Greece vs. Persia

Do you know that those two tittle letters vs. mean between Greece and Persia in the name of this story?

你知道这则故事标题里在希腊（Greece）和波斯（Persia）中间的“vs.”这两个小写字母是什么含义么？

Perhaps you have seen them used on football tickets when there was to be a match between teams as, for example, Harvard vs. Yale.

你或许曾在足球比赛的门票上看到过它，在两个球队中间，如 哈佛（Harvard） vs. 耶鲁（Yale）。

They stand for versus, which means against.

它们是versus的缩写，意思是“对战，对抗”。

Well, there was to be a great match bwtween Greece and Persia, but it wasn't a game; it was a fight for life and death, a fight between little Greece and great big Persia.

在希腊和波斯之间曾有一场精彩的比拼，但它不是普通的比赛，而是一场生死之战，一场在弱小的希腊和伟大的波斯帝国之间的战争。

Cyrus, the great Persian king, had conquered Babylon and other countries, as well, and he had kept on conquering util Persia ruled most of the world, all except Greece and Italy.

波斯帝国的国王塞勒斯，战胜了巴比伦和其他的国家，他一直攻城略地，直到波斯统治了除了希腊和意大利之外的大部分世界。

About the year 500 B.C. the new ruler of this vast Persian Empire was a man named Darius. Darius looked at the map, as you might do, and saw that he owned and ruled over a large part of it. What a pity, thought he, that there should be a little country liked Greece that did not belong to him!

大约在公元前500年， 波斯帝国的新国王叫做大流士（Darius）。大流士国王看着地图，可能就像你做的那样，他看到自己拥有和统治了大片的区域。遗憾的是，他想，还有不属于他的城邦，就像希腊这样的地方。

大流士一世

Darius said to himself, "I must have this piece of land called Greece to complete my empire." Besides, the Greeks have given him some trouble. They had helped some of his subjects to rebel against him. Darius said, "I must punish these Greeks for what they have done and then just add their country to mine."

大流士王自言自语到，“我必须拥有这个叫做希腊的地方来扩充我的疆域”。另外，希腊曾给他制造过麻烦。他们曾帮助波斯的附属地来反抗他。大流士王说，“我必须让希腊为他们的所做所为付出代价！我要他他们的国土纳入我的名下。”

He called his son-in-law and told him to go over to Greece and conquer it.

他把他的驸马们召集过来，让他们去攻打希腊。

His son-in-law did as he was told and started out with a fleet and an army to do the punishing. But before this fleet could reach Greece it was destroyed by a storm, and he had to go back home without having done anything.

他的驸马带着按照他的吩咐，带着舰队和士兵来讨伐希腊。但在他们的舰队到达希腊之前，遭遇了风暴，被损坏了。他不得不返回波斯，任何行动都没得以施展。

Darius was very angry at this, mad with his son-in-law and mad with the gods who he thought had wrecked his ships, and he made up his mind that himeself would go and do the punishing and conquering the next time.

大流士非常生气，对他女婿非常气愤，也对那个毁坏他们船只的神义愤填膺。他下定决心，下次要亲自带队去讨伐、攻占希腊。

First, however, he sent his messengers to all the Greek cities and ordered each of them to send him some earth and some water as a sign that they would give their land and become his subjects peacably without a fight.

起初，他派遣使者去希腊的所有城邦，要求他们送些土壤和水来，象征着他们愿意把领土给波斯，以和平的方式臣服。

Many Greek cities were so frightened by the threat of Darius and by his mighty power that they gave in at once and sent earth and water as they were told to do.

希腊的很多城邦被大流士恐吓住了，迫于他的淫威，直接投诚，按照要求的那样，把土壤和水送给波斯。

But little Athens and little Sparta both hotly refused to do so, in spite of the fact that they were only two small cities against the vast empire of Darius.

但是弱小的雅典和斯巴达强烈拒绝这样做，事实上，它们仅仅是反对大流士帝国的两个小城市而已。

Athens took Darius's messenger and threw him into a well, saying, "There is earth and water for you; help yourself"; and Sparta did likewise. Then these two cities joined their forces and called on all their neighbors to join with them to fight for their native land against Darius and Persia.

雅典把大流士的使者丢进了水井里，告诉他说：“你要的土壤和水都在这里，自取吧”。斯巴达也采取了相同的方式。然后这两个城市将他们的武装力量联合起来，号召他们的邻邦跟他们一起保卫自己的家乡，抵抗大流士和波斯帝国。

Darius made ready to conquer Athens and then Sparta.

大流士准备好了攻打雅典和斯巴达。

In order to reach Athens his army had to be carried across the sea in boats. Of course, in those days there were no steamboats. Steamboats were invented nearly two thousand years later.

为了到达雅典，他的*队军**必须乘船渡海。然而，在那时候还没有蒸汽船。蒸汽船大约在两千年后才被发明出来。

The only way to make a boat go was with sails or with oars. To make a large boat move with oars, it was necessary to have a great many rowers -- there rows one above the other on each side of the boat.

让船走起来的方式就是靠帆和桨。要让一个大船靠桨动起来，需要大量的船员，船的每一侧都需要三排的水手。

Such a boat was called a trireme, which means three roaws of oars. It took about 600 of these boats to carry Darius's army over to Greece. Each of these 600 boats carried, besides the rowers or crew, about 200 soldiers. You can see for yourself how many soldiers Darius had in this army, if there were 600 shiploads of them and 200 soldiers on each ship. Yes, that is an example in multiplication -- 120000 soldiers -- that's right.

这种船被称为“三列座桨战船”（trieme）, 意思是它有三列桨。需要600多艘这样的战船载着大流士的士兵到达雅典。出去水手和船员，每都战船大约可以载200名士兵。 你可以算出大流士的这批*队军**的规模。假设有六百艘战船，每个船上有200名士兵，那么这是一个乘法的例子， 没错，12万雄兵！

三列桨座战船

The Persians sailed across the sea; and this time there was no storm, and they reached the shore of Greece safely. They landed on a spot called the plain of Marathon, which was only about twenty-six miles away from Athens. You will see presently why I have told you just the number of miles -- twenty-six.

波斯人扬帆渡海，恰好风平浪静，他们安全抵达了希腊海岸。他们在一个叫做马拉松(Marathon)平原的地方登陆，那里距离雅典仅仅26英里。你将会知道我为什么告诉你多少英里 -- 二十六。

When the Athenians heard that the Persians were coming, they wanted to get Sparta to help in a hurry, as she had promised to do.

当雅典人听说波斯人兵临城下了，他们希望让斯巴达赶来救急，因为她答应过这样做。

They called on a famous runner named Pheidippides to carry the message. Pheidippides started out and ran the whole way from Athens to Sparta, about one hundred and fifty miles to carry the message. He ran night and day, hardly stopping at all to rest or to eat, and on the second day he was in Sparta.

他们喊来一个叫斐迪庇第斯（Pheidippides）的著名的跑者去送信。斐迪庇第斯出发了，他跑下了从雅典到斯巴达全部的路程，大约150英里，把消息成功送达。他夜以继日地奔跑，几乎没有时间停下来休息或者吃东西，第二天他就在斯巴达了。

斐迪庇第斯

The Spartans, however, sent back word that they couldn't start just then; the moon wasn't full, and it was bad luck to start when the moon wasn't full, as nowadays some superstitious people think it bad luck to start on a trip on Friday. They said they would come after a while, when the moon was full.

然而，斯巴达人回复说他们不能立马出兵；月亮未圆，月亮不圆意味着出师不吉利，就像现在一些迷信的人认为星期五去旅行不好一样。他们说迟一些等月圆之后出发。

The Athenians couldn't wait for the moon. They knew the Persians would be in Athens before then, and they didn't want them to get as far as that.

雅典人可等不到月圆了。他们知道波斯人会在月圆之前就会攻进雅典，他们可不想让波斯人兵临城下。

So, all the fighting men in Athens left their city and went forth to meet the Persians on the plain of Marathon -- twenty-six miles away.

于是，雅典城所有的勇士都出城，直接赶赴二十六英里外马拉松平原与波斯人会战。

The Athenians were led by a man named Miltiades, and there were only ten thousand soldiers. Besides these, there were one thousand more from a little nearby town, which was friendly with Athens and wished to stand by her -- elven thousand in all. If you figure it out, you will see that there were perhaps ten times as many Persians as there were Greeks, ten Persian soldiers to one Greek soldier.

雅典人由一个叫米提亚德（Mitiades）的将军带队，仅仅有一万名战士。除这之外，还有附近的一个小镇上的一千名士兵，他们是雅典的友邦，希望能支持雅典，总共才11，000名士兵。如果你细心算下，就会发现波斯士兵是雅典的十倍。十个波斯十倍*攻围**一个雅典士兵。

米提亚德

The Greeks, however, were trained athletes, as we know, and their whole manner of life made them physically fit. The Persians were no match for them. In spite of the small number of Greeks, the large number of Persians were beaten, and beaten badly. Of course, the Greeks were far better soldiers than the Persians, for all their training made them so, but more than all this, they were fighting for themselves to save their homes and their families.

我们知道，希腊出运动健将，他们整个生活方式让他们非常强壮。波斯人根本不能相提并论。尽管这是一场数量上不占优势的希腊士兵和数量庞大的波斯士兵之间的较量，波斯人没讨到半点便宜。当然，希腊训练出的士兵身体素质比波斯士兵好，但更重要的是，他们是为了自己而战，为了保卫故乡，守护他们的家人而战。

Perhaps you have heard the fable of the hound who was chasing a hare. The hare escaped. The hound was made fun of for not catching the little hare. To which he hound replied, "I was only running for my super; the hare was running for his life."

你或许听过猎犬追逐野兔的寓言。 野兔跑掉了。猎犬因为没有抓住小野兔而被嘲笑。猎犬向那个嘲笑它的人说道， “我只是为了晚餐而奔跑，而野兔却是为了性命而奔跑。”

The Persian soldiers were not fighting for their home or families, which were away back across the sea; and it made little difference to them who won, anyway, for most were merely hirelings or slaves; they were fighting for a king because he ordered them to.

波斯士兵既不是为了守卫家乡，也不是为了保护家人，他们都在海洋对岸呢。这对于他们来说，取胜的意义就不太一样，毕竟，他们中的大多数只是雇佣者或者奴隶。他们为了国王而打仗，因为国王命令他们这么做。

Naturally the Greeks were overjoyed at this victory.

战争胜利了，希腊人喜出望外。

Pheidippides, the famous runner, who was now at Marathon, started off at once to carry the joyful news back to Athens, twenty-six miles away. He ran the whole distance without stopping for breath. He had not had time to rest up from his long run to Sparta, which he had taken only a few days before, and so fast did he run this long distance that as soon as he had reached Athens and gasped the news to the Athenians in the marketplace, he dropped down dead!

著名的跑者，斐迪庇第斯，那会儿正在马拉松平原，立刻就带着令人振奋的好消息奔向了二十六英里之外的雅典。他一口气跑完了全程。他还没从几天前前往斯巴达的长跑中休息过来，这次的远距离奔跑他跑得太快了。当他到了雅典，在集市上喘着粗气把胜利的消息告诉雅典人后，就倒了下去死掉了！

马拉松比赛

In honor of this famous run, they have nowadays in the new Olympic Games, what is called a Marathon race, in which the athletes run this same distance: twenty-six miles. This battle of Marathon took place in 490 B.C. and is one of the most famous battles in all history, for the great Persian army was beaten by one little city and its neighbor, and the Persians had to go back to their homes in disgrace.

为了纪念这次著名的长跑，在现代奥运会里加入了马拉松比赛，赛程里运动员也要跑相同的距离：二十六英里。 这场在公元前490年发生在马拉松平原上的战役，也是历史中最有名的一场战役之一。因为强大的波斯帝国*队军**被一个小城邦和他的邻居打败了，波斯人不得不灰溜溜的回到他们的家乡。

A little handful of people, who governed themselves, had defeated a great king with a large army of only hired soldiers or slaves.

一个自治城邦里为数不多的人，战胜了不可一世的帝国国王及他仅仅靠着雇佣兵和奴隶组建的*队军**。

But this was not the last the Greeks were to see of the Persians.

但这并不是最后一次希腊人跟波斯人遭遇。

希腊与波斯之战