英国语文第六册(双语):陆路(4)
Our next stoppage is at Valetta, the port and capital of Malta, where the Knights of St. John triumphed so heroically over the infidel Turk in the sixteenth century. This, like Gibraltar, is now a British possession—one of the ocean towers which emphatically mark England's empire of the seas.
我们的下一站是瓦莱塔，那里是马耳他的港口和首都，16世纪圣约翰骑士也曾在这里英勇战胜了异教徒土耳其人。和直布罗陀一样，这里现在是英国的属地，是英国海洋帝国的标志之一。
Our next port is Alexandria. The castle of Farillon, which serves as our land-mark in approaching the town, occupies the site of the famous Pharos of antiquity. A few miles eastward from it is Aboukir Bay, where Nelson annihilated the French fleet in 1798, and shut up Buonaparte's army in Egypt. Here the literally overland part of our route commences. From Alexandria we proceed by rail to Suez, taking Cairo on our way. Travellers hastening to India have to content themselves with a passing glimpse of Cleopatra's Needles and Pompey's Pillar at the first of these cities, and of the Pyramids in the vicinity of the last.
再下一个港口是亚历山大港。法利荣城堡是我们接近该镇的地标，它座落在古代著名的法洛斯岛遗址上。往东几英里则是阿布基尔湾，1798年纳尔逊在这里击溃了法国舰队并封锁了波拿巴在埃及的军队。这里才是我们陆地路线的真正起点。我们从亚历山大港乘火车到苏伊士，途中经过开罗。那些匆忙赶到印度的旅行者们在到达这些城市时，不得不走马观花先瞥一眼埃及艳后克利奥帕特拉的针和庞贝神柱来满足自己，最后再去看一眼附近的金字塔。
By the opening of the Suez Canal the only truly overland part of the Overland Route has been dispensed with, and steamers from Southampton reach India direct by way of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. At first only private vessels, specially adapted to the dimensions of the canal, and carrying both merchandise and passengers, performed the voyage without break. The adoption of the same course by the mail steamers was only a question of time, and is now universal.
随着苏伊士运河的开通，陆路路线上唯一一段真正的陆路也沉寂了，从南安普敦出发的轮船通过地中海和红海就够能直达印度。起初只有特殊的和运河河宽相符的私人船只装载着货物和乘客进行不间断的航行。等到邮船采用同样的航线只是时间问题，而现在已经普及开来。
The Suez Canal is certainly one of the greatest triumphs of modern engineering. Yet it is only an improvement on a much earlier plan; for it is well known that in the fifth century before the Christian era, an indirect line of canal connected the two seas, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
苏伊士运河无疑是现代工程最伟大的成就之一，然而它其实是在早期的一个计划的基础上改良而来的。因为众所周知，早在在公元前五世纪之时就有一条运河间接地连接了地中海和红海。
