世界小史 第44期:肥沃的牧場

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 Between Egypt and Mesopotamia there is a land of deep valleys and rich pastures.

在埃及和美索不達米亞之間有一片土地，那里有深谷和肥沃的牧場。

There, for thousands of years, herdsmen tended their flocks.

好幾千年之久，各游牧民族在那里牧放他們的畜群。

They planted vines and cereals, and in the evenings they sang songs, as country people do.

他們種植葡萄和糧食，到了晚上他們唱歌，就像現(xiàn)在鄉(xiāng)間的人們那樣。

But because it lay between those two countries, first it would be conquered and ruled by the Egyptians,

但因為它處于這兩個國家之間，所以這塊土地一度被埃及人，

and then the Babylonians would invade, so that the people who lived there were constantly being driven from one place to another.

后來又被巴比倫尼亞人占領和統(tǒng)治，而居住在那里的各部族則就反反復復地被臣服。

They built themselves towns and fortresses1, to no avail.

他們也建造城鎮(zhèn)和要塞，但無濟于事。

They were still not strong enough to resist the mighty2 armies of their neighbors.

他們不夠強大，不足以抵抗他們的左鄰右舍的強大軍隊。

"That's all very sad, but I can't see what it has to do with history," you say, "for the same thing must have happened to thousands of small tribes."

“這是令人悲哀的，但我不明白它與歷史有什么關系，”你說，“因為這樣的小部落一定多得不計其數(shù)。”

And you're right.

你說得對。

But there was something special about this one, because, small and defenseless though they were,

但是這個民族卻有某些特別的屬性：

they didn't just become part of history, they made history–and by that I mean they shaped the course of all history to come.

它不僅因此而變成了歷史，而且還自己創(chuàng)造了歷史，雖然它很小很弱——我的意思是它參與決定了一切未來歷史的命運。

And this special something was their religion.

這個特別的屬性就是他們的宗教。