大學(xué)英語四六級晨讀經(jīng)典365夏日激情篇155
155 Gibbon
155 吉本
It is not difficult to envisage the character and figure; what seems strange, and remote, and hard to grasp is the connection between this individual and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The paradox, indeed, is so complete as to be almost romantic. At a given moment October 15, 1764，at a given place一the Capitoline Hill, outside the church of Aracoeli-the impact occurred between the serried centuries of Rome and Edward Gibbon. His life, his work, his fame, his place in the history of civilization, followed from that circumstance. The point of his achievement lay precisely in the extreme improbability of it. The utter incongruity of those combining elements produced the masterpiece-the gigantic ruin of Europe through a thousand years. mirrored in the mind of an eighteenth-century English gentleman.
不難想像其性格和體態(tài)，但顯得荒謬怪誕、遙不可及和難以琢磨的是這個人與羅馬帝國的衰亡，他們之間存在著聯(lián)系。確切地說。這個悖論是如此徹底，以至近乎荒謬。在一個特定時刻1764年10月15日，在一個特定地點阿拉柯利大教堂外的卡皮托利尼山歷經(jīng)世紀(jì)滄桑的羅馬與愛德華吉本之間發(fā)生了碰撞。他的生活、他的成就、他的聲譽、他在文明史上的地位，都源于那次機緣。他的成就的意義恰恰在于其不可能完成性。那些混合要素的完全不協(xié)調(diào)性造就了這部輝煌的巨著歐洲歷經(jīng)千年的巨大廢墟在18世紀(jì)的一位英國紳士的頭腦中映現(xiàn)出來。
How was the miracle accomplished? Needless to say, Gibbon was a great artist one of those rare spirits, with whom a vital and penetrating imagination and a supreme capacity for general conceptions express themselves instinctively in an appropriate form.
這一奇跡是如何實現(xiàn)的?不用說，吉本是位偉大的藝術(shù)家氣是個難得的人才。他那活力充沛、入木三分的想像力和超凡的總體構(gòu)思能力都以恰當(dāng)?shù)男问奖灸艿乇磉_(dá)了出來。
That the question has ever been not only asked but seriously debated. whether History was an art is certainly one of the curiosities of human ineptitude. What else can it possibly be? It is obvious that History is not a science; it is obvious that History is not the accumulation of facts. but the relation of them Only the pedantry of incomplete academic persons could have given birth to such a monstrous supposition.
《羅馬帝國衰亡史》是否是一部藝術(shù)作品，這個問題不僅被提出來，而且學(xué)者們還對其進行了嚴(yán)肅的討論，這一定是出于人類愚蠢的好奇心，除此之外還能是什么呢?《羅馬帝國衰亡史》顯然不是一部學(xué)術(shù)論著，它也不是史科的堆積，而是史料之間的聯(lián)系。只有學(xué)術(shù)造詣不高的迂腐學(xué)者才會提出如此怪誕的假設(shè)。
Facts relating to the past, when they are collected without art, are compilations; and compilations, no doubt may be useful; but they are no more History than butter, eggs. salt and herbs are an omelet. That Gibbon was a great artist, therefore; is implied in the statement that he was a great historian but what is interesting is the particular nature of his artistry.His whole genius was preeminently classical; order, lucidity, balance, precision-the great classics! qualities-dominate his work; and his History is chiefly remarkable as one of the supreme monuments of Classic Art in European literature.
與過去有關(guān)的事實若未經(jīng)過藝術(shù)加工，只不過是編纂而已。無疑，編纂可能會有用，但這并不是《羅馬帝國衰亡史》，就像黃油，雞蛋，鹽和香料并非煎雞蛋一樣。因此.吉本是一個偉大的藝術(shù)家，從中也暗示他是一位偉大的歷史學(xué)家。然而有意思的正是他獨特的藝術(shù)才華：他極具古典主義天賦，有條理，明晰，均衡，精確這些偉大的古典主義品質(zhì)貫穿于他的著作之中.并且他的《羅馬帝國衰亡史》被視為歐洲文學(xué)中古典主義藝術(shù)的一座超群絕倫的豐碑。
英語詞匯注釋
envisage vt. 面對想像
incongruity n. 不調(diào)和
penetrating adj. 敏銳的
ineptitude n. 不適當(dāng)
pedantry n. 假設(shè)
compilation n. 編譯，編輯
155 Gibbon
155 吉本
It is not difficult to envisage the character and figure; what seems strange, and remote, and hard to grasp is the connection between this individual and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The paradox, indeed, is so complete as to be almost romantic. At a given moment October 15, 1764，at a given place一the Capitoline Hill, outside the church of Aracoeli-the impact occurred between the serried centuries of Rome and Edward Gibbon. His life, his work, his fame, his place in the history of civilization, followed from that circumstance. The point of his achievement lay precisely in the extreme improbability of it. The utter incongruity of those combining elements produced the masterpiece-the gigantic ruin of Europe through a thousand years. mirrored in the mind of an eighteenth-century English gentleman.
不難想像其性格和體態(tài)，但顯得荒謬怪誕、遙不可及和難以琢磨的是這個人與羅馬帝國的衰亡，他們之間存在著聯(lián)系。確切地說。這個悖論是如此徹底，以至近乎荒謬。在一個特定時刻1764年10月15日，在一個特定地點阿拉柯利大教堂外的卡皮托利尼山歷經(jīng)世紀(jì)滄桑的羅馬與愛德華吉本之間發(fā)生了碰撞。他的生活、他的成就、他的聲譽、他在文明史上的地位，都源于那次機緣。他的成就的意義恰恰在于其不可能完成性。那些混合要素的完全不協(xié)調(diào)性造就了這部輝煌的巨著歐洲歷經(jīng)千年的巨大廢墟在18世紀(jì)的一位英國紳士的頭腦中映現(xiàn)出來。
How was the miracle accomplished? Needless to say, Gibbon was a great artist one of those rare spirits, with whom a vital and penetrating imagination and a supreme capacity for general conceptions express themselves instinctively in an appropriate form.
這一奇跡是如何實現(xiàn)的?不用說，吉本是位偉大的藝術(shù)家氣是個難得的人才。他那活力充沛、入木三分的想像力和超凡的總體構(gòu)思能力都以恰當(dāng)?shù)男问奖灸艿乇磉_(dá)了出來。
That the question has ever been not only asked but seriously debated. whether History was an art is certainly one of the curiosities of human ineptitude. What else can it possibly be? It is obvious that History is not a science; it is obvious that History is not the accumulation of facts. but the relation of them Only the pedantry of incomplete academic persons could have given birth to such a monstrous supposition.
《羅馬帝國衰亡史》是否是一部藝術(shù)作品，這個問題不僅被提出來，而且學(xué)者們還對其進行了嚴(yán)肅的討論，這一定是出于人類愚蠢的好奇心，除此之外還能是什么呢?《羅馬帝國衰亡史》顯然不是一部學(xué)術(shù)論著，它也不是史科的堆積，而是史料之間的聯(lián)系。只有學(xué)術(shù)造詣不高的迂腐學(xué)者才會提出如此怪誕的假設(shè)。
Facts relating to the past, when they are collected without art, are compilations; and compilations, no doubt may be useful; but they are no more History than butter, eggs. salt and herbs are an omelet. That Gibbon was a great artist, therefore; is implied in the statement that he was a great historian but what is interesting is the particular nature of his artistry.His whole genius was preeminently classical; order, lucidity, balance, precision-the great classics! qualities-dominate his work; and his History is chiefly remarkable as one of the supreme monuments of Classic Art in European literature.
與過去有關(guān)的事實若未經(jīng)過藝術(shù)加工，只不過是編纂而已。無疑，編纂可能會有用，但這并不是《羅馬帝國衰亡史》，就像黃油，雞蛋，鹽和香料并非煎雞蛋一樣。因此.吉本是一個偉大的藝術(shù)家，從中也暗示他是一位偉大的歷史學(xué)家。然而有意思的正是他獨特的藝術(shù)才華：他極具古典主義天賦，有條理，明晰，均衡，精確這些偉大的古典主義品質(zhì)貫穿于他的著作之中.并且他的《羅馬帝國衰亡史》被視為歐洲文學(xué)中古典主義藝術(shù)的一座超群絕倫的豐碑。
英語詞匯注釋
envisage vt. 面對想像
incongruity n. 不調(diào)和
penetrating adj. 敏銳的
ineptitude n. 不適當(dāng)
pedantry n. 假設(shè)
compilation n. 編譯，編輯
