世界小史 第114期:华丽的宫殿

 　　They used it to build themselves magnificent palaces and held court in great style.

　　他们用这些钱建造华丽的宫殿，君臣上朝议事时非常气派。

　　They ate off golden dishes and even their slaves – both male and female – were dressed in splendid robes.

　　他们用金碟子就餐，甚至他们的奴隶——男奴和女奴——都穿着华丽的礼服。

　　They loved good food, and good wines even more. So did their satraps.

　　他们喜欢吃美食和美酒，甚至其它美味。

　　A kingdom like this, thought King Philip, should be easy to conquer.

　　各地方总督也一样。菲利普王心想，这样一个国家恐怕不难被占领。

　　But before he had even contemplated¹ the preparations for his campaign he was assassinated².

　　但是他还没做好进军的准备，就被人谋杀了。

　　His son, who now inherited the whole of Greece, along with his native Macedonia, was barely 20 years old at the time.

　　他的儿子从他那儿继承了整个希腊以及他的家乡马其顿，这位儿子当时还不满20岁。

　　His name was Alexander.

　　他叫亚历山大。

　　The Greeks were convinced that freedom was in their grasp – he was only a boy and they'd make short work of him.

　　所有的希腊人都深信自由又掌握在他们自己的手里了——他只是一个年轻小伙子，他们心想不花多少功夫就可以解决他。

　　But Alexander was no ordinary boy.

　　但是亚历山大不是一个普通的年轻小伙子，

　　From his youth he had been impatient to be king.

　　他甚至巴不得早一点登上王位。

　　When he was little, he was said to cry whenever his father, King Philip,据说，小时候每逢他父亲菲利普王攻占一座新的希腊城市他总要哭泣,conquered another Greek city, saying: "Father won't leave anything for me to conquer when I'm king!"我当国王时父亲不会留下任何一座城市让我去攻占了！

 

1 contemplated   

adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The doctor contemplated the difficult operation he had to perform. 医生仔细地考虑他所要做的棘手的手术。
• The government has contemplated reforming the entire tax system. 政府打算改革整个税收体制。

2 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句