美国学生世界地理教材 第117期:天堂之门和天国的穹顶(2)

 It is like a jam of people all trying at once to get through a door: they get so wedged¹ in that none can go through. 就像一大群人都要同时过一个门：他们就挤在一起了，谁也动不了，结果一个人也过不去。

But the dome² on the Cathedral of Florence was to be so big no one knew how to hold it up while it was being built.  但是佛罗伦萨大教堂的圆顶真是太大了，当时没有人知道在建造的时候该如何把它撑起来。

It would have taken a whole forest of trees to build a big enough framework³ underneath⁴.  要砍掉整片森林的树木才能在下面造一个足够大的木结构。

Some one said, “Let’s pile up a mountain of dirt and put pennies all through the dirt, then build the dome on top of this mountain.  有人说：“我们用土来堆座山吧，在土里放满硬币，然后就在这个土山上建起圆顶。

After the dome has been built people will cart away the dirt in order to get the money out of the dirt and that will leave the dome standing⁵ alone. 圆顶建好后人们为了得到土里面的钱会把土用车运走，这样就只剩下圆顶立在那里了。

But this very foolish scheme was never tried. 但是从来没有人尝试过这个愚蠢的计划。

At last two artists who were rivals⁶ said they knew a way to build the dome, but neither one would tell how he would do it.  最后有两个互相为对手的艺术家都说自己知道该怎样建造这个圆顶，但哪一个都不愿说该怎么建。

One artist was named Brunelleschi.  一个艺术家叫布鲁内莱斯基。

As Brunelleschi is such a long name, I’m going to call him Mr. B. for short.  布鲁内莱斯基这个名字实在太长了，我就简称他“布先生”。

The other artist was named Ghiberti, and I shall call him Mr. G. Mr. B. got the job and Mr. G. was made his helper.  另一个艺术家叫吉贝尔蒂，我就叫他“吉先生”。布先生接到了这个任务，而吉先生被任命为布先生的助手。

Mr. G. didn’t like to be only a helper, so he went about saying that Mr. B. did not really know how to build the dome at all, and would never finish it. 吉先生当然不乐意自己仅仅充当助手，于是他开始对人说布先生根本不知道怎么建圆顶，他永远都建不成圆顶。

Mr. B. and his men went on with the work for some time,  布先生带着自己的工人干了一段时间，直到圆顶的四周都已建好，

until the sides of the dome reached the place where the stones had to be built over the center to cover the vast space beneath.  只等着用石头把中间这个巨大的空间盖住。

This was the hard part, for the sides of the dome had to meet in the middle with nothing underneath to hold them up. 这是很难的部分，因为圆顶的四周要在中间合拢在一起而下面却没有任何东西把它托起来。

Mr. G. kept on with his talking against Mr. B. , and even made fun of him, until Mr. B. , tired of being nagged⁷ in this way, made believe he was sick and stopped work.  吉先生还在说布先生的坏话，甚至还取笑他，直到布先生厌烦了他这样不断的指责，就装病，停工了。

Time went on and Mr. B. staid home—still sick—and the dome stood unfinished. Mr. G. said,  吉先生说：“哦，布先生根本没有病"；

Oh, Mr. B. isn’t really sick; he is only making believe he is sick—as a school-boy sometimes does—because he doesn’t know how to go on. 他是在装病——就像上学的孩子有时会装病一样——因为他不知道该怎么继续下去了。

So the people of Florence went to Mr. B. ’s house and begged him to go on with the dome. 于是佛罗伦萨人到布先生家去请求他继续建造圆顶。

1 wedged   

楔( wedge的过去式和过去分词 )； 楔形物； （击高尔夫球的）楔形铁头球棒

参考例句：

• The bone wedged in his throat and strangled him. 骨头卡在喉咙里使他窒息。
• He wedged himself through the narrow window. 他从狭窄的窗户中挤了过去。

2 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

3 framework   

n.参照标准；准则；观点；框架，结构

参考例句：

• It's a bridge of steel framework.那是座钢铁结构的桥梁。
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework.物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

4 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 rivals   

竞争对手( rival的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• one of the President's chief rivals 总统的主要政敌之一
• She always managed to outsmart her political rivals. 她总有办法表现得比她的政敌智高一筹。

7 nagged   

adj.经常遭责怪的；被压制的；感到厌烦的；被激怒的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的过去式和过去分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责

参考例句：

• The old woman nagged (at) her daughter-in-law all day long. 那老太婆一天到晚地挑剔儿媳妇的不是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She nagged him all day long. 她一天到晚地说他。 来自《简明英汉词典》