The poison gas thickened as the terrible night advanced. It was possible to protect oneself from the pumice stones but not from the gas, and Pompeiians died by the hundreds. Carbon monoxide gas prevents the body from absorbing oxygen. Victims of carbon monoxide poisoning get sleepier and sleepier until they lose consciousness, never to regain it. All over Pompeii, people lay down on beds of pumice stones, overwhelmed by the gas, and death came quietly to them.
夜越來越深,毒氣越來越濃。人們躲得過浮石,但躲不過毒氣。成百成百的龐貝人死于毒氣。一氧化碳氣體使人體不能吸收氧氣,中毒者越來越疲倦,直到失去意識,再也無法醒來。在龐貝的各個角落,人們氣體中毒后躺在浮石堆上,靜靜地死去。
All through the endless night, Pompeiians wandered about the streets or crouched in their ruined homes or clustered in the temples to pray. By morning few remained alive. Not once had Vesuvius stopped hurling pumice stones and ash into the air, and the streets of Pompeii were filling quickly. At midday on August 25, exactly twenty-four hours after the beginning of the first eruption, a second eruption occurred. A second cloud of ash rose above Vesuvius' summit. The wind blew ash as far as Rome. But most of the new ash descended on Pompeii.
在整個漫長的夜里,龐貝人在街上漫無目的地游蕩,或者蹲在已經毀壞的家里,或是聚集在寺廟里祈禱。到次日清晨,幾乎沒有人還活著。維蘇威山始終不停地向天空噴發浮石和火山灰,龐貝的街道很快就被填滿了。8月25日中午,在火山噴發正好24小時之后,發生了第二次爆發。火山灰形成的煙云再次從維蘇威山頂升起,風把火山灰吹到了遙遠的羅馬,但是大部分還是落到了龐貝。
The deadly shower of stones and ash went into its second day. But it no longer mattered to Pompeii whether the eruption continued another day or another year. For by midday on August 25, Pompeii was a city of the dead.
浮石和火山灰構成的致命“陣雨”持續到第二天。至于爆發是再持續一天,還是一年,對龐貝城已經無關緊要了。因為到8月25日正午時,龐貝已是一座死城。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/daxue/201705/507849.shtml