美国语文第六册 第139期:洗礼(1)
在拉纳克教会，已经有好几个月没有举行洗礼仪式了。
It was now the hottest time of persecution;
现在是宗教迫害最疯狂的时候，
and the inhabitants of that parish found other places in which to worship God, and celebrate the ordinances of religion.
那个教区的居民发现其他地方在做礼拜，举行宗教法令的颁布仪式。
It was now the Sabbath day, and a small congregation of about a hundred souls had met for divine service,
今天是安息日，大约一百位信众聚在一起礼拜，
in a place more magnificent than any temple that human hands had ever built to Deity.
举行仪式的地方要比人类凭双手建造的任何神庙都要宏伟壮丽。
The congregation had not assembled to the toll of the bell, but each heart knew the hour and observed it;
教堂会众并没有在钟声缓缓敲响时集合，但是每个人心里都清楚集合的时间，都很守时。
for there are a hundred sundials among the hills, woods, moors, and fields;
由于在群山、丛林、荒野和田地之间有一百个日晷仪，
and the shepherd and the peasant see the hours passing by them in sunshine and shadow.
牧羊人和农夫得以在骄阳和树荫下通过日晷仪观测到时间的流逝。
The church in which they were assembled, was hewn by God's hand out of the eternal rock.
他们集会的教堂是上帝之手劈开巨石修建成的。
A river rolled its way through a mighty chasm of cliffs, several hundred feet high,
一条小河流过悬崖峭壁的巨大裂缝，悬崖峭壁高达数百英尺，
of which the one side presented enormous masses, and the other corresponding recesses,
其中一侧有隆起的石碓，另一侧相应地凹了进去，
as if the great stone girdle had been rent by a convulsion.
仿佛这块巨石的裂口是一场地震形成的。
The channel was overspread with prodigious fragments of rocks or large loose stones, some of them smooth and bare,
通道是由数量惊人的碎石块或者大块裸石铺成的，其中有一些很光滑、平整，
others containing soil and verdure in their rents and fissures, and here and there crowned with shrubs and trees.
其他的则在裂缝里和纹理间有土质和青绿色的草。这里的石头上随处可见冠状树丛和树木。
