美文阅读 （240）这就是斯巴达!
When the boy was born like all Spartans, he was inspected.
当这名男婴出生后，必须像每个斯巴达人一样接受检验。
If he’d been small or puny or sickly or misshapen he would’ve been discarded.
如果他太瘦小、太孱弱，生病或是残废，就会被抛弃。
From the time he could stand, he was baptized in the fire of combat.
当他长大到刚能站稳的那一刻开始，便要接受战火的洗礼。
Taught never to retreat, never to surrender,
被教导绝不退缩、绝不投降，
taught that death on the battlefield in service to Sparta is the greatest glory he could achieve in his life.
并被灌输一个观念：为斯巴达战死沙场是人一生所能成就的最大荣耀。
At age seven, as is customary in Sparta, the boy was taken from his mother and plunged into a world of violence.
依照斯巴达的传统，男孩七岁就从母亲身边被带走，投入到一个残酷的暴力世界。
Manufactured by 300 years, a Spartan warrior society to create the finest soldiers the world has ever known.
经过300年的嬗变，斯巴达的勇士社会创造出了有史以来世上最好的战士。
The agoge, as it’s called. It forces the boy to fight. Starves them, forces them to steal, and if necessary, to kill.
正如其名，斯巴达的“酷炼”，强迫男孩战斗，让他们饿肚子、偷食物。有必要的话，让他们去杀人。
By rod and lash, the boy was punished. Taught to show no pain, no mercy.
男孩经常受到棒打和鞭笞的惩罚。教导他痛苦不行于色、对敌人不要怜悯。
Constantly tested, tossed into the wild. Left to pit his wits and will against nature’s fury.
他被扔在了野外，接受更多的考验，只能用他的智慧和意志去对抗大自然的暴虐。
It was his initiation. His time in the wild. For he would return to his people a Spartan or not at all.
他在野外的时期只是一个开始。他必须成为强悍的战士才能返回斯巴达，否则便将尸骨无存。
The wolf begins to circle the boy.
野狼开始在男孩身边游走。
Claws of black steel. Fur as dark nights. Eyes glowing red, jewels from the pit of hell itself.
钢铁般的利爪，如黑夜般的毛皮。赤红的双眼闪烁，就像地狱深渊的宝石。
The giant wolf sniffing, savoring the scent of the meal to come.
巨大的野狼贪婪地嗅着，享受着即将到嘴的肉香。
It’s not fear that grips him, only a heightened sense of things.
他并不感到恐惧，反而让他的感官知觉更为敏锐。
The cold air in his lungs. Windswept pines, moving against the coming night.
冷空气在他的肺里打转。大风吹弯的松树，摇曳着抵挡即将降临的夜晚。
His hands are steady. His form…perfect.
他的双手沉稳，动作敏捷，完美无缺。
And so the boy, given up for dead, returns to his people, to sacred Sparta, a king. Our king! Leonidas!
这个大家以为必死无疑的男孩却返回他的族人身边，回到神圣的斯巴达，成为国王。吾王，列奥尼达！
It’s been more than 30 years since the wolf and the winter cold.
巨狼和寒冬之夜已经是三十多年前的往事。
Now, as then, a beast approaches.
然而眼下又有一只野兽逼近。
Patient and confident, savoring the meal to come.
它同样坚忍自信，准备大啖猎物。
But this beast is made of men and horses, swords and spears.
但这只巨兽是由士兵、战马、利刃和长矛组成。
And armies of slaves, vast beyond imagining, ready to devour tiny Greece.
是一支奴隶大军，庞大得难超乎想象，准备要吞噬渺小的希腊。
Ready to snuff out the world’s one hope for reason and justice.
准备捏熄世上一个理性与正义的希望之火。
A beast approaches…and it was King Leonidas himself who provoked it.
这只巨兽之所以逼近…是因为列奥尼达国王激怒了它。