V. M. Hillyer

By V. M. Hillyer

——V. M. 希利爾

（仲秋 譯）

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家， 創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物， 即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》，該書寫于二十世紀(jì)二三十年代。

Once upon a time there lived a very wicked ogre. He lived in a strong castle set on the top of a hill， and whenever any traveler was unlucky enough to pass along the road below the castle， down would come the ogre and carry the traveler off to his donjon tower.

That sounds like the beginning of a fairy story and that is just what it is. But there is more truth than you might think in a fairy story. In the Middle Ages， when people believed in fairies and ogres， there were many real castles—most of them built on the top of a hill. And although there were no real ogres， there were， Im sorry to say， bad men living in some of these castles who would really lock up in their donjon towers any one from whom they thought they could get money.

很久很久以前，有一只非常兇惡的怪物，它住在山頂上一座高大堅(jiān)固的城堡里。如果有人很不幸地選擇了從這座城堡旁邊的小徑翻越這座山的話，怪物就會(huì)跑出來，把這個(gè)人抓到城堡的高塔里關(guān)起來。

剛才那段聽起來很像是童話故事的一個(gè)開頭吧，你猜對了。不過呢，有時(shí)你認(rèn)為只會(huì)在童話故事中出現(xiàn)的事情，其實(shí)現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中也有，甚至更多。中世紀(jì)的時(shí)候，人們認(rèn)為仙女和魔鬼是存在的，而且就在山頂上的那些城堡里。其實(shí)，即使在那個(gè)時(shí)候也并沒有什么魔鬼，不過，我還是不得不遺憾地告訴你，很多邪惡的人的確住在那些山頂?shù)某潜だ?，那些邪惡的人也真的?huì)把他們認(rèn)為有錢的那些人抓起來，鎖進(jìn)城堡的高塔之中。

Of course not all the knights who lived in the castles were bad. But most of them were warlike and fierce and all the old castles had dungeon cells for prisoners.

These castles were built because of the Feudal System. The Feudal System worked like this. The king or prince who conquered a country would divide the country up among several of his lords. These lords would then divide their parts of the land up among other lords， and these would divide their share again among the knights. Each lord and knight had to promise that he would help the lord from whom he got his land whenever the lord needed him. Then each lord and knight built himself a strong castle to protect his part of the land from any one who might try to take it away from him. There were no policemen in those days to keep one man from trying to steal another mans land， and so each knight had to have his own soldiers and his own castle to protect his rights.

當(dāng)然了，并不是所有住在城堡里的騎士都是壞人，但當(dāng)時(shí)很多的騎士都是暴力且殘忍的，而且在所有的城堡里都設(shè)計(jì)了用來關(guān)押犯人的地牢。

這些城堡的修建和歷史上西方的封建制度密不可分。西方的封建制度是這樣運(yùn)作的：一個(gè)國王（或者王子）統(tǒng)治了一個(gè)國家后，就會(huì)把整個(gè)國家的土地分封給他手下的幾個(gè)大貴族，然后這些大貴族又會(huì)把自己分到的土地再分封給他們手下的小貴族，這些小貴族再把自己分到的土地分封給手下的騎士。這些分到土地的貴族和騎士都得發(fā)誓承諾，無論何時(shí)，只要分給他們土地的貴族需要幫助，他們都必須鼎力相助。不過，那個(gè)時(shí)候還沒有警察，沒有專門的人來保護(hù)這些騎士、貴族已經(jīng)分得的土地。每個(gè)分到土地的貴族和騎士便會(huì)在自己分到的土地上為自己修建堅(jiān)固的城堡，組建自己的軍隊(duì)，保護(hù)自己的土地，防止被別人搶走，維護(hù)自己的利益。

Word Study

ogre /'??ɡ?（r）/ n. 怪物（童話等中的）

donjon /'d?nd??n/ n. 中世紀(jì)城堡的主樓

fierce /f??s/ adj. 兇殘的;兇狠的;強(qiáng)烈的;惡劣的

Two fierce eyes glared at them.

conquer /'k??k?（r）/ v. 占領(lǐng);攻克;克服

The Normans conquered England in 1066.

Near each castle was a village where the common people who were not lords or nobles lived. These people were not very well cared for. They lived in miserable little huts. Most of them had to give part of all the food they raised to the lord of the castle， and all the men had to serve the lord as soldiers whenever he needed them. In return， the lord of the castle protected the poor people from enemies.

The castle was built with great， thick stone walls all around it. Outside of the wall was a deep ditch of water called a moat. The only way to get into the castle was across a drawbridge over the moat. The drawbridge could be drawn up from inside the castle so that an enemy could not enter. If the enemy reached the drawbridge before it was drawn up， he found his way blocked by a huge latticework gate， called a portcullis， which was dropped across the gateway of the castle.

在城堡附近，通常會(huì)有一個(gè)村莊，村莊里面住著境況一般的平民。平民的生活通常都很差，住在簡陋的小木屋里，還要把一部分自己種的糧食上交給城堡里的貴族。不僅如此，當(dāng)城堡里的貴族需要的時(shí)候，這些平民都得成為跟隨貴族戰(zhàn)斗的士兵。不過作為回報(bào)，城堡里的貴族也會(huì)保護(hù)這些平民免受敵人的侵?jǐn)_。

城堡周圍有一圈又大又堅(jiān)硬的石頭建的圍墻，圍墻外面是一條很深的水渠，叫作“護(hù)城河”。要跨過護(hù)城河進(jìn)入城堡，就必須經(jīng)過護(hù)城河上的吊橋。當(dāng)有敵人來進(jìn)攻時(shí)，城堡里面的人就會(huì)收起吊橋，這樣敵人就無法跨過護(hù)城河進(jìn)入城堡了。即使敵人在吊橋還沒來得及升起來時(shí)已經(jīng)上了橋，他們也無法進(jìn)入城堡，因?yàn)榍懊孢€會(huì)有一個(gè)叫“吊閘”的大門擋住他們，吊閘可以從城門口上方降下來擋住城門的通道。

The castle had huge stone towers at the gateway and along the wall， with very narrow slits for windows. Archers could shoot arrows out of these slits， but the slits were hard to shoot through from the outside.

Inside the walls there was a courtyard around which were the stables， soldiers and servants quarters， kitchens， and a high tower called the keep. In the keep the lord of the castle lived. There was a large dining hall and often a little church or chapel in the keep. And down below the ground level were the prison cells and torture chambers. In case of an attack， all the people of the village came into the castle， often with their cattle and flocks， and stayed there， so there had to be great stores of food on hand.

Here is a picture of the Castle of Pierrefonds in France. Notice how few windows there are in the lower walls. Pierrefonds gradually fell to pieces until it was restored about over a hundred years ago.

城堡的城門口，以及沿著城墻的一圈都建有許多大型的高塔，高塔上有幾個(gè)開口非常狹窄的箭孔。弓箭手可以從這些箭孔往外面射箭，但是外面的箭卻很難射進(jìn)來。

城墻里面有一個(gè)庭院，庭院周圍有馬廄、士兵和仆人住的營房、廚房，以及一個(gè)高塔，叫“城堡主樓”。這座高塔里住著城堡的主人，塔里有一個(gè)大餐廳，通常還有一個(gè)小教堂或禮拜堂。城堡地下室里設(shè)有地牢和刑訊室。當(dāng)敵人進(jìn)攻時(shí)，附近村莊里的所有村民就會(huì)進(jìn)入城堡，并在城堡里待上一段時(shí)間。通常情況下他們還會(huì)將他們的牛羊、家禽一起趕來，所以城堡里的糧草儲(chǔ)備也必須要充足。

左下圖是法國皮耶楓城堡的圖片。你注意到了嗎，城墻下層幾乎沒有窗戶。原始的皮耶楓城堡已經(jīng)損壞得差不多了，你現(xiàn)在看到的是一百多年前重建的。

Word Study

miserable /'m?zr?bl/ adj. 使不舒服的;非常難受的;少得可憐的

I spent a miserable weekend alone at home.

ditch /d?t?/ n. 溝;渠

slit /sl?t/ n. 長而窄的口子;狹縫;裂縫

His eyes narrowed into slits.

torture /'t??rt??（r）/ n. 拷打;拷問;酷刑

v. 拷打;拷問;使痛苦;使苦惱

Many of the refugees have suffered torture.

chamber /'t?e?mb?（r）/ n. （作特定用途的）房間;會(huì)議廳