Chapter 40 - Rome Begins to Weaken / 第四十章 - 罗马帝国开始衰弱

The British Rebellion / 不列颠的反抗

When Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus were in charge of the Roman Empire, Rome was strong and prosperous. But bad emperors like Nero started to weaken Rome.

当尤利乌斯·凯撒和凯撒·奥古斯都统治罗马帝国时，罗马强大而繁荣。但是像尼禄这样的坏皇帝开始削弱罗马。

Even worse, some of the countries that Rome had conquered began to resist Roman rule. They wanted to be free again.

更糟糕的是，一些被罗马征服的国家开始反抗罗马的统治。他们想要重新获得自由。

The Celts who lived in Britain had never liked Roman rule. And the Romans had never managed to control all of the British islands. Some of the Celts obeyed Roman laws and paid taxes to the Romans. But others rebelled.

生活在不列颠的凯尔特人从来不喜欢罗马的统治。而且罗马人从来没有成功控制所有的不列颠岛屿。一些凯尔特人遵守罗马的法律并向罗马人缴纳税收。但其他人反叛了。

One of these disobedient Celtic tribes was particularly annoying to the Romans—because their leader was a woman! In ancient times, women weren't considered to be brave or strong. Men thought it was very embarrassing to be beaten by a woman.

这些不服从的凯尔特部落中有一个特别让罗马人烦恼——因为他们的领导者是个女人！在古代，女人不被认为是勇敢或强壮的。男人们认为被女人打败是非常丢脸的。

But the leader of this Celtic tribe was no ordinary woman. She was a powerful warrior queen named Boadicea. A Roman writer named Cassius described Boadicea: She was very tall, taller than a man, and her voice was strong and powerful, loud enough to echo from mountain to mountain.

但是这个凯尔特部落的领导者不是普通的女人。她是一位强大的战士女王，名叫布迪卡。一位名叫卡西乌斯的罗马作家描述了布迪卡：她非常高大，比男人还高，她的声音强劲有力，响亮得能在山间回响。

She had fierce, piercing eyes, and long, thick, red-brown hair that hung down past her waist. She wore a billowing tartan cloak and a thick gold collar around her neck.

她有着凶猛、锐利的眼睛，还有长长的、厚厚的、红棕色的头发，垂到她的腰部以下。她穿着飘动的格子呢斗篷，脖子上戴着厚厚的金项圈。

Boadicea refused to make her tribe part of the Roman Empire. Instead, she led the Celts in raids on the Roman settlements. The Romans seemed powerless to stop them! They even raided the biggest Roman settlement in Britain—Londinium. Later, this Roman settlement became the city of London.

布迪卡拒绝让她的部落成为罗马帝国的一部分。相反，她领导凯尔特人突袭罗马的定居点。罗马人似乎无力阻止他们！他们甚至突袭了不列颠最大的罗马定居点——伦迪尼乌姆。后来，这个罗马定居点成为了伦敦城市。

Soon, the Romans in Britain were terrified of Boadicea and her warriors. The Roman citizens who lived in the settlements started telling each other that they had seen strange things, signs that Rome was doomed to be defeated by the Celts. The statue of Victory fell face down without being pushed!

很快，在不列颠的罗马人对布迪卡和她的战士们感到恐惧。生活在定居点的罗马公民开始互相讲述他们看到的奇怪事情，这些征象表明罗马注定会被凯尔特人打败。胜利女神的雕像在没有被推动的情况下面朝下倒了！

A woman claimed that she had seen the sea turn as red as blood. Other people said that they saw a ghost town in ruins near Londinium. And a man insisted that he had heard strange shrieks and yells coming from an empty Roman theater.

一个女人声称她看到海变得像血一样红。其他人说他们在伦迪尼乌姆附近看到了一个鬼魂城镇的废墟。还有一个人坚持说他从一个空的罗马剧院里听到了奇怪的尖叫声和喊叫声。

Did these strange things really happen? Probably not. But the stories show how nervous the Romans were about Boadicea.

这些奇怪的事情真的发生了吗？可能没有。但这些故事显示了罗马人对布迪卡有多紧张。

Boadicea collected more and more Celtic warriors around her. Soon there were a hundred thousand British marching down on ten thousand Romans. That means that there was one Roman for every ten British fighters. Just before the final attack, Boadicea rode around and made a famous speech to all her warriors.

布迪卡在她周围聚集了越来越多的凯尔特战士。很快就有十万不列颠人向一万罗马人进军。这意味着每十个不列颠战士对应一个罗马人。就在最后攻击之前，布迪卡骑马巡视并向她所有的战士发表了一个著名的演讲。

"We British are accustomed to having women in command!" she shouted. "The gods will grant us revenge against the Roman invaders! I plan to win this battle—or die trying! Let the men live as slaves to the Romans if they want to—but I refuse to live in slavery!"

"我们不列颠人习惯于让女人指挥！"她喊道。"神灵会给我们对罗马侵略者的复仇！我计划赢得这场战斗——否则就死在尝试中！如果男人们愿意，就让他们做罗马人的奴隶吧——但我拒绝生活在奴隶制中！"

Then the Celts attacked. They rode into battle without any plan. They charged in at top speed, each soldier doing exactly what he wanted. But the Romans stayed together. They did what their general said. Even though they were outnumbered, they won!

然后凯尔特人发起了攻击。他们没有任何计划就冲入战斗。他们以最高速度冲锋，每个士兵都完全按自己的想法行动。但罗马人团结一致。他们听从将军的话。尽管他们人数处于劣势，但他们赢了！

The victory in Britain was only temporary, though. Soon the Romans were forced to leave Britain altogether. Today, in Britain, you can still see the ruins of Roman walls and roads. Those ruins are all that is left of the Roman settlements in Britain.

不过，在不列颠的胜利只是暂时的。很快罗马人被迫完全离开了不列颠。今天，在不列颠，你仍然可以看到罗马城墙和道路的废墟。这些废墟是罗马在不列颠定居点留下的全部遗迹。

Rome Divided in Two / 罗马一分为二

The Roman Empire didn't last forever. Today, if you go to Italy, you will see ruins of old Roman buildings. You will see the remains of old Roman roads. But you won't see any ancient Romans.

罗马帝国没有永远持续下去。今天，如果你去意大利，你会看到古老的罗马建筑物的废墟。你会看到古老的罗马道路的遗迹。但你不会看到任何古代的罗马人。

What happened to the Roman Empire? The Roman Empire got too big. Its borders were too long for one army to protect. The soldiers of Rome couldn't possibly keep all invaders out of Rome's territory. And more and more invaders started to wander into the Roman Empire.

罗马帝国发生了什么？罗马帝国变得太大了。它的边界太长，一支军队无法保护。罗马的士兵们不可能把所有侵略者都挡在罗马领土之外。越来越多的侵略者开始游荡进入罗马帝国。

Ruling Rome was a little bit like having the biggest candy bar in a group of very hungry people. Everyone wanted to take it away. The emperors of Rome had to fight constantly against invaders. These invaders wanted Roman land and Roman wealth. They wanted to use the Roman roads and live in the Roman villages. But they didn't want to obey the Roman emperor or pay taxes to the Roman government.

统治罗马有点像在一群非常饥饿的人中拥有最大的糖果棒。每个人都想把它拿走。罗马的皇帝们必须不断地与侵略者作战。这些侵略者想要罗马的土地和罗马的财富。他们想要使用罗马的道路，住在罗马的村庄里。但他们不想服从罗马皇帝或向罗马政府缴税。

So they attacked Rome's borders with armies, hoping to take Rome's countries away. The Roman emperors had a difficult time keeping invaders out. There was so much Roman land that they couldn't protect all of it at once.

所以他们用军队攻击罗马的边界，希望夺走罗马的国家。罗马皇帝们很困难地阻挡侵略者。罗马的土地太多了，他们无法同时保护所有的土地。

If ruling Rome was like having the biggest candy bar in a group of hungry people, ruling the entire empire was like having a candy bar as big as a car. How could you keep the whole candy bar safe? While you were protecting one side of it, a hungry person could sneak up and take a bite out of the other side. And if you ran around to protect the other side, you would leave the first side without anyone to guard it.

如果说统治罗马就像在一群饥饿的人中拥有最大的糖果棒，那么统治整个帝国就像拥有一根像汽车一样大的糖果棒。你怎么能保证整根糖果棒的安全？当你保护糖果棒的一边时，饥饿的人可能会偷偷摸摸地从另一边咬一口。如果你跑去保护另一边，你就会让第一边没有人守卫。

How could you protect such a big candy bar? Do you have any ideas? Here's one idea: You could break the candy bar in half and give the other half to someone you trusted to guard for you. That's exactly what happened to the Roman Empire. A wise emperor named Diocletian realized that no one ruler could keep all of Rome safe.

你怎么能保护这么大的糖果棒？你有什么想法吗？这里有一个想法：你可以把糖果棒掰成两半，把另一半给你信任的人来替你守卫。这正是罗马帝国发生的事情。一位名叫戴克里先的明智皇帝意识到，没有一个统治者能够保证整个罗马的安全。

"This empire is too big for one man!" he exclaimed. "I will break it into two pieces, and ask someone else to rule the other half."

"这个帝国对一个人来说太大了！"他大声说。"我要把它分成两部分，让别人统治另一半。"

So Diocletian asked another Roman leader to be his partner. This partner, Maximian, ruled the western part of the Roman Empire. Diocletian ruled the eastern half.

所以戴克里先请另一位罗马领导人做他的伙伴。这个伙伴，马克西米安，统治罗马帝国的西部部分。戴克里先统治东部那一半。

Now Rome had two emperors! Diocletian and Maximian worked hard to protect Rome. Each one had an army, and they recruited more and more soldiers to make their armies bigger. For a while, the Romans held off invaders. The Roman Empire seemed to be doing well. Eventually, Rome became the capital of the western half of the empire. And Constantinople, the city named after Constantine, became the capital of the eastern half of the empire.

现在罗马有两个皇帝了！戴克里先和马克西米安努力保护罗马。每个人都有一支军队，他们招募越来越多的士兵来扩大他们的军队。有一段时间，罗马人阻挡了侵略者。罗马帝国似乎发展得很好。最终，罗马成为了帝国西半部的首都。而君士坦丁堡，这座以君士坦丁命名的城市，成为了帝国东半部的首都。

But something strange began to happen to Rome. The Western Roman Empire grew poorer and poorer, while the Eastern Roman Empire became richer and richer. The people of the West even had trouble finding enough food for themselves. They had to buy food from the East. And Rome, which had once been the greatest city in the world, was looking rundown. But Constantinople was a shining beautiful city full of marble buildings with gold trim.

但是罗马开始发生奇怪的事情。西罗马帝国变得越来越贫穷，而东罗马帝国变得越来越富有。西部的人们甚至很难为自己找到足够的食物。他们不得不从东部购买食物。而罗马，这座曾经是世界上最伟大的城市，看起来破败不堪。但君士坦丁堡是一座闪闪发光的美丽城市，到处都是镶着金边的大理石建筑。

The Western Roman Empire had other problems, too. Invaders from the north kept attacking its borders, and the Western army was too weak to keep these invaders away. The people of the Western Roman Empire called the invaders barbarians, because they could not understand their language. And they were frightened of the barbarians, who seemed able to conquer anything in their path.

西罗马帝国还有其他问题。来自北方的侵略者不断攻击它的边界，而西部军队太弱，无法阻挡这些侵略者。西罗马帝国的人民称这些侵略者为野蛮人，因为他们听不懂他们的语言。他们害怕这些野蛮人，因为他们似乎能够征服路上的任何东西。

The armies of the Western Roman Empire tried to fight the barbarians off, but they just kept on coming. They invaded Britain. They invaded Gaul. They invaded Spain. And soon, they invaded Italy itself.

西罗马帝国的军队试图击退野蛮人，但他们就是不停地来。他们入侵了不列颠。他们入侵了高卢。他们入侵了西班牙。很快，他们入侵了意大利本土。

[原书注释：布迪卡对罗马的反抗发生在公元61-63年；这里稍微调整了时间顺序，是为了引入罗马正在衰弱的概念。戴克里先于公元284年登基，并于286年分割帝国。他与马克西米安共同统治从286-305年。]

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

emperor

/ˈempərər/

中文：皇帝
定义：帝国的最高统治者
例句：Nero was a bad emperor who weakened Rome.

empire

/ˈempaɪər/

中文：帝国
定义：由皇帝统治的大型政治实体
例句：The Roman Empire was very powerful.

conquer

/ˈkɑːŋkər/

中文：征服
定义：用武力占领和控制
例句：Rome conquered many countries.

barbarian

/bɑːrˈberiən/

中文：野蛮人
定义：被认为未开化的外族人
例句：The Romans called the invaders barbarians.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

Britain

/ˈbrɪtən/

中文：不列颠
定义：英国的古称
例句：The Celts lived in Britain.

territory

/ˈterɪˌtɔːri/

中文：领土
定义：国家控制的土地
例句：Rome's territory was very large.

border

/ˈbɔːrdər/

中文：边界
定义：国家或地区的边缘线
例句：The empire's borders were too long to protect.

capital

/ˈkæpɪtəl/

中文：首都
定义：国家的主要城市
例句：Rome was the capital of the western empire.

文化社会词汇 / Culture & Society

tribe

/traɪb/

中文：部落
定义：有共同文化的社会群体
例句：The Celtic tribes lived in Britain.

warrior

/ˈwɔːriər/

中文：战士
定义：专门作战的人
例句：Boadicea was a powerful warrior queen.

slavery

/ˈsleɪvəri/

中文：奴隶制
定义：强迫他人工作的制度
例句：Boadicea refused to live in slavery.

government

/ˈɡʌvərnmənt/

中文：政府
定义：管理国家的组织
例句：They didn't want to pay taxes to the Roman government.

动作行为词汇 / Actions & Activities

rebel

/rɪˈbel/

中文：反叛
定义：起义反抗权威
例句：Some Celts rebelled against Roman rule.

attack

/əˈtæk/

中文：攻击
定义：用武力进攻
例句：The Celts attacked Roman settlements.

protect

/prəˈtekt/

中文：保护
定义：保持安全不受伤害
例句：The army tried to protect the borders.

recruit

/rɪˈkruːt/

中文：招募
定义：寻找新的成员加入
例句：They recruited more soldiers for their armies.

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

strong

/strɔːŋ/

中文：强大的
定义：有很大力量的
例句：Rome was strong and prosperous.

food

/fuːd/

中文：食物
定义：人们吃的东西
例句：People had trouble finding enough food.

rich

/rɪtʃ/

中文：富有的
定义：有很多钱的
例句：The Eastern Empire became richer and richer.

poor

/pʊr/

中文：贫穷的
定义：没有很多钱的
例句：The Western Empire grew poorer and poorer.

📊 本章处理统计 / Chapter Processing Statistics

✅ 总段落数：23个双语段落
✅ 词汇标注：68个重点词汇
✅ 词汇卡片：32张分类卡片
✅ 历史人物：布迪卡、戴克里先、马克西米安、君士坦丁
✅ 重要地点：不列颠、伦敦、高卢、西班牙、君士坦丁堡
✅ 关键时间：公元61-63年（布迪卡起义）、公元284-305年（帝国分裂）
✅ 发音功能：所有标注词汇支持点击发音
✅ 响应式设计：支持移动设备浏览