英國(guó)語(yǔ)文第六冊(cè)(雙語(yǔ)):大馬士革與倫敦（一）(4)

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Here in Damascus there are none. The streets are not formed for them. The horses are trained only for riding. There are no common, levelled, and well-ordered public roads. Our fathers used no coaches;they preferred the more manly exercise of horsemanship, and yielded the soft, effeminate luxury of the coach to the ladies. But in London there are now about nine hundred omnibuses, each of which takes about ￡1000 annually. Such is the present state of coaching with us. How different is Damascus! and how different must the aspect of the streets appear!

大馬士革沒(méi)有，那里的街道并不適合驅(qū)趕馬車(chē)，而且那里訓(xùn)練的馬只是用來(lái)騎的（不用來(lái)拉馬車(chē)），那里的公路也沒(méi)有一般的公路規(guī)劃地那么好，且路面崎嶇不堪。我們的父輩們不坐馬車(chē)；他們往往更喜歡自己騎馬，因?yàn)轵T馬更能彰顯自己的颯爽英姿和男子氣概；相反，淑女們則更喜歡乘坐舒適柔軟的豪華馬車(chē)。然而，現(xiàn)今的倫敦已經(jīng)有大約900輛公共汽車(chē)，每輛公共汽車(chē)每年需要花費(fèi)1000英鎊，我們這里目前公共汽車(chē)的狀況就是這樣。大馬士革真的太不一樣了！想必那里的街景會(huì)更與眾不同！

With us, the city is laid out in streets, squares, crescents, royal circuses, and similar devices of beauty and regularity. This is the case particularly in the "west-ends" and newer parts of our cities and towns. There is nothing of this in Damascus, or in any of the eastern cities that I have seen: squares, crescents, and circuses are unknown. The streets are extremely irregular, crooked, winding, and narrow; which seems to arise out of the anxiety to find a protection from the sun.

我們這里的城市布局里會(huì)有街道、廣場(chǎng)、新月形街區(qū)、皇家馬戲場(chǎng)，還有其他被整齊規(guī)劃的漂亮設(shè)施，這種布局尤其是在倫敦的最西邊以及城市新區(qū)和城鎮(zhèn)新區(qū)更為常見(jiàn)。所有的這些布局，在大馬士革都沒(méi)有，或者說(shuō)，在我見(jiàn)過(guò)的所有東方城市里都沒(méi)有：廣場(chǎng)、新月形排屋、皇家馬戲場(chǎng)在那里都是聞所未聞的。那里的街道極其地錯(cuò)亂、彎曲、曲折、狹窄；這樣的設(shè)計(jì)似乎是出于對(duì)防曬的考慮。

In the narrower streets, where the houses are high, the sun's rays are effectually excluded; and in the wider ones, where this is not attainable, the numerous windings and angles afford salient points where the passenger may for a moment or two enjoy the shade. This may appear trifling, but I have often found the heat of the solar rays so intense and unendurable that even the sun-burnt Bedouins, the children of the desert, were glad of the least passing shade, the least momentary shelter, from the intolerable heat.

高大的房屋在相對(duì)狹窄的街道里矗立著，把太陽(yáng)光遮地嚴(yán)嚴(yán)實(shí)實(shí)；在相對(duì)較寬敞的街道上太陽(yáng)光則無(wú)法全部被遮擋，游客們只能依靠許多彎曲的道路和拐角為自己帶來(lái)片刻陰涼。這種說(shuō)法似乎有些夸張，但是大馬士革那強(qiáng)烈的太陽(yáng)光照真的無(wú)法忍受，即使是號(hào)稱(chēng)“沙漠之子”的貝爾因人在看到能帶來(lái)片刻陰涼的遮陰地時(shí)也會(huì)大聲歡呼，而且這種場(chǎng)面很常見(jiàn)。

In the bazaars of Damascus, on the contrary, the streets or avenues are laid out with the greatest regularity, and are as straight as possible.

然而，在大馬士革的集市上情形卻大為相反：街道和林蔭大道的布局都非常地整齊，而且道路筆直地簡(jiǎn)直不能再筆直。