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And that the Egyptians were a nation of mast-head standers, is an assertion based upon the general belief among archaeologists, that the first pyramids were founded for astronomical purposes:
之所以把那些埃及人稱為一個桅頂?望者的民族,是根據一般考古學家的意見而來的,他們認為,初期的金字塔就是為考古學的目的而建造的,主要的理論根據就是:
a theory singularly supported by the peculiar stairlike formation of all four sides of those edifices;
這些大建筑物的四周都構筑有特殊的梯形;
whereby, with prodigious long upliftings of their legs, those old astronomers were wont to mount to the apex, and sing out for new stars; even as the look-outs of a modern ship sing out for a sail, or a whale just bearing in sight.
這樣,那些古代的考古學家就用他們那雙非常善于登高的長腿,習以為常地攀上頂尖,大聲叫喊要找新的星星;正和現代的船只上的望者大聲叫喊著看到了一條船,或者看到了一條剛冒了頭的大鯨一樣。
In Saint Stylites, the famous Christian hermit of old times, who built him a lofty stone pillar in the desert and spent the whole latter portion of his life on its summit, hoisting his food from the ground with a tackle;
在那些柱上苦行者,他在各種柱頂上住了三十七年,每次更換的柱都一次比一次高,最后一個柱頂高達六十六英尺。有一個古代著名的基督教隱士,他在沙漠中給自己建立了一支高高的石柱后,就在那柱頂上度過了他整整的下半生,食物由一只滑轤從地上吊上去。
in him we have a remarkable instance of a dauntless stander-of-mast-heads; who was not to be driven from his place by fogs or frosts, rain, hail, or sleet;
這人便為我們提供了一個不屈不撓的桅頂望者的特出的榜樣;迷霧,霜雪,雨露,雹霰都嚇跑不了他;
but valiantly facing everything out to the last, literally died at his post. Of modern standers-of-mast-heads we have but a lifeless set; mere stone, iron, and bronze men;
他無畏地面向一切,堅持到底,明白地說,就是死在他的崗位上。至于現代的桅頂望者,我們只看到一群沒有生命的人;
who, though well capable of facing out a stiff gale, are still entirely incompetent to the business of singing out upon discovering any strange sight.
不過是些石鑿,鐵打和銅鑄的人;他們雖然很能抗拒猛烈的颶風,在發現任何奇觀的,及時大聲叫喊這項差使上,卻是完全不能勝任的。
There is Napoleon; who, upon the top of the column of Vendome stands with arms folded, some one hundred and fifty feet in the air; careless, now, who rules the decks below, whether Louis Philippe, Louis Blanc, or Louis the Devil.
我們看到那個站在旺多姆圓柱上的拿破侖,抱著雙手,立在一百五十英尺左右的上空,現在是誰在統治下界,是路易士黑,路易士白,還是路易士魔鬼;他都不管了。
Great Washington, too, stands high aloft on his towering main-mast in Baltimore, and like one of Hercules' pillars, his column marks that point of human grandeur beyond which few mortals will go.
偉大的華盛頓也高高地站在巴爾的摩的矗立的桅頂上,象是一根海格立斯的柱子,他的柱子標志出一般人不能企及的那種人類的壯麗的特點。
