Mortier, relieved from his anxiety for the Emperor, redoubled his efforts to arrest the conflagration. His men cheerfully rushed into every danger. Breathing nothing but smoke and ashes—canopied by flame and smoke and cinders—surrounded by walls of fire that rocked to and fro, and fell with a crash amid the blazing ruins, carrying down with them roofs of red-hot iron—he struggled against an enemy that no boldness could awe or courage overcome.
看到國王安然無恙，莫蒂埃放下焦慮，一心想著將大火撲滅。士兵們全都不懼危險、滿懷干勁沖進大火之中。此時莫蒂埃被不停燃燒的火墻包圍著，呼吸著煙霧和灰塵，身上滿是火星、濃煙和灰燼，他就在那片熊熊燃燒的廢墟里，扛著滾燙的鐵板屋頂，和那膽大英勇、無所畏懼的大火斗爭著。
Those brave troops had heard the tramp of thousands of cavalry sweeping to battle, without fear; but now they stood instill terror before the march of the conflagration, under whose burning footsteps was heard the incessant noise of falling houses and palaces and churches. The continuous roar of the raging hurricane, mingled with that of the flames, was more terrible than the thunder of artillery; and before this new foe, in the midst of this battle of the elements, the awe-struck army stood powerless and affrighted.
那些勇敢的士兵們曾無數次聽過成千上萬的騎兵那毫無畏懼掃蕩戰場的腳步聲，而現在，他們站在那里，站在大火的進軍前，聽著自己燃燒的腳步之下房屋、宮殿和教堂不斷倒塌的聲音，卻逐漸產生了恐懼感。狂暴颶風的轟鳴不斷，同時夾雜著火焰那噼里啪啦燃燒的聲音，簡直比大炮的轟鳴還要可怕。在這新敵人面前，在這風雨交加的戰斗之中，這支威風凜凜的軍隊卻束手無策，驚惶失措。
When night again descended on the city, it presented a spectacle the like of which had never been seen before, and which baffles all description. The streets were streets of fire; the heavens a canopy of fire; and the entire body of the city amass of fire, fed by a hurricane that sped the blazing fragments in a constant stream through the air. Incessant explosions, from the blowing up of stores of oil and tar and spirits, shook the very foundations of the city, and sent vast volumes of smoke rolling furiously toward the sky. Huge sheets of canvas on fire came floating, like messengers of death, through the flames; the towers and domes of the churches and palaces, glowing with red-heat over the wild sea below, then tottering a moment on their bases, were hurled by the tempest into the common ruin.
當這座城市再次被籠罩在夜幕之下，一副前所未見、無法描述的景象出現了。街道上到處都是大火，天空則被覆蓋在大火形成的火幕之下，整個城市內部積聚著火焰，熾熱的碎片被颶風吹得七零八落。存儲的石油、焦油和烈酒不斷發出的爆炸聲動搖了整個城市的根基，同時又向天空散去了滾滾濃煙。巨大的帆布也著火了，像死亡的使者一樣從火焰之中穿過。燃燒著的教堂和宮殿的塔樓和圓頂發出的熾熱紅光映照在下方洶涌的海水之上，而在搖搖欲墜之后，最終也被暴風雨卷入那片廢墟之中。
Thousands of wretches, before unseen, were driven by the heat from the cellars and hovels, and streamed in an incessant throng along the streets. Children were seen carrying their parents, the strong the weak; while thousands more were staggering under loads of plunder which they had snatched from the flames.
成千上萬默默無聞的窮苦人們被地窖和茅舍里的熱氣驅趕著涌入街道上川流不息的人群，孩子們則背著自己沉重的父母，還有另外一些成千上萬的人，他們正被自己在大火之中搶來的戰利品壓得搖搖欲墜。
評論
打印
