冰与火之歌系列之《权力的游戏》第166期:第十三章 提利昂(6)

 　　Tyrion had a morbid¹ fascination² with dragons. When he had first come to King’s Landing for his sister’s wedding to Robert Baratheon, 提利昂对龙有种病态的迷恋。当年他初次造访君临，参加姐姐和劳勃·拜拉席恩的婚礼时，

　　he had made it a point to seek out the dragon skulls³ that had hung on the walls of Targaryen’s throne room.  就打定主意一定要瞧瞧那些悬挂在坦格利安王座厅墙上的龙头。

　　King Robert had replaced them with banners and tapestries⁴,  虽然劳勃国王早已把龙头换成了旗帜和壁毡，

　　but Tyrion had persisted until he found the skulls in the dank cellar where they had been stored. 提利昂仍不死心，最后总算在阴湿的地窖内找到了它们的收藏处所。

　　He had expected to find them impressive, perhaps even frightening.  他本以为龙头必定令人叹为观止，甚至叫人望而生畏，

　　He had not thought to find them beautiful. Yet they were.  却怎么也想不到它们竟会是如此美丽的东西。它们的的确确美得让人目瞪口呆。

　　As black as onyx, polished smooth, so the bone seemed to shimmer⁵ in the light of his torch.  黑如玛瑙，光滑洁亮，在他的火把映照下仿佛会闪闪发光。

　　They liked the fire, he sensed. He’d thrust the torch into the mouth of one of the larger skulls 他察觉到它们喜欢火，因而特地把火把插进其中一个较大的龙嘴里，

　　and made the shadows leap and dance on the wall behind him.  果真火光大盛，影子在他身后的墙上大肆舞跃。

　　The teeth were long, curving knives of black diamond. The flame of the torch was nothing to them;  龙牙宛如一柄柄黑钻石制成的长弯刀，长年浸涤于炽热的烈焰里，火把微焰对它们来说根本算不了什么。

　　they had bathed in the heat of far greater fires. When he had moved away,  当他抽身离去时，

　　Tyrion could have sworn that the beast’s empty eye sockets⁶ had watched him go. 他发誓那头巨兽空洞的眼窝是目送着自己离开的。

　　There were nineteen skulls. The oldest was more than three thousand years old;  巨龙头骨一共十九个，最老的寿命已经超过三千年，

　　the youngest a mere⁷ century and a half.  最幼小的也有一个半世纪那么久。

　　The most recent were also the smallest; a matched pair no bigger than mastiff’s skulls,  幼龙的头骨也是最小的，那两个畸形怪状，比猎犬的头骨大不了多少，

　　and oddly misshapen, all that remained of the last two hatchlings born on Dragonstone.  它们是龙石岛上所孵化的最后两只龙，是坦格利安家族最后的两只，

　　They were the last of the Targaryen dragons, perhaps the last dragons anywhere, and they had not lived very long. 或许也是这世界上最后的两只，它们非常短命。

1 morbid   

adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的

参考例句：

• Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。

2 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

3 skulls   

颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜

参考例句：

• One of the women's skulls found exceeds in capacity that of the average man of today. 现已发现的女性颅骨中，其中有一个的脑容量超过了今天的普通男子。
• We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight! 我们便能令月光下的平原变白，遍布白色的骷髅！

4 tapestries   

n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The wall of the banqueting hall were hung with tapestries. 宴会厅的墙上挂有壁毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rooms were hung with tapestries. 房间里都装饰着挂毯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 shimmer   

v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光

参考例句：

• The room was dark,but there was a shimmer of moonlight at the window.屋子里很黑，但靠近窗户的地方有点微光。
• Nor is there anything more virginal than the shimmer of young foliage.没有什么比新叶的微光更纯洁无瑕了。

6 sockets   

n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴

参考例句：

• All new PCs now have USB sockets. 新的个人计算机现在都有通用串行总线插孔。
• Make sure the sockets in your house are fingerproof. 确保你房中的插座是防触电的。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

7 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。