【雙語美文】古城TheAncientCity

1、雙語美文欣賞The Ancient City蕭乾It was early win ter. The gloomy and low sky made one feel suffocat ing. A fall of snow a couple of days before had brought to the city dwellers a touch of brightness, but now what an ugly scene reigned! The raw wind sent the snow on the tiles along the eaves whirli ng in the

2、 air in tiny bits and adroitly maki ng its way dow n the necks of the pedestrians by way of their collars. The streets had become slushy by expo sure to the pran kish sun, and the thaw ing snow was dotted with traces of footste ps.初冬的天，灰黯而且低垂，簡直把人壓得吁不出一口氣。前天一場 雪還給居民一些明朗，但雪后的景象可不堪了！峭寒的北風(fēng)將屋 檐瓦角的雪屑一起卷到

3、空中，舞過一個圈子以后都極善選擇地向路人 脖項里鉆。街道為惡作劇的陽光弄成泥淖，殘雪上面畫著片片踐踏 的痕跡。A plane app eared out of the blue from a directi on only too familiar to the local inhabitants, roaring to the alarm of everybody, on whose face was writte n memories of some prev ious horrors. Kids, who had bee n crawli ng about over ruts p lay

4、 ing a game of small clay balls, now stopped to look up at the stra nge drago nfly in the sky, subc on sciously feeli ng that someth ing ominous was going to happen. However, they soon lowered their heads again to bury themselves in the messy game as soon as the dragonfly disappeared from view behin

5、d the treet ops.飛機(jī)由一個熟悉的方向飛來了，洪大的震響驚動了當(dāng)?shù)氐木用?。?們臉上各畫著一些恐怖的回憶。爬在車轍中玩著泥球的孩子們也住了 手，仰天望著這只奇怪的蜻蜓，像是意識出一些嚴(yán)重。及至蜻蜓為樹 梢掩住，他們又重新低下頭去玩那骯臟的游戲了。That was a grey iron bird by no means a stra nger to the an cie nt city.Everybody knew it was a scout with a multitude of "buddies" right behi nd it. With its s

6、traight wings sp read out, it swe pt p ast sturdy old trees, quiet tile-roofed dwelli ngs and lakes of imp erial garde ns, and circled over dazzli ng glazed tiles. It kept flying and flying. The an cie nt city, like a clumsy old man sitti ng there with his nu mbed legs crossed, looked on help lessly

7、 in face of what was taki ng p lace before him.那是一只灰色的鐵鳥。對這古城，它不是完全陌生的。大家都知道 它還有伙伴們，無數(shù)的，隨在背后。這只是只探子。它展著筆直的翅 膀，掠過蒼老的樹枝，掠過寂靜的瓦房，掠過皇家的御湖，環(huán)繞燦爛 的琉璃瓦，飛著，飛著。古城如一個臃腫的老人，盤著不能動彈的腿, 眼睜睜守著這一切。The dark low archway of the city gate was thron ged with tradesme n and p edestria ns p ass ing to and fro, each stari n

8、g bla nkly ahead. Act ing on the public warning "No discussing state affairs", people had learned to kee p their mouth closely shut. Yes, trouble seemed to be brewing. But they knew not the trouble was between whom and whom. Maybe they should store up more pickled vegetables just in case,

9、and remember to burn joss sticks before the image of the kitche n god at home so as to get a bless ing from heave n on all their folks.城門低暗的洞口正熙熙攘攘地過著商賈路人， 一個個直愣著呆呆的眼 睛，莫談國事”的唯一社會教育使他們的嘴都嚴(yán)嚴(yán)封閉著。又要有變 亂了。他們也不知道是誰和誰，反正腌菜說不上得多備些的。隨 手還不能忘記為家里的灶王請下幾股高線香， 為的是保佑一家老少平 安。As the snow bega n to thaw un der the s

10、un, the corn ers of the city wall revealed scars of war. That was something left on it by history.History had sent great men to build the wall, and history had also sent tyra nts to destroy it. Agai n and aga in, it had, i n time of turmoil,suffered kni fe-cuts and bombardme nt for the sake of the c

11、om mon people. Now, no body could tell what kind of fate was in store.Any way the local people were surg ing like a tide into the city for shelter. A p erfect barometer it was in deed ano ther conq ueror was eye ing the an cie nt city greedily.陽光融化了城角的雪，一些殘破的疤痕露出來了。那是歷史的賜予!歷史產(chǎn)生過建筑它的偉人，又差遣搗毀它的霸主。在幾番變亂中，它 替居民挨過刀砍，受過炮轟。面前它又面臨怎樣一份命運，沒有人 曉得。橫豎居民是如潮似地向城里灌了。那是極好的晴雨表，另一 個征服者又窺伺起這古城的一切。The an cie nt city, like a clumsy old man bending low and gas ping feebly, continued to watch over the group of innocent kids around him, his eyes brimmi n