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When the rain started, a week after the outbreak of the fire,allowing an early stocktaking,
火勢持續一周后 大雨降臨 人們開始清點損失
the scale of the devastation horrified even the pessimists.
然而災難帶來的損失令所有人膛目結舌
13,200 houses had been destroyed,along with some of the most famous buildings of the city.
共有13200戶房屋受損 其中包括幾處標志性建筑
St Paul's Cathedral was in ruins.
圣保羅大教堂亦化為廢墟
The new Leviathan, it seemed, had no fire insurance.
似乎這龐然大物中 無任何防火設施
Still, there were those who were determined that London would rise as a phoenix from its ashes
不過 仍有人堅信 鳳凰涅槃 浴火重生 倫敦必然會崛起
and, like the reborn, rebuilt Rome, astonish the world.
如同重建的羅馬一樣 讓世界為之震驚
This sort of thing had long been on the mind of Christopher Wren,
皇家學會的數學家兼建筑師
mathematician, architect and brilliant prodigy of the Royal Society.
天才克里斯多夫·雷恩 對此更是深信不疑
So when Roman antiquities were found in the debris around St Paul's,
人們在圣保羅大教堂的廢墟附近發現羅馬遺物
one of them a tablet bearing the Latin inscription
其中有一塊碑上刻著一行拉丁文
"Resurgam" I shall arise,"Resurgam" Wren took the message to heart.
我將崛起 雷恩將這句話銘記在心
London had once been a great Roman city and now would outdo the ancients,
倫敦是羅馬人建起的偉大城市 而今 她將超越歷史
with great piazzas, broad avenues,calculated to afford geometrically satisfying vistas and up to fifty new churches.
大型的廣場 寬闊的街道 都經過精心設計 構成完美的幾何圖案 此外還將新建五十座教堂
And at its heart would be a new St Paul's,
而城市中心將會修建一座新的圣保羅大教堂
a cathedral the like of which had never been seen in northern Europe.
一座在北歐 前所未見的大教堂
