美國語文第六冊 第101期:拿破侖·波拿巴的性格(1)
他倒下了!
We may now pause before that splendid prodigy, which towered among us like some ancient ruin, whose power terrified the glance its magnificence attracted.
現(xiàn)在，我們在這位舉世罕見的奇才面前駐足，他就像某些古代遺跡那樣佇立在我們中間，他的威力令投向他那富麗堂皇外表的目光懾服。
Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne a sceptered hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality.
高傲、沮喪和異乎尋常，他坐在一位被授予權(quán)杖的隱士坐過的寶座上，周身籠罩著他獨(dú)有的孤獨(dú)。
A mind, bold, independent, and decisive; a will, despotic in its dictates;
他的想法大膽，有主見，堅(jiān)決果斷;他的意志體現(xiàn)出獨(dú)裁者的專橫;
an energy that distanced expedition; and a conscience, pliable to every touch of interest,
他有進(jìn)行長距離遠(yuǎn)征的旺盛精力;他的良心易受每一切身利益的影響。
marked the outlines of this extraordinary character — the most extraordinary, perhaps, that in the annals of this world ever rose, or reigned, or fell.
這種奇特的性格以上述特征為標(biāo)志——也許，最不同尋常的就體現(xiàn)在這個世界總是興起、占主導(dǎo)地位和覆滅的編年史之中。
Flung into life in the midst of a revolution that quickened every energy of a people who acknowledged no superior,
撲進(jìn)一場大革命，這場革命很快將認(rèn)為不存在優(yōu)越感的人們調(diào)集起來，
he commenced his course, a stranger by birth, and a scholar by charity.
他開始了自己的偉大航程，一個天生的陌生人、一個悲天憫人的學(xué)者。
With no friend but his sword, and no fortune but his talents,
沒有朋友，只有手中的利刃;沒有財(cái)產(chǎn)，但有的是才具，
he rushed into the lists where rank, and wealth, and genius had arrayed themselves, and competition fled from him, as from the glance of destiny.
他匆忙進(jìn)入按等級、財(cái)富和天才排列的名單，但他逃離了競爭，也逃離了命運(yùn)的眷顧。
He knew no motive but interest; acknowledged no criterion but success; he worshiped no God but ambition;
他的眼中只有利益，沒有動機(jī);他只認(rèn)可成功，而不論標(biāo)準(zhǔn);他奉為神明的不是上帝，而是野心。
and, with an eastern devotion, he knelt at the shrine of his idolatry.
憑借一種東方式的虔誠，他拜倒在自己偶像崇拜的神龕前。
