美国语文第六册 第174期:北美印第安人(3)
在猎鹰的注视下和狮子的养育下，在聆听伤感的民谣和令人唏嘘的英雄传奇的过程中繁衍起来的印第安人已经一去不复返了。
and his degraded offspring crawls upon the soil where he walked in majesty,
他们退化了的后代拜倒在祖先昂首阔步走过的土地上，
to remind us how miserable is man when the foot of the conqueror is on his neck.
不禁令我们想到当征服者的铁蹄踩在一个人的脖颈上时是何等可悲。
As a race they have withered from the land.
作为一个民族，他们已经从这块土地上渐渐消失了。
Their arrows are broken, their springs are dried up, their cabins are in the dust.
他们背上的弓箭已经折断，他们赖以生存的泉水已经干涸。
Their council fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war cry is fast fading to the untrodden west.
在水滨，部落大会已经很长时间不见篝火了，在人迹罕至的西部他们打仗时的呐喊声很快就消弭了。
Slowly and sadly they climb the distant mountains, and read their doom in the setting sun.
他们缓缓地爬上高山，神情悲戚，在落日下他们依稀分辨着自己家的茅屋。
They are shrinking before the mighty tide which is pressing them away;
在巨大的潮汐面前他们退缩着。
they must soon hear the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever.
他们必然很快就能听到将他们永远冲到这里定居的最后的波涛咆哮之声。
Ages hence, the inquisitive white man, as he stands by some growing city,
因此，多年以后当他站在旁边凝望成长中的城市时，
will ponder on the structure of their disturbed remains, and wonder to what manner of persons they belonged.
好盘根问底的白人考虑的是印第安人被破坏的遗迹的建筑结构，会对住在这样的建筑物里的人的生活方式感到好奇。
They will live only in the songs and chronicles of their exterminators.
他们只存在于歌谣和灭杀他们的人的编年史里。
Let these be faithful to their rude virtues as men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people.
还是让这些记录忠实于他们作为人的原始的德性吧，理应对他们作为一个民族不幸的命运进行凭吊。
