美國語文第六冊 第101期:拿破侖·波拿巴的性格(1)
他倒下了!
We may now pause before that splendid prodigy, which towered among us like some ancient ruin, whose power terrified the glance its magnificence attracted.
現(xiàn)在，我們在這位舉世罕見的奇才面前駐足，他就像某些古代遺跡那樣佇立在我們中間，他的威力令投向他那富麗堂皇外表的目光懾服。
Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne a sceptered hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality.
高傲、沮喪和異乎尋常，他坐在一位被授予權(quán)杖的隱士坐過的寶座上，周身籠罩著他獨(dú)有的孤獨(dú)。
A mind, bold, independent, and decisive; a will, despotic in its dictates;
他的想法大膽，有主見，堅決果斷;他的意志體現(xiàn)出獨(dú)裁者的專橫;
an energy that distanced expedition; and a conscience, pliable to every touch of interest,
他有進(jìn)行長距離遠(yuǎn)征的旺盛精力;他的良心易受每一切身利益的影響。
marked the outlines of this extraordinary character — the most extraordinary, perhaps, that in the annals of this world ever rose, or reigned, or fell.
這種奇特的性格以上述特征為標(biāo)志——也許，最不同尋常的就體現(xiàn)在這個世界總是興起、占主導(dǎo)地位和覆滅的編年史之中。
Flung into life in the midst of a revolution that quickened every energy of a people who acknowledged no superior,
撲進(jìn)一場大革命，這場革命很快將認(rèn)為不存在優(yōu)越感的人們調(diào)集起來，
he commenced his course, a stranger by birth, and a scholar by charity.
他開始了自己的偉大航程，一個天生的陌生人、一個悲天憫人的學(xué)者。
With no friend but his sword, and no fortune but his talents,
沒有朋友，只有手中的利刃;沒有財產(chǎn)，但有的是才具，
he rushed into the lists where rank, and wealth, and genius had arrayed themselves, and competition fled from him, as from the glance of destiny.
他匆忙進(jìn)入按等級、財富和天才排列的名單，但他逃離了競爭，也逃離了命運(yùn)的眷顧。
He knew no motive but interest; acknowledged no criterion but success; he worshiped no God but ambition;
他的眼中只有利益，沒有動機(jī);他只認(rèn)可成功，而不論標(biāo)準(zhǔn);他奉為神明的不是上帝，而是野心。
and, with an eastern devotion, he knelt at the shrine of his idolatry.
憑借一種東方式的虔誠，他拜倒在自己偶像崇拜的神龕前。
