Chapter 27 - The Rise of Rome
第二十七章 - 罗马的崛起

Assyria亚述（古代王国）/əˈsɪriə/ was a great kingdom王国/ˈkɪŋdəm/, but it was conquered被征服/ˈkɒŋkəd/ by Babylon巴比伦/ˈbæbɪlɒn/. Babylon was a great empire帝国/ˈempaɪə/, but it was conquered by Persia波斯/ˈpɜːʃə/. Persia and Greece希腊/ɡriːs/ were great empires, but they were conquered by Alexander亚历山大/ˌælɪɡˈzændə/ the Great. Alexander the Great built建造/bɪlt/ his own huge kingdom, but then he died死亡/daɪd/ and his generals将军们/ˈdʒenərəlz/ broke the kingdom up into pieces.

That is what the story故事/ˈstɔːri/ of the ancient古代的/ˈeɪnʃənt/ world is like. One king国王/kɪŋ/ comes along, wins获胜/wɪnz/ battles, and builds a big empire. His empire lasts持续/læsts/ for a little while一段时间/waɪl/, but the kings who come after him slowly lose失去/luːz/ control of it. Then another king from another country国家/ˈkʌntri/ does the same thing and builds another empire. After a little while, that empire too falls apart. This happens发生/ˈhæpənz/ over and over again.

So you won't be surprised惊讶的/səˈpraɪzd/ to learn学习/lɜːn/ that we're going to learn now about another big empire. But this one was bigger更大的/ˈbɪɡə/ and stronger更强的/ˈstrɒŋɡə/ than any empire we've read about before. It grew增长/ɡruː/ to be bigger than Alexander's empire, and it lasted much longer更长的/ˈlɒŋɡə/. As a matter of fact, it lasted for hundreds数百/ˈhʌndrədz/ and hundreds of years年/jɪəz/. Over a thousand一千/ˈθaʊzənd/ years after this empire fell, people人们/ˈpiːpəl/ were still learning its language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/, reading its books书籍/bʊks/, and copying its government政府/ˈɡʌvənmənt/. This empire was called Rome罗马/roʊm/.

At first, Rome was just a tiny village村庄/ˈvɪlɪdʒ/ in the hills山丘/hɪlz/ of Italy意大利/ˈɪtəli/. Go west西方/west/ from Greece and you'll see a piece of land土地/lænd/ that looks like a boot靴子/buːt/, jutting down into the Mediterranean地中海/ˌmedɪtəˈreɪniən/ Sea. This is called a peninsula半岛/pəˈnɪnsjələ/, because it sticks out into the water水/ˈwɔːtə/. This peninsula is Italy.

The people who lived居住/lɪvd/ in Rome told this story about the village's beginning开始/bɪˈɡɪnɪŋ/: Once upon a time a great king named Numitor努米托尔/ˈnuːmɪtɔː/ had twin grandsons孙子们/ˈɡrænsʌnz/—strong, healthy baby boys男孩们/bɔɪz/, named Romulus罗慕路斯/ˈrɒmjələs/ and Remus雷慕斯/ˈriːməs/. But Numitor also had a wicked邪恶的/ˈwɪkɪd/ younger brother兄弟/ˈbrʌðə/ who plotted against him and stole his throne王座/θroʊn/.

The new, evil king wanted to get rid of anyone who might claim声称/kleɪm/ to be the rightful king. "Those babies婴儿/ˈbeɪbiz/ might grow up to take my crown王冠/kraʊn/!" he said. "Go put them in the Tiber台伯河/ˈtaɪbər/ River!" So a servant仆人/ˈsɜːrvənt/ took the boys down to the Tiber River. But she felt sorry难过的/ˈsɒri/ for them, and put them into a basket篮子/ˈbæskɪt/ and pushed it out into the current水流/ˈkʌrənt/.

The basket floated漂浮/ˈfloʊtɪd/ along the river until it got stuck in the root根/ruːt/ of a fig无花果/fɪɡ/ tree at the river's edge. That might have been the end of the two boys—but a wolf狼/wʊlf/ heard them crying哭泣/ˈkraɪɪŋ/. She peered around the trunk树干/trʌŋk/ of the fig tree, and saw the basket with the babies in it. Now, this wolf had cubs幼崽/kʌbz/ of her own. She felt pity怜悯/ˈpɪti/ for the two hungry babies, and so she tugged the basket up onto the bank河岸/bæŋk/ and then back to her own den洞穴/den/. There, she raised抚养/reɪzd/ the babies with her own wolf cubs, as her own.

One day a shepherd牧羊人/ˈʃepəd/, out looking for a lost lamb小羊/læm/, heard a coo and then a gurgle from the brush灌木丛/brʌʃ/ surrounding the wolf's den. He pushed some branches树枝/ˈbræntʃəz/ aside—and there saw two fat, happy baby boys, playing naked赤裸的/ˈneɪkɪd/ among the wolf cubs. The shepherd and his wife妻子/waɪf/ had no children孩子们/ˈtʃɪldrən/ of their own. So he took the boys home家/hoʊm/, and the two of them raised the babies to be tall, handsome英俊的/ˈhænsəm/ young men.

When Romulus and Remus were grown, they went back to the fig tree where their basket had landed, so many years ago. They looked around and saw seven hills. "This is the perfect完美的/ˈpɜːrfɪkt/ place to build a town城镇/taʊn/," they said to each other. "A town on top of these seven hills would be strong and hard to attack攻击/əˈtæk/!" So they began to build a town. And Romulus declared宣布/dɪˈklerd/ himself the king of this new town. He put himself in charge of building a wall墙/wɔːl/ around it. "This wall will keep us safe安全的/seɪf/!" he declared. "Anyone who climbs over my wall will instantly be killed杀死/kɪld/!"

But Remus was angry愤怒的/ˈæŋɡri/ with his brother. He thought to himself: "We built this town together! Why should Romulus be the ruler统治者/ˈruːlər/ of it? I want to be the leader领导者/ˈliːdər/." So he walked up to the wall and vaulted跳过/ˈvɔːltɪd/ easily over it. "What kind of a wall is that?" he sneered嘲笑/snɪrd/. "Anyone can climb over it! How can you keep this town safe?" Romulus was so angry that he drew his sword剑/sɔːrd/, charged at his brother, and killed him on the spot. Then he named the town Rome, after himself. He was Rome's first king.

What does this story remind提醒/rɪˈmaɪnd/ you of? Do you remember记得/rɪˈmembər/ the story of Sargon萨尔贡/ˈsɑːrɡən/, the ruler of one of the very first kingdoms we studied? He floated down the river in a basket until someone rescued救援/ˈreskjuːd/ him. And do you remember Cyrus居鲁士/ˈsaɪrəs/? He was also raised by shepherds in the woods. Ancient古代的/ˈeɪnʃənt/ people liked these stories about their kings. The stories made the kings seem even more legendary传奇的/ˈledʒənderi/—like great fairy-tale heroes英雄/ˈhɪroʊz/ who could do anything!

The legend传说/ˈledʒənd/ of Romulus and Remus tells us that Romulus was the first king of Rome. Other stories about ancient Rome say that he was the first of seven七个/ˈsevən/ kings of Rome. These kings fought with other tribes部落/traɪbz/ of people who lived in Italy. The kings wanted to take over more and more land, so that Rome would get larger and stronger.

The most important重要的/ɪmˈpɔːrtənt/ Italian tribe was called the Etruscans伊特鲁斯坎人/ɪˈtrʌskənz/. The Etruscans lived north北方/nɔːrθ/ of Rome, in the hills and mountains山脉/ˈmaʊntənz/ of Italy. They liked music音乐/ˈmjuːzɪk/ and art艺术/ɑːrt/, and painted pictures图画/ˈpɪktʃərz/ that we can still see today. The Etruscans also grew crops农作物/krɒps/, made weapons武器/ˈwepənz/ and jewelry珠宝/ˈdʒuːəlri/ out of metal金属/ˈmetəl/, and sailed back and forth between Greece and Italy, trading贸易/ˈtreɪdɪŋ/ with the Greeks.

On these trips, the Etruscans learned how to use the Greek alphabet字母表/ˈælfəbet/ and worship崇拜/ˈwɜːrʃɪp/ the Greek gods. The Roman kings fought with the Etruscans. But they also traded with them, and learned from them. The Etruscans taught the Romans how to dress穿衣/dres/ like Greeks. They told the Romans about the Greek gods. The Romans learned about painting and music from the Etruscans as well. And they borrowed the customs习俗/ˈkʌstəmz/ of the Etruscan kings, who wore special robes长袍/roʊbz/ called togas托加袍/ˈtoʊɡəz/, with purple紫色/ˈpɜːrpəl/ borders. The purple showed everyone how important the king was.

The Etruscan kings also carried a bundle束/ˈbʌndəl/ of rods棒子/rɒdz/ with an axe斧头/æks/ blade in it, as a symbol象征/ˈsɪmbəl/ of royal power. The rods showed that the king had the power to punish惩罚/ˈpʌnɪʃ/ anyone who did wrong. The axe blade showed that he could execute处决/ˈeksɪkjuːt/ people who did very evil things. The Romans liked this symbol of power, which was called the fasces束棒/ˈfæsiːz/. Soon Roman kings, like Etruscan kings, wore special purple-bordered togas and carried fasces.

Do you have an old dime十分硬币/daɪm/? Look on the back of it and you will see a picture of the fasces. American courtrooms法庭/ˈkɔːrtruːmz/ and government政府/ˈɡʌvərmənt/ offices sometimes copy this Roman symbol, even today. They have a fasces in them to show that the judges法官/ˈdʒʌdʒəz/ have the power to punish criminals罪犯/ˈkrɪmənəlz/. The courtroom in the United States Capitol国会大厦/ˈkæpətəl/ building has two fasces on the wall, one on each side of the American flag旗帜/flæɡ/.

The fasces showed how powerful the king was. But after seven kings, the people of Rome decided that the king had too much power. They didn't like living in a monarchy君主制/ˈmɑːnərki/—a country where the king was in charge. Instead, they wanted Rome to be a place where the people could help make the laws法律/lɔːz/ and choose the leaders.

Do you remember the Greek city that wanted the people to help make laws and choose leaders? The city of Athens雅典/ˈæθənz/ was a democracy民主制/dɪˈmɑːkrəsi/, where the people voted投票/ˈvoʊtəd/ on their laws and leaders. But Rome didn't become a democracy like Athens, though. In Athens, all the men who weren't slaves奴隶/sleɪvz/ could vote about laws and leaders. But in Rome, only rich and powerful men called patricians贵族/pəˈtrɪʃənz/ were allowed to have a say in the government. Two of these patricians were appointed by the other patricians to be the leaders of the city. They were called consuls执政官/ˈkɑːnsəlz/. The Romans thought that having two leaders, instead of one king, would keep any one man from getting too much power. The two consuls were supposed to keep an eye on each other! Neither one could do exactly what he pleased.