书城教材教辅新课标英语学习资源库-天国花园
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第8章 The Garden of Paradise(8)

“I have not sinned yet,”said the prince,“and I will not.”and then he pushed aside the boughs to follow the princess.She was lying already asleep,beautiful as only a fairy in the garden of paradise could be.She smiled as he bent over her,and he saw tears trembling out of her beautiful eyelashes.“Do you weep for me?”he whispered.“Oh weep not,thou loveliest of women.Now do I begin to understand the happiness of paradise;I feel it to my inmost(inmost adj.心底的,秘密的)soul,in every thought.A new life is born within me.One moment of such happiness is worth an eternity of darkness and woe.”He stooped and kissed the tears from her eyes,and touched her lips with his.

“我还没有,”王子说,“而且我也决不会犯罪。”于是他把树枝向两侧分开。她已经睡着了,只有天国花园里的仙女才能有她那样美丽。她微笑,他对她弯下腰来,他看见她的睫毛下有泪珠在颤抖。“你是在为我哭泣吗?”他柔声地说。“不要哭吧,你——美丽的女人!现在我可懂得天国的幸福了!这种幸福现在在我的血液和思想里流。在我这个凡人的身体里,我现在感到了安琪儿的力量,感到了永恒的生命。让这永恒的夜属于我吧,拥有这样的一分钟已经就足够。”于是他吻干了她眼睛里的眼泪,他的嘴唇贴上了她的嘴唇——

A clap of thunder,loud and awful,resounded through the trembling air.All around him fell into ruin.The lovely fairy,the beautiful garden,sunk deeper and deeper.The prince saw it sinking down in the dark night till it shone only like a star in the distance beneath him.Then he felt a coldness,like death,creeping over him;his eyes closed,and he became insensible.

这时一个雷声沉重可怕的响起来了,任何人从来都没有听见过。一切事物都沉陷了;那位美丽的仙女,那座开满了花的乐园——这一切都沉陷了,沉陷得非常深。王子看到这一切沉到黑夜中去,像一颗小小的明星在远处亮着。他全身感到一种死的寒冷。他闭起双眼,像死去了似的躺了很久。

When he recovered,a chilling rain was beating upon him,and a sharp wind blew on his head.“Alas!what have I done?”he sighed;“I have sinned like Adam,and the garden of paradise has sunk into the earth.”He opened his eyes,and saw the star in the distance,but it was the morning star in heaven which glittered in the darkness.

冷雨滴到他的面上,在他的头上厉风吹着,于是他恢复了知觉。“我做了些什么呢?”他叹了一口气说。“我像亚当一样犯了罪!所以天国就沉陷下去了!”他睁开了眼睛,看到了远处的那颗明星,那颗亮得像是已经沉陷了的天国的星——是天上的一颗晨星。

Presently he stood up and found himself in the depths of the forest,close to the cavern of the Winds,and the mother of the Winds sat by his side.She looked angry,and raised her arm in the air as she spoke.“The very first evening!”she said.“Well,I expected it!If you were my son,you should go into the sack.”

站起来,他发现自己在大森林里风之洞的近旁,风妈妈正坐在他的身边:她有些儿生气,把手举在空中。“在第一天晚上,”她说,“我料想到结果一定是如此!是的,假如你是我的孩子,你就得钻到袋子里去!”

“And there he will have to go at last.”said a strong old man,with large black wings,and a scythe in his hand,whose name was Death.“He shall be laid in his coffin,but not yet.I will allow him to wander about the world for a while,to atone for his sin,and to give him time to become better.But I shall return when he least expects me.I shall lay him in a black coffin,place it on my head,and fly away with it beyond the stars.There also blooms a garden of paradise,and if he is good and pious he will be admitted;but if his thoughts are bad,and his heart is full of sin,he will sink with his coffin deeper than the garden of paradise has sunk.Once in every thousand years I shall go and fetch him,when he will either be condemned to sink still deeper,or be raised to a happier life in the world beyond the stars.”

“对,你应该!”死神说。这是一位强壮的老人,手中握着一把镰刀,身上长着两只大黑翅膀。“他应该躺到棺材里去,不过他的时间还没有到;我只是把他记下来,让他在人世间再旅行一些时候,叫他能赎罪,变好!总有一天我会来的。在他预料不到的时候,我将把他关进一个黑棺材里去,我把他顶在我的头上,向那一颗星飞去。也有一个开满了花的天国花园在那里。如果他是善良和虔诚的,他就可以走进去。不过如果他有恶毒的想法,如果他的心里还充满了罪过,他将和他的棺材一起坠落,还要深。只有在过了一千年以后我才再来找他,使他能有机会再坠落得更深一点,或者是升向那颗星——那颗高高地亮着的星!”