英国语文第五册(双语):弗吉尼亚州(5)
The character of these reinforcements was no improvement upon that of their predecessors. "Vagabond gentlemen" formed still a large majority of the settlers—many of them, we are told, "packed off to escape worse destinies at home." The colony, thus composed, had already earned a very bad reputation: so bad, that some, rather than be sent there, "chose to be hanged, and were."
对之前的移民者来说，这些增援部队所扮演的角色并没有起到任何改善的作用。据说，大批的定居者是“打包逃离故土，躲避糟糕命运的浪荡绅士”.这些人让殖民地的名声变得声名狼藉，有些人“宁愿被吊死，也不愿意被送往这里”。
Over these most undesirable subjects Smith ruled with an authority which no man dared or desired to question. But he was severely injured by an accidental explosion of gunpowder. Surgical aid was not in the colony. Smith required to go to England, and once more hungry ruin settled down upon Virginia. In six months the five hundred men whom Smith had left had dwindled to sixty. These were already embarked and departing when they were met by Lord Delaware, the new governor. Once more the colony was saved.
尽管有这么多算不上良民的移民，但是，史密斯的权威不容置疑，没人胆敢也没有人挑战他。史密斯因为一次火药意外走火而严重受伤，殖民地不能进行外科手术，于是他要求返回英国救治，但是饥饿再次在弗吉尼亚蔓延。6个月内，史密斯带领的500个人剧减为60个人。他们已经做好撤回英国的准备，这时候碰到了新任总督特拉华爵士，殖民地又一次被得救了。
Years of quiet growth succeeded. Emigrants—not wholly now of the dissolute sort-flowed steadily in. In 1688 the population of Virginia had increased to 50,000; and within a few years of the settlement, the Virginians had a written Constitution, according to which they were ruled.
数年之后，殖民地的发展兴旺起来。现在除了堕落者以外，新移民纷纷加入。在1668年，弗吉尼亚州的人口增长到5万。经过几年的移民，弗吉尼亚颁布了成文宪法，弗吉尼亚的人民依法接受统治。
