雙語(yǔ)+MP3|美國(guó)學(xué)生世界歷史40 野蠻的入侵者

40
Barbarian Invaders
野蠻的入侵者

     BUT Rome with the Roman Empire had had its day. The empire had risen as high as it could. It was Rome's turn to fall. It was Rome's turn to be conquered. But you cannot guess what people were to do the conquering and to be next in power.

Invasions from the north （來(lái)自北方的入侵）
     For centuries there had been Germanic tribes living on the northern borders of the Roman Empire. Every now and then they tried to cross over the border into Roman lands, and the Romans had to be constantly fighting them to keep them back where they belonged. Julius Caesar had fought with them. So had Marcus Aurelius and so had Constantine. The Romans called these people barbarians, which is what they called all people who were not Romans. The Romans believed that all barbarians were fierce and warlike.
     Many of these Germanic people had light hair and blue eyes; that is, they were what we call blonds. The Greeks and Romans and other people who lived around the Mediterranean Sea had dark hair and dark eyes. They were what we call brunettes.
     Although some of the Germanic peoples had moved into the Roman Empire, many lived in sparsely populated areas, not in cities. They lived in huts made of wood, sometimes of branches woven together-like a large basket. The women raised vegetables and took care of the cows and horses. The men did the hunting and fighting and blacksmithing. Blacksmithing was very important, for the blacksmith made the swords and spears with which they fought and the tools with which they worked. That is why the name Smith was so honored among them.

Germanic warrior日耳曼戰(zhàn)士
     When the men went to battle they wore the heads of animals they had killed, an ox's head, horns and all, or the head of a wolf or bear or fox. This was to make themselves look fierce and to frighten the enemy.
     Bravery was the chief thing the men thought good. A man might lie, he might steal, he might even commit murder, but if he was a brave warrior, he was called a good man. The Germanic tribes did not have a king. They elected their chiefs, and of course they always chose the man who was the bravest and strongest. But he could not make his son ruler after him. He was more like a president than a king.
     These northern people had an entirely different set of gods from those of Greece and Rome. Their chief god, as you might guess, was the god of war, and they called him Woden. Woden was also the god of the sky. He was like the two Greek gods, Zeus and Ares, put together. Woden was supposed to live in a wonderful palace in the sky called Valhalla, and many tales are told of the wonderful things he did and of the adventures he had. Wednesday, which was once Wodensday, is named after him. That is why there is a letter d in this word, although we don't pronounce it.
     After Woden, Thor was the next most important god. He was the god of thunder and lightning. He carried a hammer with which he fought great giants who lived in the far-off cold lands and were called ice-giants. Thursday, which was once Thorsday, is named after him.
     Another god was named Tiu, and from his name we get Tuesday, and another Freya, from whom we get Friday, so that four out of seven of our days are named after Germanic gods, in spite of the fact that none of us believe in these gods.
     Of the other three days of the week, Sunday and Monday of course are named after the sun and moon, and Saturday is named after a Roman god, Saturn.
     About the year 400 A. D. these northern neighbors were becoming particularly troublesome to the Romans. They began to push their way down into the northern part of the Roman Empire, and after a few years the Romans could hold them back no longer. Two of these Germanic tribes went over into Britain, and the Romans who were living there found it wisest to get out, go back to Rome, and leave the country and its native people to the invaders.
     These tribes who settled in Britain were known as Angles and Saxons. So the country came to be called the land of the Angles, or, for short, Angle-land. After the words Angle-land were said over for many years, they became England, which is what we call the country today. The people of England are still known by the full name Anglo-Saxons, and this is the name by which we call anyone descended from these tribes of Angles and Saxons who settled in Britain about 400 A.D.
     Another tribe called the Vandals went into Gaul. Gaul is where France is now. Then they kept on down into Spain, stealing, smashing, burning, and destroying. They crossed over by boats into North Africa. They damaged or destroyed everything they came upon. So today when anyone damages or destroys property wickedly, we call him a vandal. If you cut up your desk, tear your books, or scratch names on walls or fences, you, too, are a vandal.
     A tribe called the Franks followed the Vandals into Gaul, and there they stayed, giving the name France to that country.
     The people north of Italy were the Goths. They had a leader by the name of Alaric. Alaric and his Goths crossed over the mountains into Italy and robbed or destroyed everything of value they could lay their hands on. They then entered Rome and carried away whatever they wanted, and the Romans could not stop them. But the worst was yet to come.

     但是，羅馬城和羅馬帝國(guó)已過(guò)全盛時(shí)期。這個(gè)帝國(guó)的強(qiáng)盛已經(jīng)達(dá)到了巔峰，現(xiàn)在輪到羅馬走向衰落，輪到羅馬被別的國(guó)家所征服了，可是你肯定猜不到哪個(gè)民族的人將征服羅馬，并成為下一個(gè)世界霸主。
     幾千年來(lái)，日耳曼部落一直生活在羅馬帝國(guó)的北部邊界地區(qū)。他們時(shí)不時(shí)地穿過(guò)邊界進(jìn)入羅馬境內(nèi)，因此，羅馬人不得不經(jīng)常和他們交戰(zhàn)，把這些人趕回他們自己的領(lǐng)土。尤利烏斯?愷撒和他們交戰(zhàn)過(guò)，馬可?奧勒留和君士坦丁也和他們交戰(zhàn)過(guò)。羅馬人把這些人叫做"野蠻人"，甚至把除了自己之外的所有人都叫做野蠻人。羅馬人認(rèn)為所有的野蠻人都是兇猛、好戰(zhàn)的。
     多數(shù)日耳曼人都是淺色頭發(fā)，藍(lán)色眼睛，也就是我們所說(shuō)的金發(fā)碧眼。希臘人和羅馬人以及其他生活在地中海周圍的人都是深色頭發(fā)，黑色眼睛。我們現(xiàn)在稱他們黑發(fā)黑眼。
     盡管有些日耳曼人已經(jīng)遷移到羅馬帝國(guó)，但他們多數(shù)都生活在人煙稀少的地區(qū)而不是在城市。他們住在木頭做的小屋里，有時(shí)這種小屋就是用樹(shù)枝編起來(lái)的--像個(gè)大籃子一樣。女人們種菜，飼養(yǎng)牛馬；男人們打獵，作戰(zhàn)和打鐵。打鐵是非常重要的，因?yàn)殍F匠可以制作戰(zhàn)劍和長(zhǎng)矛，還有各種用以生產(chǎn)的工具。這就是為什么"史密斯"（鐵匠的音譯）這個(gè)名字在他們中間非常受尊敬的原因。
     每當(dāng)男人們出去作戰(zhàn)，他們都戴著自己殺死的獸頭，公牛的頭、角，或是狼、熊和狐貍的頭。這樣做是為了讓他們看上去顯得兇狠，讓敵人感到害怕。
     "勇敢"是男人們最看重的事情。男人可以撒謊，可以偷竊，甚至可以殺人，但如果他是個(gè)勇敢的戰(zhàn)士，就可以被人說(shuō)成是個(gè)好人。日耳曼部落沒(méi)有國(guó)王，他們的首領(lǐng)通過(guò)選舉產(chǎn)生，當(dāng)然，他們總是選出最勇敢、最強(qiáng)壯的人。不過(guò)，首領(lǐng)不能讓自己的兒子成為他的繼任者，所以部落的首領(lǐng)更像是總統(tǒng)而不是國(guó)王。
     這些北方民族的人信奉的一些神靈和希臘人、羅馬人所信奉的神靈完全不是一回事。你也許能猜到，他們的主神是戰(zhàn)神，叫沃登。沃登也是天神，他就像是希臘的兩個(gè)神靈--宙斯和阿瑞斯的結(jié)合體。據(jù)說(shuō)沃登住在天上一個(gè)叫瓦爾哈拉的美麗宮殿里，有很多童話講述他的精彩故事和冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷。星期三（英文是Wednesday）曾經(jīng)寫作Wodensday，就是以沃登（Woden ）的名字命名的。因此，這個(gè)單詞里面有個(gè)字母d，但是我們并不發(fā)d的音。
     托爾是排在沃登后面的另一位最重要的神靈。他是雷電之神。他隨身帶著一把鐵錘，用它來(lái)和住在遠(yuǎn)方寒冷地帶的巨人們作戰(zhàn)，這些巨人叫"冰巨人"。星期四（英文是Thursday）以前是Thorsday，就是以托爾（英文是Thor）的名字命名的。
     另一位神叫蒂烏（英文為Tiu），人們以他的名字命名了星期二（英文Tuesday）。 還有一位神靈叫弗蕾亞，星期五（英文Friday）就源于她的名字"Freya"。因此，我們的一周七天中有四天都是以日耳曼神靈的名字命名的，雖然我們根本沒(méi)人信奉這些神靈。
     一周里剩下的那三天，星期天（Sunday）和星期一（Monday）當(dāng)然是以日（Sun）、月（Moon）而命名的。而星期六（英文Saturday）是用一位羅馬神靈薩杜恩（Saturn）的名字命名的。
     大約在公元400年時(shí)，這些北方的鄰居成了最讓羅馬人頭痛的麻煩。他們開(kāi)始流竄進(jìn)入羅馬的北部地區(qū)，這樣過(guò)了幾年，羅馬人再也不能把他們驅(qū)逐出去了。這些日耳曼部落中有兩支部族進(jìn)入了不列顛地區(qū)，住在那里的羅馬人發(fā)現(xiàn)最明智的做法就是離開(kāi)那里，回羅馬去，而把那塊土地和當(dāng)?shù)氐脑∶褡尳o這些侵略者。
     在不列顛安頓下來(lái)的兩支部落分別是盎格魯人和撒克遜人，因此這個(gè)國(guó)家后來(lái)被叫做盎格魯人的土地，或者簡(jiǎn)略地講，就是"盎格蘭". "盎格蘭"這個(gè)詞說(shuō)了很多年后，就變成了"英格蘭"，這是我們今天對(duì)該國(guó)的稱呼。英格蘭人現(xiàn)在的全稱仍然是"盎格魯－撒克遜人"，而且我們把所有公元400年時(shí)在不列顛定居的盎格魯和撒克遜部落的人的后代都叫做盎格魯-撒克遜人。
     另一支叫汪達(dá)爾的部落進(jìn)入高盧地區(qū)，高盧就是現(xiàn)在的法國(guó)。接著，他們繼續(xù)南下到西班牙，沿途燒殺搶掠。后來(lái)，他們又乘船到達(dá)北非。他們一路走到哪里，就在哪里大肆破壞。所以，現(xiàn)在當(dāng)有人惡意地破壞、毀壞財(cái)物時(shí)，我們就稱他為"汪達(dá)爾人"。如果你用刀子亂刻書桌、撕壞課本或在墻壁或圍墻上亂寫亂畫，那你也是個(gè)汪達(dá)爾人了。
     在汪達(dá)爾部落之后，有一支叫法蘭克的部落進(jìn)入了高盧，他們后來(lái)就定居下來(lái)，并把那個(gè)國(guó)家定名為"法國(guó)"。
     意大利北部的民族是哥特人，他們有個(gè)領(lǐng)袖叫阿拉里克。后來(lái)，阿拉里克和他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的哥特人翻山越嶺進(jìn)入了意大利，在那里洗劫并摧毀了所有他們見(jiàn)到的值錢的東西。接著，他們侵入了羅馬，大肆搶掠任何他們想要的東西，羅馬人卻毫無(wú)辦法阻止他們。但是，最糟糕的還在后面呢！