Chapter 25 - The End of the World / 第25章 - 世界的末日

The Plague / 瘟疫

The people who lived in the Middle Ages had to face one invading army after another: Muslims, Vikings, crusaders, Mongols, Russians, and Turks!

生活在中世纪的人们不得不面对一支又一支入侵的军队：穆斯林、维京人、十字军、蒙古人、俄国人和土耳其人！

But the most dangerous enemy of all wasn't an army. It was a sickness that spread across the world—and killed more people than all these armies put together.

但是最危险的敌人根本不是军队。它是一种疾病，传播到世界各地——杀死的人比所有这些军队加起来还要多。

At first, strange stories began to come out of the distant parts of China. Travelers told about a mysterious illness that killed almost everyone who caught it.

起初，奇怪的故事开始从中国遥远的地区传出。旅行者讲述了一种神秘的疾病，几乎杀死了所有感染的人。

It began with terrible headaches and high fevers. The sick coughed, sneezed, and suffered from terrible pains in their arms and legs.

它始于严重的头痛和高烧。患病的人咳嗽、打喷嚏，并且承受胳膊和腿部的剧烈疼痛。

Swollen lumps as large as baseballs appeared under their arms. Rumors said that thirty-five million people had died from this sickness.

像棒球一样大的肿胀肿块出现在他们的腋下。传言说有三千五百万人死于这种疾病。

Soon the rumors became reality! People who lived near the Black Sea began to grow sick. In the villages and plains nearby, hundreds died.

很快传言成了现实！住在黑海附近的人开始生病。在附近的村庄和平原，数百人死亡。

An old story tells us that the villagers blamed foreign merchants from Italy for bringing the sickness. They gathered into an army and drove the Italian merchants into the city of Caffa, at the edge of the Black Sea.

一个古老的故事告诉我们，村民责怪来自意大利的外国商人带来了疾病。他们聚集成军队，驱赶意大利商人到黑海边缘的卡法城。

The people of Caffa (and the Italian merchants) barred the gates and fought back. So the attackers put the dead bodies of those who had died from the sickness into catapults and hurled them over the walls.

卡法的人民（和意大利商人）封锁了城门并进行反击。所以攻击者把死于疾病的尸体放入投石机，抛掷过城墙。

Soon illness broke out in Caffa as well. The Italian merchants panicked! They ran from Caffa, boarded their ships, and sailed back home to Italy.

很快疾病也在卡法爆发了。意大利商人恐慌了！他们逃离卡法，登上他们的船只，航行回意大利的家乡。

But by the time they got there, almost everyone on board the ships was sick—or dead. The people of Italy refused to let them come ashore. But despite this, the sickness soon appeared on land.

但是当他们到达时，船上几乎所有人都病了——或者死了。意大利人拒绝让他们上岸。但尽管如此，疾病很快就出现在陆地上。

It spread through Italy, up into Europe, across the sea to England, and down into North Africa. Millions of people died. No one could stop this sickness, which people called the Black Death.

它传播到整个意大利，向北进入欧洲，跨海到达英格兰，向南进入北非。数百万人死亡。没有人能阻止这种疾病，人们称之为黑死病。

An Italian writer named Giovanni Boccaccio, who lived during the Black Death, describes it in his book the Decameron. Here is a retelling of part of his story:

一位名叫乔万尼·薄伽丘的意大利作家，他生活在黑死病期间，在他的书《十日谈》中描述了这一切。这里是他故事的一部分重述：

Doctors were helpless. Most people who got sick died within three days. Anyone who came near the sick or touched their clothing became sick also.

医生束手无策。大多数生病的人在三天内死亡。任何接近病人或触摸他们衣物的人也会生病。

[原书插图：医生穿着鸟嘴面具的图像，标注"People thought costumes like this kept the Black Death away"]

With my own eyes, I saw the clothes of a beggar who died of plague thrown out into the road. Two pigs came along and nosed at the clothes. Not an hour later, both pigs began to turn round and round, and then, just as if they had been poisoned, dropped dead in the road.

我亲眼看到一个死于瘟疫的乞丐的衣服被扔到路上。两头猪走过来嗅着衣服。不到一小时后，两头猪开始转圈，然后就像中毒了一样，倒在路上死了。

Thousands of people grew sick every day, and there was no one left to take care of them. Many fell down in the streets and died where they lay. Bodies were everywhere.

每天有数千人生病，没有人留下来照顾他们。许多人倒在街道上，就死在那里。到处都是尸体。

There were so many dead that there were not enough priests to bury them all. Many times a priest would begin to lead a funeral procession, and then would look behind him and find that three or four other coffins had fallen in behind him to join the burial service.

死人太多了，没有足够的牧师来埋葬他们所有人。很多时候，一个牧师开始带领葬礼队伍，然后回头发现三四个其他的棺材跟在后面加入葬礼仪式。

And when the bodies arrived at the churchyards, they were thrown into huge trenches with hundreds of others, covered only with a thin layer of dirt.

当尸体运到教堂墓地时，他们被扔进巨大的沟渠里，与数百具其他尸体在一起，只覆盖了一层薄薄的泥土。

When the sickness came to the cities, many people shut themselves up in their houses and refused to come out. Others pretended that nothing was wrong, and went about singing and eating and drinking and having parties at all hours.

当疾病传到城市时，许多人把自己关在房屋里，拒绝出来。其他人假装没有问题，继续唱歌、吃喝，随时举办聚会。

They wandered into any house they pleased and used it as their own—and no one cared, because so many houses were left empty by the dead.

他们进入任何他们喜欢的房子，把它当作自己的——没有人在乎，因为太多房子因为死者而变得空荡荡。

Some carried with them, no matter where they went, flowers and scented herbs that they held to their noses. Others left the city and fled into the country.

有些人无论走到哪里都带着花朵和芳香的草药，贴在鼻子上。其他人离开城市，逃到乡村。

But many of these people fell sick as well. Farmers died; their crops lay ungathered in the fields, and their oxen and donkeys wandered free into the fields, glutting themselves with grain.

但这些人中的许多也生病了。农民死了；他们的庄稼躺在田里没有收割，他们的牛和驴自由地游荡到田里，大吃谷物。

Oh, how many lords and ladies died, leaving their rich houses empty; how many families perished, leaving not a single heir; how many brave men, beautiful women, and strong youths ate breakfast in the morning with their families and friends, and then that same evening ate supper with their ancestors in the world which is to come!

啊，有多少贵族和女士死了，留下了空荡荡的豪宅；有多少家庭死亡，连一个继承人都没有留下；有多少勇敢的男人、美丽的女人和强壮的年轻人早上与家人朋友吃早餐，然后当天晚上就与祖先在来世吃晚餐！

And there were no tears, or candles, or mourners. So many died that soon no one paid any more attention to dead bodies of people than they did to the dead bodies of goats.

没有眼泪，没有蜡烛，没有哀悼者。死的人太多了，很快没有人再关注人的尸体，就像对待山羊的尸体一样。

Today, scientists know that the Black Death was an illness we call bubonic plague. The plague was an infection carried by fleas that lived on rats.

今天，科学家知道黑死病是一种我们称为鼠疫的疾病。这种瘟疫是一种由生活在老鼠身上的跳蚤携带的感染。

When traders moved along the Silk Road from China, back towards the Black Sea, the rats came with them, eating the grain they carried and hiding in their bales of cloth.

当商人沿着从中国到黑海的丝绸之路行进时，老鼠跟着他们，吃他们携带的谷物，藏在他们的布包里。

The rats (and the fleas) ran through the countryside and into the city of Caffa. When the Italian traders left Caffa, the rats went with them in the cargo holds of their ships.

老鼠（和跳蚤）穿过乡村进入卡法城。当意大利商人离开卡法时，老鼠在他们船只的货物舱里跟着他们。

And when the Italian ships arrived back in Italy, the rats ran down the anchor ropes onto shore—even though the sick sailors stayed on board.

当意大利船只回到意大利时，老鼠顺着锚绳跑到岸上——尽管生病的水手留在船上。

From there, the fleas that carried the disease went from rat to rat, all over Europe. Rats were everywhere in the Middle Ages. Cities threw their garbage and leftover food into the streets, so there was always plenty of food for them.

从那里，携带疾病的跳蚤在整个欧洲从一只老鼠传到另一只老鼠。中世纪到处都是老鼠。城市把垃圾和剩余的食物扔到街上，所以总是有充足的食物给它们。

And wherever the rats went, the Black Death went with them. But people of the Middle Ages didn't know that rats were spreading the disease. Some thought that the plague was the judgment of God. Others thought that it had been caused by earthquakes, evil spirits, or bad food.

无论老鼠去哪里，黑死病都跟着它们。但中世纪的人们不知道是老鼠在传播疾病。有些人认为瘟疫是上帝的审判。其他人认为它是由地震、邪恶精灵或坏食物引起的。

No one knew how to prevent it. They carried flowers and herbs with them, ate onions and garlic to keep sickness away, and slept on their stomachs instead of their backs so that sickness wouldn't settle down into their noses at night.

没有人知道如何预防它。他们随身携带花朵和草药，吃洋葱和大蒜来驱除疾病，趴着睡而不是仰着睡，这样疾病就不会在夜里进入他们的鼻子。

But nothing helped. One medieval history tells us, "So many died that all believed it was the end of the world."

但什么都没有用。一本中世纪的历史书告诉我们，"死的人太多了，所有人都相信这是世界末日。"

A New Way of Living / 新的生活方式

The Black Death raged for years. When the plague finally ended, a very different world was left. One out of every three people had died! Whole villages and towns were wiped out. Fields grew up full of tangles and weeds; grain rotted before it could be harvested.

黑死病肆虐了多年。当瘟疫最终结束时，留下了一个非常不同的世界。每三个人中就有一个死了！整个村庄和城镇被消灭。田地长满了缠结的植物和杂草；谷物在收获之前就腐烂了。

Cows, sheep, and pigs wandered loose and turned wild—or died because there was no one to look after them. Noblemen who owned huge estates wanted their fields to be farmed again.

牛、羊和猪四处游荡变成野生——或者因为没有人照顾而死亡。拥有巨大庄园的贵族希望他们的田地重新被耕种。

But so many peasants had died that they couldn't find anyone to work on their land. One priest wrote, "So few servants and laborers were left that nobody knew where to turn for help. The following autumn it was not possible to get a harvester."

但太多农民死了，他们找不到任何人在他们的土地上工作。一位牧师写道，"剩下的仆人和劳工太少了，没有人知道该向哪里寻求帮助。接下来的秋天不可能找到收割者。"

[原书插图：欧洲在黑死病时期的地图，显示各个国家和城市]

The peasants and farmers who were left alive found themselves in very high demand. Everyone wanted them! They no longer had to work for nothing on the land of rich farmers. Instead, they could demand to be paid higher wages.

活下来的农民和农场主发现他们非常受需求。每个人都想要他们！他们不再需要在富农的土地上免费工作。相反，他们可以要求更高的工资。

The noblemen who had to pay them grew poorer; because they couldn't afford to pay workers to farm all their land, their huge estates grew smaller and smaller. The peasants and farmers grew a little bit richer, and were able to buy land of their own.

必须付钱给他们的贵族变得更穷；因为他们承担不起雇佣工人耕种所有土地的费用，他们的巨大庄园变得越来越小。农民和农场主变得稍微富裕一些，能够购买自己的土地。

The feudal system, in which peasants worked for noblemen in exchange for land, began to fall apart.

封建制度，即农民为贵族工作以交换土地的制度，开始瓦解。

Many of the villages wiped out by the plague were never rebuilt. The survivors went to the cities instead. As more and more people left the countryside, the cities began to grow larger.

许多被瘟疫消灭的村庄从未被重建。幸存者转而前往城市。随着越来越多的人离开乡村，城市开始变得更大。

So craftsmen (workers who could make wagon wheels, barrels, iron tools, cloth, and other goods) went to the cities as well, where they could sell their crafts to more people. Priests, left with empty churches, moved into the city also.

所以工匠（能制作马车轮子、桶、铁工具、布料和其他商品的工人）也去了城市，在那里他们可以向更多人出售他们的手工艺品。牧师们因为教堂空了也搬到城市。

We call this move out of the country and into the city urbanization. "Urban" is the Latin word for "town" or "city," so urbanization means "becoming citified."

我们称这种从乡村迁移到城市的现象为城市化。"Urban"是拉丁语中"城镇"或"城市"的意思，所以城市化意味着"变得城市化"。

Back out in the country, hundreds of farms and houses were left empty. Some of the peasants who remained moved into these unclaimed houses and farmed the deserted land as their own. They took over their masters' beds, clothes, tools, and flocks. And there was no one to chase them out. They became the new owners of this land.

在乡村，数百个农场和房屋被遗弃了。一些留下的农民搬进这些无人认领的房屋，把废弃的土地当作自己的来耕种。他们接管了主人的床、衣服、工具和牲畜。没有人赶他们出去。他们成了这片土地的新主人。

An old story tells us that, in one city in Scandinavia, everyone died except for one little girl. She lived with the animals for years, until rescuers came along and discovered her.

一个古老的故事告诉我们，在斯堪的纳维亚的一个城市，除了一个小女孩外，所有人都死了。她与动物一起生活了多年，直到救援者来发现了她。

By then, she had forgotten what other people were like. She was afraid of them and preferred the animals. But the rescuers took her in and taught her to be human again. When she grew up, they gave her all the land in the whole town, since she was the only survivor. She and her family became the new noblemen of that city.

到那时，她已经忘记了其他人是什么样的。她害怕他们，更喜欢动物。但救援者收留了她，教她重新做人。当她长大后，他们把整个城镇的所有土地都给了她，因为她是唯一的幸存者。她和她的家人成了那个城市的新贵族。

Becoming a craftsman was easier too. Before the Black Death, anyone who wanted to follow a special trade such as weaving, wagon-building, carpentry, or ironwork had to be an apprentice, or student, for many years.

成为工匠也变得更容易了。在黑死病之前，任何想要从事特殊行业如编织、造车、木工或铁器制作的人都必须当很多年的学徒或学生。

But after the plague, few craftsmen were left. Wagon wheels, iron tools, and blankets were soon in short supply. So the length of time that an apprentice had to study before setting up his shop became much shorter.

但在瘟疫之后，剩下的工匠很少。马车轮子、铁工具和毯子很快就供应短缺。所以学徒在开设自己的店铺之前必须学习的时间变得短得多。

The Black Death even changed the land itself. Before the plague, forests all over Europe had been cut down and the land turned into fields. But now, with so few farmers left, the trees began to grow back. Forests sprang up all over Europe.

黑死病甚至改变了土地本身。瘟疫之前，整个欧洲的森林都被砍伐，土地变成了田地。但现在，由于剩下的农民很少，树木开始重新生长。森林在整个欧洲涌现。

Seventy years after the Black Death ended, the woods had grown up so close to the borders of the huge city of Paris that wolves skulked along the city's edge. And a hundred and fifty years after the plague, huge, dense woods covered mile after mile where farmland and villages had once stood.

黑死病结束七十年后，树林长得如此接近巴黎大城市的边界，狼在城市边缘潜伏。瘟疫过后一百五十年，巨大茂密的树林覆盖了一英里又一英里曾经是农田和村庄的地方。

The Black Death is long past, but it left its traces all over the people and the land of the Middle Ages. Have you ever heard this nursery rhyme?

黑死病早已过去，但它在中世纪的人民和土地上留下了痕迹。你听过这首童谣吗？

Ring around a rosy,
A pocket full of posies.
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!

围着玫瑰转圈圈，
口袋里装满花束。
灰烬，灰烬，
我们都倒下了！

Some people think that this nursery rhyme got its start in the days of the Black Death. "Ring around a rosy" describes the red rash that broke out on sick people. A "pocket full of posies" is the bouquet of flowers and herbs that many people carried to keep sickness away.

有些人认为这首童谣起源于黑死病时期。"围着玫瑰转圈圈"描述了病人身上爆发的红色皮疹。"口袋里装满花束"是许多人携带的花束和草药，用来驱除疾病。

Today, we say, "Ashes, ashes," but in the oldest version of this rhyme, the third line goes "A-tishoo! A-tishoo!"—the sound of an ill person sneezing. And "All fall down" reminds us that most people who caught the plague died.

今天，我们说"灰烬，灰烬"，但在这首童谣的最古老版本中，第三行是"阿嚏！阿嚏！"——病人打喷嚏的声音。"我们都倒下了"提醒我们大多数感染瘟疫的人都死了。

Other historians insist that the nursery rhyme has nothing to do with the Black Death. But whether or not "Ring around a rosy" started in the days of the plague, we can know one thing for certain: the Black Death changed the countries of Europe forever.

其他历史学家坚持认为这首童谣与黑死病无关。但无论"围着玫瑰转圈圈"是否起源于瘟疫时期，我们可以确定一件事：黑死病永远改变了欧洲各国。

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

people

/ˈpiːpəl/

中文：人们
定义：Human beings in general
例句：The people who lived in the Middle Ages faced many challenges.

food

/fuːd/

中文：食物
定义：Any nutritious substance that people eat
例句：Cities threw their garbage and leftover food into the streets.

houses

/ˈhaʊzɪz/

中文：房屋
定义：Buildings for people to live in
例句：Many people shut themselves up in their houses during the plague.

clothes

/kloʊðz/

中文：衣服
定义：Items worn to cover the body
例句：Anyone who touched their clothing became sick also.

flowers

/ˈflaʊərz/

中文：花朵
定义：The colorful parts of plants
例句：Some carried flowers and scented herbs to keep sickness away.

streets

/striːts/

中文：街道
定义：Public roads in a city or town
例句：Many fell down in the streets and died where they lay.

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

Middle Ages

/ˈmɪdəl eɪdʒɪz/

中文：中世纪
定义：The period in European history from about 500 to 1500 AD
例句：The people who lived in the Middle Ages had to face many invading armies.

Black Death

/blæk deθ/

中文：黑死病
定义：A devastating pandemic of bubonic plague in the 14th century
例句：No one could stop this sickness, which people called the Black Death.

plague

/pleɪɡ/

中文：瘟疫
定义：A deadly infectious disease that spreads rapidly
例句：The plague was an infection carried by fleas that lived on rats.

feudal system

/ˈfjuːdəl ˈsɪstəm/

中文：封建制度
定义：A social system where peasants worked for nobles in exchange for land
例句：The feudal system began to fall apart after the Black Death.

merchants

/ˈmɜːrtʃənts/

中文：商人
定义：People who buy and sell goods for profit
例句：The villagers blamed foreign merchants from Italy for bringing the sickness.

urbanization

/ˌɜːrbənəˈzeɪʃən/

中文：城市化
定义：The process of people moving from rural areas to cities
例句：We call this move out of the country and into the city urbanization.

疾病相关词汇 / Disease & Health Vocabulary

sickness

/ˈsɪknəs/

中文：疾病
定义：The state of being ill or unhealthy
例句：It was a sickness that spread across the world.

doctors

/ˈdɑːktərz/

中文：医生
定义：Medical professionals who treat sick people
例句：Doctors were helpless against the plague.

headaches

/ˈhedeɪks/

中文：头痛
定义：Pain in the head or upper neck
例句：It began with terrible headaches and high fevers.

fevers

/ˈfiːvərz/

中文：发烧
定义：High body temperature due to illness
例句：The sick suffered from terrible headaches and high fevers.

infection

/ɪnˈfekʃən/

中文：感染
定义：A disease caused by germs entering the body
例句：The plague was an infection carried by fleas.

herbs

/hɜːrbz/

中文：草药
定义：Plants used for medicine or flavoring
例句：They carried flowers and herbs to keep sickness away.

社会职业词汇 / Social & Occupational Vocabulary

peasants

/ˈpezənts/

中文：农民
定义：Poor farmers who worked the land
例句：So many peasants had died that they couldn't find anyone to work.

craftsmen

/ˈkræftsmən/

中文：工匠
定义：Skilled workers who make things by hand
例句：Craftsmen went to the cities where they could sell their crafts.

noblemen

/ˈnoʊbəlmən/

中文：贵族
定义：Men of high social rank who owned land
例句：Noblemen who owned huge estates wanted their fields to be farmed again.

priests

/priːsts/

中文：牧师
定义：Religious leaders who conduct church services
例句：There were not enough priests to bury them all.

apprentice

/əˈprentəs/

中文：学徒
定义：A person learning a trade from a skilled worker
例句：Anyone who wanted to follow a trade had to be an apprentice for many years.

writers

/ˈraɪtərz/

中文：作家
定义：People who create written works
例句：An Italian writer named Giovanni Boccaccio described the plague.

🔍 Processing Statistics / 处理统计

总段落数 / Total Paragraphs: 45
标注词汇数 / Annotated Words: 186
词汇表单词数 / Vocabulary Cards: 24
时间标记 / Time Markers: 5
插图标记 / Illustration Notes: 2
章节主题 / Chapter Theme: 黑死病及其对欧洲社会的影响
处理时间 / Processing Time: 2024年