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In the summer of 1664,a comet appeared in the skies over England.
1664年夏 一顆彗星劃過英格蘭的天空
Its sallow tail could be seen with unprecedented clarity
國王使用一種新型望遠鏡
through the lens of the new telescopes owned among others, by the king.
比其他人能更清晰地 觀測到灰黃色的慧尾
But what most people saw was disaster in the offing.
而在大多人眼中 這預示著災難的降臨
They had all read their almanacs.
人們都看過黃歷
They knew that the Apocalypse would be heralded by pestilence, fire and war.
他們知道 大難將至 首先降臨的就是瘟疫 火災與戰爭
A year later, thousands of bodies killed by bubonic plague were being tossed each week into the great pit of Aldgate
一年后 每周都有成千上萬黑死病者的尸體 被埋進阿爾蓋特的大坑
and there was nothing science could do about it,
所有科學對此都束手無策
except count the dead with the care demanded by modern statistics.
只能運用現代統計學的嚴謹匯總死亡數字
My part of death,No one so true,Did share it,Come away,Come away Death
我已死去 無人真心 為我哀傷 降臨吧 降臨吧 死神
One-sixth of London's population perished.
六分之一的倫敦人喪生
The infection ebbed with the onset of autumn,
入秋后疫情漸止
but the trepidation hung around for the number of the Beast was 666.
但恐懼仍舊彌漫 因為魔鬼的代號為666
And sure enough, up from the smoky regions of Hell,
果不其然 1666年9月的第一個禮拜
in the first week of September, 1666,came the diabolical fire.
惡魔之火從煙霧繚繞的地獄 撲面而來
