美国学生人类历史第69期:亚历山大大帝(2)

 　　The newly formed Empire must be brought under the influence of the Greek mind. The people must be taught the Greek language-they must live in cities built after a Greek model. The Alexandrian soldier now turned school-master. The military camps of yesterday became the peaceful centres of the newly imported Greek civilisation¹. Higher and higher did the flood of Greek manners and Greek customs rise, when suddenly Alexander was stricken with a fever and died in the old palace of King Hammurabi of Babylon in the year 323.

　　热爱希腊的亚历山大宣布，新建立的帝国必须置于希腊精神的影响之下。他要求自己的子民学习 希腊语，居住在按希腊样式建成的城市里。现在，亚历山大的士兵脱去甲胄，放下刀剑，变成了传播希腊文化的教师。昨天的军营成为了输入希腊文明的和平中心。希腊的风俗习惯和生活方式像席卷世界的洪水，一浪高过一浪。可就在此时，年轻的亚历山大突然遭到热病的袭击，于公元前323年死于汉谟拉比国王修筑的旧巴比伦王宫。

　　Then the waters receded². But they left behind the fertile clay of a higher civilisation and Alexander, with all his childish ambitions and his silly vanities, had performed a most valuable service. His Empire did not long survive him. A number of ambitious generals divided the territory among themselves. But they too remained faithful to the dream of a great world brotherhood³ of Greek and Asiatic ideas and knowledge.

　　之后潮水开始退去，但留下了一片希腊文明的肥沃土壤。凭着孩子气的雄心与愚蠢的自负，亚历山大做出了一项极有价值的贡献。他的帝国在他死后不久便开始土崩瓦解，一批野心勃勃的将军瓜分了世界，可他们仍旧忠实于亚历山大的梦想--建立一个融合希腊文明与亚洲精神的伟大世界。

　　They maintained their independence until the Romans added western Asia and Egypt to their other domains⁴. The strange inheritance of this Hellenistic civilisation (part Greek, part Persian, part Egyptian and Babylonian) fell to the Roman conquerors⁵. During the following centuries, it got such a firm hold upon the Roman world, that we feel its influence in our own lives this very day.

　　这些分裂出来的国家一直保持独立，直到罗马人发动远征，将整个西亚和埃及囊括进自己的版图。于是，亚历山大留下的这份奇特的精神遗产（包括部分希腊、部分波斯、部分埃及和部分巴比伦），被新来的罗马征服者照单全收。在接下来的几个世纪里，它牢牢地扎根于罗马的世界，直到今天我们还能感受到它的影响。

1 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

2 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。

3 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

4 domains   

n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产

参考例句：

• The theory of thermodynamics links the macroscopic and submicroscopic domains. 热力学把宏观世界同亚微观世界联系起来。 来自辞典例句
• All three flow domains are indicated by shading. 所有三个流动区域都是用阴影部分表示的。 来自辞典例句

5 conquerors   

征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
• The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。