Castles 城堡

V. M. Hillyer

By V. M. Hillyer

——V. M. 希利爾

（仲秋 譯）

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家， 創建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術讀物， 即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術史》，該書寫于二十世紀二三十年代。

Once upon a time there lived a very wicked ogre. He lived in a strong castle set on the top of a hill， and whenever any traveler was unlucky enough to pass along the road below the castle， down would come the ogre and carry the traveler off to his donjon tower.

That sounds like the beginning of a fairy story and that is just what it is. But there is more truth than you might think in a fairy story. In the Middle Ages， when people believed in fairies and ogres， there were many real castles—most of them built on the top of a hill. And although there were no real ogres， there were， Im sorry to say， bad men living in some of these castles who would really lock up in their donjon towers any one from whom they thought they could get money.

很久很久以前，有一只非常兇惡的怪物，它住在山頂上一座高大堅固的城堡里。如果有人很不幸地選擇了從這座城堡旁邊的小徑翻越這座山的話，怪物就會跑出來，把這個人抓到城堡的高塔里關起來。

剛才那段聽起來很像是童話故事的一個開頭吧，你猜對了。不過呢，有時你認為只會在童話故事中出現的事情，其實現實生活中也有，甚至更多。中世紀的時候，人們認為仙女和魔鬼是存在的，而且就在山頂上的那些城堡里。其實，即使在那個時候也并沒有什么魔鬼，不過，我還是不得不遺憾地告訴你，很多邪惡的人的確住在那些山頂的城堡里，那些邪惡的人也真的會把他們認為有錢的那些人抓起來，鎖進城堡的高塔之中。

Of course not all the knights who lived in the castles were bad. But most of them were warlike and fierce and all the old castles had dungeon cells for prisoners.

These castles were built because of the Feudal System. The Feudal System worked like this. The king or prince who conquered a country would divide the country up among several of his lords. These lords would then divide their parts of the land up among other lords， and these would divide their share again among the knights. Each lord and knight had to promise that he would help the lord from whom he got his land whenever the lord needed him. Then each lord and knight built himself a strong castle to protect his part of the land from any one who might try to take it away from him. There were no policemen in those days to keep one man from trying to steal another mans land， and so each knight had to have his own soldiers and his own castle to protect his rights.

當然了，并不是所有住在城堡里的騎士都是壞人，但當時很多的騎士都是暴力且殘忍的，而且在所有的城堡里都設計了用來關押犯人的地牢。

這些城堡的修建和歷史上西方的封建制度密不可分。西方的封建制度是這樣運作的：一個國王（或者王子）統治了一個國家后，就會把整個國家的土地分封給他手下的幾個大貴族，然后這些大貴族又會把自己分到的土地再分封給他們手下的小貴族，這些小貴族再把自己分到的土地分封給手下的騎士。這些分到土地的貴族和騎士都得發誓承諾，無論何時，只要分給他們土地的貴族需要幫助，他們都必須鼎力相助。不過，那個時候還沒有警察，沒有專門的人來保護這些騎士、貴族已經分得的土地。每個分到土地的貴族和騎士便會在自己分到的土地上為自己修建堅固的城堡，組建自己的軍隊，保護自己的土地，防止被別人搶走，維護自己的利益。

Word Study

ogre /'??ɡ?（r）/ n. 怪物（童話等中的）

donjon /'d?nd??n/ n. 中世紀城堡的主樓

fierce /f??s/ adj. 兇殘的;兇狠的;強烈的;惡劣的

Two fierce eyes glared at them.

conquer /'k??k?（r）/ v. 占領;攻克;克服

The Normans conquered England in 1066.

Near each castle was a village where the common people who were not lords or nobles lived. These people were not very well cared for. They lived in miserable little huts. Most of them had to give part of all the food they raised to the lord of the castle， and all the men had to serve the lord as soldiers whenever he needed them. In return， the lord of the castle protected the poor people from enemies.

The castle was built with great， thick stone walls all around it. Outside of the wall was a deep ditch of water called a moat. The only way to get into the castle was across a drawbridge over the moat. The drawbridge could be drawn up from inside the castle so that an enemy could not enter. If the enemy reached the drawbridge before it was drawn up， he found his way blocked by a huge latticework gate， called a portcullis， which was dropped across the gateway of the castle.

在城堡附近，通常會有一個村莊，村莊里面住著境況一般的平民。平民的生活通常都很差，住在簡陋的小木屋里，還要把一部分自己種的糧食上交給城堡里的貴族。不僅如此，當城堡里的貴族需要的時候，這些平民都得成為跟隨貴族戰斗的士兵。不過作為回報，城堡里的貴族也會保護這些平民免受敵人的侵擾。

城堡周圍有一圈又大又堅硬的石頭建的圍墻，圍墻外面是一條很深的水渠，叫作“護城河”。要跨過護城河進入城堡，就必須經過護城河上的吊橋。當有敵人來進攻時，城堡里面的人就會收起吊橋，這樣敵人就無法跨過護城河進入城堡了。即使敵人在吊橋還沒來得及升起來時已經上了橋，他們也無法進入城堡，因為前面還會有一個叫“吊閘”的大門擋住他們，吊閘可以從城門口上方降下來擋住城門的通道。

The castle had huge stone towers at the gateway and along the wall， with very narrow slits for windows. Archers could shoot arrows out of these slits， but the slits were hard to shoot through from the outside.

Inside the walls there was a courtyard around which were the stables， soldiers and servants quarters， kitchens， and a high tower called the keep. In the keep the lord of the castle lived. There was a large dining hall and often a little church or chapel in the keep. And down below the ground level were the prison cells and torture chambers. In case of an attack， all the people of the village came into the castle， often with their cattle and flocks， and stayed there， so there had to be great stores of food on hand.

Here is a picture of the Castle of Pierrefonds in France. Notice how few windows there are in the lower walls. Pierrefonds gradually fell to pieces until it was restored about over a hundred years ago.

城堡的城門口，以及沿著城墻的一圈都建有許多大型的高塔，高塔上有幾個開口非常狹窄的箭孔。弓箭手可以從這些箭孔往外面射箭，但是外面的箭卻很難射進來。

城墻里面有一個庭院，庭院周圍有馬廄、士兵和仆人住的營房、廚房，以及一個高塔，叫“城堡主樓”。這座高塔里住著城堡的主人，塔里有一個大餐廳，通常還有一個小教堂或禮拜堂。城堡地下室里設有地牢和刑訊室。當敵人進攻時，附近村莊里的所有村民就會進入城堡，并在城堡里待上一段時間。通常情況下他們還會將他們的牛羊、家禽一起趕來，所以城堡里的糧草儲備也必須要充足。

左下圖是法國皮耶楓城堡的圖片。你注意到了嗎，城墻下層幾乎沒有窗戶。原始的皮耶楓城堡已經損壞得差不多了，你現在看到的是一百多年前重建的。

Word Study

miserable /'m?zr?bl/ adj. 使不舒服的;非常難受的;少得可憐的

I spent a miserable weekend alone at home.

ditch /d?t?/ n. 溝;渠

slit /sl?t/ n. 長而窄的口子;狹縫;裂縫

His eyes narrowed into slits.

torture /'t??rt??（r）/ n. 拷打;拷問;酷刑

v. 拷打;拷問;使痛苦;使苦惱

Many of the refugees have suffered torture.

chamber /'t?e?mb?（r）/ n. （作特定用途的）房間;會議廳