世界小史 第101期:奇怪的圖畫

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

　　在我上小學時，中國對于我們來說是“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過那兒的幾幅奇怪的圖畫，所以我們想象中國這個國家有神情呆板的長辮子的小個子男人、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,當然一個這樣的童話般的國家從來就不曾有過，雖然這話是對的，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.

　　我們首先是通過那里的能工巧匠制造的精巧的瓷器和象牙制品了解中國人的。

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

　　中國已經(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'.

　　傳說中的中國皇帝，自稱“天子”，跟埃及法老叫“太陽之子"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.

　　我要講述的那個時期里，大約在公元前2500年，這一切還全都沒有，雖然當時的中國已經(jīng)是一個古老又龐大的國家。

　　In its fields many millions of hard-working peasants grew rice and other crops,這個國家當時就已經(jīng)有好幾百萬勤勞的農(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.

　　這個國家比埃及大，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大得不聽皇帝的號令。

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

　　各路諸侯經(jīng)?；ハ酄幎?，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,由于這個國家如此之大，以至連國家各邊遠地區(qū)的中國人也都講完全不同的語言，it would probably have fallen apart altogether had they not had one thing in common. This was their script.

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