美国学生人类历史 第105期:拿撒勒的约书亚(3)

 　　He said that he remembered it very clearly,

　　他说他记得非常清楚，

　　because his father had taken him to Golgotha (a hill just outside the city) to see the execution¹,

　　因为他父亲曾带他去各各他（耶路撒冷城外的小山）观看死刑的场面，

　　and to show him what became of the enemies of the laws of the people of Judea.

　　以便警示他违反法律、沦为犹太人民公敌的人会遭到什么下场。

　　He gave me the address of one Joseph, who had been a personal friend of the Messiah

　　他给了我一个地址，让我去找一个叫约瑟夫的人，因为此人曾经是弥赛亚的好朋友。

　　and told me that I had better go and see him if I wanted to know more.

　　临了，这位商贩还再三叮嘱说，若想知道得更多，一定要去找这位约瑟夫。

　　This morning I went to call on Joseph.

　　今天上午，我去了约瑟夫家。

　　He was quite an old man.

　　此人过去是淡水湖边的渔夫，

　　He had been a fisherman on one of the fresh-water lakes.

　　如今已经老态龙钟了。

　　His memory was clear, and from him at last I got a fairly definite account of what had happened during the troublesome days before I was born.

　　不过他思维清晰，记忆力依然相当健旺。从他那里，我终于了解到在我出生前那个动荡年代所发生的确切情况。

　　Tiberius, our great and glorious emperor, was on the throne, and an officer of the name of Pontius Pilatus was governor of Judea and Samaria.

　　当时在位的是我们伟大而光荣的皇帝提庇留，而担任犹太与撒马利亚地区总督的人名叫彼拉多。

　　Joseph knew little about this Pilatus.

　　约瑟夫对这位彼拉多了解不多。

　　He seemed to have been an honest enough official who left a decent² reputation as procurator of the province.

　　不过看起来他是一个诚实清白的人，在作地方长官期间他留下了正派廉洁的名声。

　　In the year 755 or 756 (Joseph had forgotten when) Pilatus was called to Jerusalem on account of a riot³.

　　在783或784年（罗马历），约瑟夫记不清具体的时间，彼拉多被派往耶路撒冷处理一场骚乱。

　　A certain young man (the son of a carpenter of Nazareth) was said to be planning a revolution against the Roman government.

　　据说，一位年轻人（木匠约瑟的儿子）正在策动反对罗马政府的革命。

　　Strangely enough our own intelligence officers, who are usually well informed, appear to have heard nothing about it,

　　奇怪的是，我们的情报官员向来消息灵通，可对此事却毫不知情。

　　and when they investigated the matter they reported that the carpenter was an excellent citizen and that there was no reason to proceed against him.

　　待他们调查过整个事件后，他们报告说，这位年轻木匠的儿子是纯良守法的公民，没有理由控告他。

1 execution   

n.死刑，实行，执行，履行，演奏，表演

参考例句：

• The musician's execution was perfect,but he played without feeling.演奏者的技巧完美，但他演奏得毫无感情。
• His original idea was good,but his execution of the scheme was disastrous.他的设想很好，但实行起来却糟糕透顶。

2 decent   

adj.象样的，不错的，体面的，正派的，恰当的

参考例句：

• We want to raise our children to be decent men and women.我们盼望把孩子们培养成优秀人才。
• There isn't even a decent table in this room.这屋里连张像样的桌子也没有。

3 riot   

n.暴（骚）乱，（色彩等）极度丰富；vi.聚众闹事

参考例句：

• They had to call the police in order to put down the riot.他们只得叫来警察以平定骚乱。
• Flowers of all sorts are blooming in a riot of colour.百花盛开，万紫千红。