双语美文之似水流年 （129）宽容(4)
I have found the road to a better home.
我已经找到一条通往更美好的家园的大道，
I have seen the promise of a happier life. Follow me and I shall lead you thither.
我已经看到幸福生活的曙光。跟我来吧，我带领你们奔向那里。
For the smile of the Gods is the same there as here and everywhere.
上帝的笑容不只是在这儿，也在其它地方。
He stopped and there went up a great cry of horror.
他停住了，人群里发出一声恐怖的吼叫。
Blasphemy! cried the Old Men. Blasphemy and sacrilege!
亵渎，这是对神圣的亵渎。守旧老人叫喊着。
A fit punishment for his crime! He has lost his reason.
给他的罪行以应有的惩罚吧！他已经丧失理智，
He dares to scoff at the Law as it was written down a thousand years ago.
胆敢嘲弄一千年前定下的律法。
He deserves to die!
他死有余辜！
And they took up heavy stones.
人们举起了沉重的石块。
And they killed him.
人们杀死了这个漫游者。
And his body they threw at the foot of the cliffs, that it might lie there as a warning to all who questioned the wisdom of the ancestors.
人们把他的尸体扔到山崖脚下，借以警告敢于怀疑祖先智慧的人，杀一儆百。
Then it happened a short time later that there was a great drought.
没过多久，爆发了一场特大干旱。
The little Brook of Knowledge ran dry. The cattle died of thirst.
潺潺的知识小溪枯竭了，牲畜因干渴而死去，
The harvest perished in the fields, and there was hunger in the Valley of Ignorance.
粮食在田野里枯萎，无知山谷里饥声遍野。
The Old Men Who Knew, however, were not disheartened.
不过，守旧老人们并没有灰心。
Everything would all come right in the end, they prophesied, for so it was writ in their most Holy Chapters.
他们预言说，一切都会转危为安，至少那些最神圣的篇章是这样写的。
Besides, they themselves needed but little food.
况且，只要一点食物就足够了。
They were so very old.
他们已经很老了，
Winter came.
冬天降临了。
The village was deserted.
村庄里空荡荡的，人稀烟少。
More than half of the populace died from sheer want.
半数以上的人由于饥寒交迫已经离开人世。
The only hope for those who survived lay beyond the mountains.
活着的人把唯一希望寄托在山脉那边。
But the Law said No!
但是律法却说，不行！
And the Law must be obeyed.
律法必须遵守。
One night there was a rebellion.
一天夜里爆发了叛乱。
Despair gave courage to those whom fear had forced into silence.
失望把勇气赋予那些由于恐惧而逆来顺受的人们。
Feebly the Old Men protested.
守旧老人们无力地抗争着。
房龙
亨德里克威廉房龙（Hendrik Willem Van Loon 1882–1944），荷裔美国人，著名学者，作家，历史地理学家。1882年出生在荷兰鹿特丹，他是出色的通俗作家，在历史、文化、文明、科学等方面都有著作，而且读者众多，是伟大的文化普及者，大师级的人物。