市就這樣消失了。
