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complexion, colour of face. idolatry, worship of idols.
conversion, change. influence,power.
crucifix,a cross with the figure of Christ on it. rescue, deliver.
missionaries, persons sent forth to preach. expected, looked for.
1. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity is said to have happened in this way: There was a famous Pope called Gregory the Great, who,before he was raised to the Papacy, had been filled with a desire to rescue the people of Britain from idolatry. One day in crossing the market where slaves were sold, he saw some very handsome boys, whose red and white complexion, golden hair, and soft blue eyes took his fancy at once. He asked who they were; and being told that they belonged to a nation called Angli,
he cried out, “They are not Angli, but Angeli.” (that is, angels). And that very hour he formed a resolve to work for the conversion of that race of beautiful pagans.
2. It was not, however, until a letter came from Æthelbert, King of Kent, who had married a Christian wife,
that the first missionaries left Rome for the distant island. The journey was long, and the danger of going among the wild islanders seemed very great; so Augustine and his forty monks turned back to Rome in fear. Gregory, however, insisted that they should start again for Britain; and they accordingly passed through France and crossed the narrow sea to Kent.
3. The Kentish peasants were quite as much surprised to see the darkfaced Italian priests, as these priests were to see the smiling fields of a land in which they had expected nothing but forest and heath. A meeting between the King and the missionaries was arranged, and a very splendid scene it was. In glittering dresses the monks walked forward at a slow and solemn pace from their dwellings to a place in the isle of Thanet where the King and the Queen sat on thrones in the open air. The sound of their voices, chanting Latin psalms, was heard, sweet and low in the distance, and then, as they came near, swelling into the full strong peal of manly music.
AUGUSTINE PREACHING TO THE ENGLISH.
4. When they came in sight, it was seen that a picture of a Man bleeding on a cross was carried before them, and that each longrobed foreigner held a silver crucifi x in his hand. Nothing could be kinder than the way in which Æthelbert received the strangers; and as soon as they declared the object of their coming, he gave them houses to live in and money for their regular support. Nor was it long until he yielded to the quiet infl uence of his wife Bertha, and was baptized into the Church of which Augustine was a missionary.
中文阅读
1. 关于盎格鲁撒克逊人皈依基督教的历程，历来的说法大致如此：有一位名叫格雷戈里的大主教，他后来成为大名鼎鼎的罗马教皇，但在他荣膺此职之前，一直有一个坚定的理想，就是把不列颠人从原始偶像崇拜中拯救出来。有一天他路过罗马的奴隶市场，看见一些俊俏的小男孩被当作奴隶贩卖，他们肤色白里透红，满头金发，一双水汪汪的蓝眼睛是那样的招人疼爱，让格雷戈里立刻动了恻隐之心。他便问小男孩们是哪里人，回答说他们来自盎格鲁（Angli
），他于是惊呼：“根本不是盎格鲁，完全就是天使（Angeli）嘛！”于是他作出了一个神圣的决定，要让这个漂亮的异教族群成为基督徒。
2. 但真正付诸行动是始于迎娶了基督徒为妻
的肯特王国国王埃塞尔伯特的一封信。此信发出后，第一批传教士方才离开罗马，踏上漫漫征程，向不列颠岛进发。由于路途遥远，加上深入到岛上粗鲁野蛮的土著居民中是一件非常危险的事，因此
在巨大的恐惧中，领头的奥古斯丁不久带着四十位僧侣就返回了罗马。而格雷戈里却不以为然，坚持要求他们必须开始不列颠的传教事业，于是这帮人不得不重新启程，经过法国本土，穿过狭窄的英吉利海峡，来到了肯特王国。
3. 肯特当地的乡巴佬们看见这些一脸严肃的意大利祭司们着实惊奇，而祭司们也万分意外，因为这个期待中的王国不是森林就是荒地，再没有别的。公元597年，肯特国王召集这些传教士们举行了一次隆重集会，排场很大，极尽奢华。传教士们穿着金光闪闪的服饰，迈着缓慢而庄严的步伐，从他们的寓所慢条斯理地走向萨尼特岛，在岛上的一处户外场地，国王与王后正端坐在王座上。传教士们一边走一边用拉丁语念诵《圣经》诗篇，声音在远处听起来悠扬而低沉，但随着距离越来越近，声音也变得如洪钟一般，高亢响亮，彰显出男子的雄浑气概。
4. 当他们走进会场，人们看见在队伍前面有一幅画，画上的男人被钉在十字架上，鲜血直流，而且这些身着长袍的外国人每人手里也握着一个银色十字架。埃塞尔伯特国王宅心仁厚，慈善有加，将这些陌生的外来之客全部接纳。当他们说明来意之后，国王还立刻御赐房屋给他们居住，还赐予资金作为对他们日常生活的支持。不久，他便在他妻子贝莎的影响下信仰了基督教，并在奥古斯丁的主持下在教堂成功受洗。