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KING ARTHUR

亚瑟王

barge, a large beat.　　　　　　　　incidents, events.
capital, chief city.　　　　　　　　knighthood, body of knights.
commanded, ordered.　　　　　　sternness, severity.

1. The great hero of the British struggle against the English inroads was Arthur, a King of southwestern Britain. His father, called Uther by the minstrels, was a Romanized Briton who had revolted from Vortigern and had founded for himself a little kingdom in Hampshire and Wiltshire. Uther had been slain in battle with the troops of Cerdic, the founder of Wessex.

2. Arthur's capital was Camelot, in Somersetshire; and his banner bore in gold the image of a dragon. He founded the Round Table, an order of knighthood made up of the best and bravest soldiers of his realm; and to them he set an example of nobleness, purity, and valour, which has made his name famous ever since.

KING ARTHIUR FIGHTING AGAINST THE ENGLISH.

3. He is said to have gained a great victory over the English at Badbury, in Dorsetshire. The Welsh were posted on the side of a hill, and the English were in the plain below. The Welsh first sent a flight of arrows among the English, and then swept down on them furiously. Arthur met the English leader in single combat, and cleft his skull with his battle-axe. When they saw their leader fall, the

4. The death of Arthur has been dressed up by the old ballad-writers with all kinds of magical and unreal incidents; and a great poet of our time, Alfred Tennyson, has followed their example in writing stories in verse about this ancient King and his knights.

5. They tell us, for example, that when Arthur was wounded in his last battle, and lay almost dead, he commanded a faithful knight, one of the last of the Round Table, to take his sword “Excalibur,” the hilt of which was al l starred with precious stones, and to fl ing it out into the middle of a lake that lay near. The knight twice went, but returned without having done what he was told. With all the sternness the wounded King could muster, he uttered the command again; and the knight went down among the reeds to the water's edge, and fl ung the sword out with all his might

6. It went wheeling through the moonlit air, but before it could splash on the surface, an arm clothed in white rose from the bosom of the lake and seized the hilt; and then a barge came fl oating over the lake with three ladies in long black robes, who took the dying King on board and carried him of to Fair-land.

7. It was a fond belief among the simple peasants of Britain, whenever they were hard pressed by their foes, that King Arthur would soon come back to set them free. The most likely account of Arthur's end seems to be, that he fought a battle at Camlan, in Cornwall, with his nephew Modred, who had stirred up a rebellion; and that, being mortally wounded on the fi eld, he was carried by sea to the Abbey at Glastonbury, and there died.

中文阅读

1. 在不列颠人抗击英格兰外来入侵者的历程中，有一位伟大的英雄，名叫亚瑟，他是不列颠西南边陲一个小国的国王。他的父王，一般民间史家都称作尤瑟，是一个已经罗马化的不列颠人。他曾起义反抗沃蒂根的统治，并最后在汉普郡和维尔特郡建立了一个小王国。后来他在一次战斗中殒命沙场，对手策尔迪克就是韦塞克斯王国的开国之君。

2. 亚瑟的王国首都是卡米洛特，位于如今的萨默塞特郡；他在任内创建了圆桌骑士团，成员由全国最优秀的士兵与武士构成，并以此树立了高贵、纯洁与英勇的风标模范，这让他从此扬名青史，成为彪炳千古的有为明君。

3. 据说他曾在多塞特郡的巴普利大败英格兰人。当时他率领威尔士人埋伏在山坡，英格兰人就在山下的空地上。突然威尔士人朝山下的英格兰人射了一箭，然后以此为号令，从山坡上一冲而下，杀向敌人。亚瑟在战场上与英格兰人头领狭路相逢，并用战斧敲碎了对方的脑袋。英格兰人见首领落马，立即大溃而逃。

4. 关于亚瑟王之死，历代文人都大费辞章地添加了很多夸张想象的成分，但大多荒诞不稽；近代的伟大诗人阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生也未能脱此窠臼，写了不少怪力乱神的诗歌咏叹亚瑟王和他的骑士。

5. 比如说，他们的书里都写道，当亚瑟在最后一场战争中身负重伤，行将辞世之时，命令圆桌骑士团中的一位忠厚骑士，把他那把镶满星形宝石的“亚瑟神剑 ”扔到旁边的一个湖中央去。这位骑士去了两次，但都没舍得扔。伤病中的亚瑟王严肃地再次下达命令，骑士无奈，只得来到芦苇丛生的湖边，使尽全身力气把神剑扔了出去。

6. 神剑就这样翻滚旋转着划过了月光粼粼的湖面，但在落入水中之前，一只着白色袖袍的手臂从湖中心伸出，一把抓住了神剑；然后一艘小船慢慢划过来，船上站着三个身着黑色长袍的女人，她们把弥留之际的亚瑟王带走了，据说去了海上的仙山。

7. 不列颠的劳苦大众一直有一个单纯的信仰，那就是当他们面对强敌，孤苦无援的时候，亚瑟王一定会回来帮他们克敌制胜，还给他们自由。关于亚瑟王死亡的说法，大多是这样：他与他叛乱的侄子莫德雷德在康沃尔郡的卡姆兰大战，受了重伤，然后被从海上转移到格拉斯顿堡的修道院，并在那里长逝。