美国语文第六册 第158期:哥伦布的性格(4)
他的想象力和极富有远见的热情，最心仪的梦想离现实太远。
He died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discovery.
他死于对自己发现真正的宏伟意义茫然无知上。
Until his last breath, he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the East.
直到生命最后一刻，他都抱有这一想法，即他的所作所为仅仅为旧世界繁荣的商业开辟了一条新道路，仅仅在东方发现一些蛮荒地区而已。
What visions of glory would have broken upon his mind could he have known that he had indeed discovered a new continent equal to the old world in magnitude,
这种虚幻的荣耀在他心里破灭了，殊不知他发现新大陆的重要意义在于其价值与旧大陆一般无二，
and separated by two vast oceans from all the earth hitherto known by civilized man!
将新旧大陆分开的两条世界上最大的大洋由此为世界所熟知!
How would his magnanimous spirit have been consoled amid the afflictions of age and the cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public and the injustice of an ungrateful king,
尽管饱受岁月的折磨、对生计的牵挂、易变的公众的忽视和薄情寡义的国王的不公正对待，但是那颗宽宏大量的心最终得到了慰藉。
could he have anticipated the splendid empires which would arise in the beautiful world he had discovered,
他期待的那些光辉的帝国已经从他发现的这个美丽的世界诞生，
and the nations, and tongues, and languages which were to fill its land with his renown, and to revere and bless his name to the latest posterity!
各个国家，各个民族和各种语言注定会将他的名声铭刻在这些土地上，永远尊敬他，求神赐福于他!
