世界小史 第139期:船

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 　　Carthage was the richest and mightiest1 city for miles around and the Romans referred to its Phoenician inhabitants as "Punics".

　　迦太基是遠(yuǎn)近一帶最富有、最強(qiáng)大的城市，羅馬將它的腓尼基居民稱為“布匿人”。

　　Its ships went far across the seas, taking goods from one country to another and, since they were so near Sicily, they fetched grain from there.

　　他們的船隊(duì)駛過遙遠(yuǎn)的大海，把世界各地的商品運(yùn)往四面八方。由于他們的住地離西西里島很近，他們便從那里獲取糧食。

　　Because of this the Carthaginians had become Rome's first real opponents – and very dangerous ones too.

　　因?yàn)檫@樣迦太基人成為羅馬的頭一批強(qiáng)大對手——也是很有威脅力的對手。

　　Unlike the Romans they didn't usually fight themselves, but could afford to pay foreign mercenaries to fight on their behalf.

　　他們不像羅馬人那樣親自作戰(zhàn)，但是他們有足夠的錢可以雇傭外國士兵為自己作戰(zhàn)。

　　In the war which now broke out in Sicily they won the early battles – not least because the Romans didn't have many ships,

　　在這場在西西里島上爆發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭中，開始時迦太基人取得了勝利——尤其是羅馬人沒有船只，

　　weren't used to sea voyages and sea warfare2, and knew next to nothing about shipbuilding.

　　而且也根本不習(xí)慣于航海和在海上作戰(zhàn)，同時羅馬人也根本不會造船。

　　But one day a Carthaginian ship ran aground off Italy.

　　但是有一回一艘迦太基戰(zhàn)船擱淺在意大利，

　　Using it as a model, and working in furious haste, the Romans managed to build a whole fleet of identical ships within two months.

　　羅馬人把它當(dāng)作模型，以飛快的速度在兩個月內(nèi)造了許多相同的船。