世界小史 第101期:奇怪的圖畫(huà)

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 　　When I was a schoolboy, China was to us, as it were, "at the other end of the world".

　　在我上小學(xué)時(shí)，中國(guó)對(duì)于我們來(lái)說(shuō)是“世界的另一端”。

　　At most we had seen the odd picture on a teacup or a vase, so that we imagined a country of stiff little men with long plaits down their backs,我們至多曾在茶杯或花瓶上見(jiàn)過(guò)那兒的幾幅奇怪的圖畫(huà)，所以我們想象中國(guó)這個(gè)國(guó)家有神情呆板的長(zhǎng)辮子的小個(gè)子男人、and artful gardens full of hump-backed bridges and little turrets1 hung with tinkling2 bells.

　　有弓形橋的富于藝術(shù)性的花園以及掛著鈴鐺的小塔。

　　Of course there never was such a fairyland, although it is true that for more than 200 years,當(dāng)然一個(gè)這樣的童話(huà)般的國(guó)家從來(lái)就不曾有過(guò)，雖然這話(huà)是對(duì)的，200多年之久，until 1912, Chinese men were made to wear their hair plaited in a pigtail,直至1912年，中國(guó)男人一直必須留辮子，

　　and that we first learnt about them through delicate objects of porcelain3 and ivory made by skilled craftsmen4.

　　我們首先是通過(guò)那里的能工巧匠制造的精巧的瓷器和象牙制品了解中國(guó)人的。

　　From their palace in the capital emperors had ruled over China for more than 1,000 years.

　　中國(guó)已經(jīng)被在首都宮殿里的皇帝統(tǒng)治了1000多年。

　　The fabled5 emperors of China who called themselves the 'Son of Heaven', just as the Egyptian pharaoh called himself 'Son of the Sun'.

　　傳說(shuō)中的中國(guó)皇帝，自稱(chēng)“天子”，跟埃及法老叫“太陽(yáng)之子"完全相似。”

　　But at the time I am going to talk about, around 2,500 years ago, all this was yet to come, though China was already a vast and ancient kingdom.

　　我要講述的那個(gè)時(shí)期里，大約在公元前2500年，這一切還全都沒(méi)有，雖然當(dāng)時(shí)的中國(guó)已經(jīng)是一個(gè)古老又龐大的國(guó)家。

　　In its fields many millions of hard-working peasants grew rice and other crops,這個(gè)國(guó)家當(dāng)時(shí)就已經(jīng)有好幾百萬(wàn)勤勞的農(nóng)民，他們種植大米和其他糧食，while in the towns people strolled through the streets in sumptuous6, silken gowns.

　　而在城市里人們身穿絲綢衣服款款而行。

　　Over all these people a king ruled, and beneath him many princes who governed the many provinces of this immense country which was larger than Egypt,而在城市里人們身穿絲綢衣服款款而行。

　　and larger than Assyria and Babylonia put together.

　　這個(gè)國(guó)家比埃及大，比亞述和巴比倫加在一起還大。

　　But soon these princes had become so mighty7 that the king could no longer command their obedience8.

　　但不久這些諸侯便強(qiáng)大得不聽(tīng)皇帝的號(hào)令。

　　They were constantly at war with each other, the big provinces gobbling up the smaller ones.

　　各路諸侯經(jīng)?；ハ酄?zhēng)斗，大的省吞并小一些的省。

　　And because the empire was so vast that in all its corners the Chinese spoke9 quite different languages,由于這個(gè)國(guó)家如此之大，以至連國(guó)家各邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的中國(guó)人也都講完全不同的語(yǔ)言，it would probably have fallen apart altogether had they not had one thing in common. This was their script.

　　中國(guó)可能已經(jīng)四分五裂了，假如他們沒(méi)有一種共同的東西的話(huà)：這就是他們的文字。