世界小史 第139期:船

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 　　Carthage was the richest and mightiest1 city for miles around and the Romans referred to its Phoenician inhabitants as "Punics".

　　迦太基是遠(yuǎn)近一帶最富有、最強(qiáng)大的城市，羅馬將它的腓尼基居民稱(chēng)為“布匿人”。

　　Its ships went far across the seas, taking goods from one country to another and, since they were so near Sicily, they fetched grain from there.

　　他們的船隊(duì)駛過(guò)遙遠(yuǎn)的大海，把世界各地的商品運(yùn)往四面八方。由于他們的住地離西西里島很近，他們便從那里獲取糧食。

　　Because of this the Carthaginians had become Rome's first real opponents – and very dangerous ones too.

　　因?yàn)檫@樣迦太基人成為羅馬的頭一批強(qiáng)大對(duì)手——也是很有威脅力的對(duì)手。

　　Unlike the Romans they didn't usually fight themselves, but could afford to pay foreign mercenaries to fight on their behalf.

　　他們不像羅馬人那樣親自作戰(zhàn)，但是他們有足夠的錢(qián)可以雇傭外國(guó)士兵為自己作戰(zhàn)。

　　In the war which now broke out in Sicily they won the early battles – not least because the Romans didn't have many ships,

　　在這場(chǎng)在西西里島上爆發(fā)的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，開(kāi)始時(shí)迦太基人取得了勝利——尤其是羅馬人沒(méi)有船只，

　　weren't used to sea voyages and sea warfare2, and knew next to nothing about shipbuilding.

　　而且也根本不習(xí)慣于航海和在海上作戰(zhàn)，同時(shí)羅馬人也根本不會(huì)造船。

　　But one day a Carthaginian ship ran aground off Italy.

　　但是有一回一艘迦太基戰(zhàn)船擱淺在意大利，

　　Using it as a model, and working in furious haste, the Romans managed to build a whole fleet of identical ships within two months.

　　羅馬人把它當(dāng)作模型，以飛快的速度在兩個(gè)月內(nèi)造了許多相同的船。