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Historians like a quiet life and usually they get it.
历史学家多爱平静的生活 也通常得偿所愿
For the most part, history moves at a glacial pace,working its changes subtly.
多数时候 历史是在缓慢的进程中 悄然变化着
In Britain, especially,we like to think there's something about our history,
特别是在不列颠 我们倾向认为自己的历史向来不乏温和
like our climate, our landscape, that's naturally moderate,
比如我们的气候与地貌
not much given to earthquakes and revolutions.
没有频发的地震或剧烈的地壳运动
But there are times and places when history, British history,
但历史上 不列颠的一些地方确有这种时期
comes at you with a rush, violent,decisive, bloody,a truckload of trouble
排山倒海般的剧变 暴力 果决 血腥与种种
knocking you down, wiping out everything that gives you your bearings in the world:
打击与摧毁着给予人们文明举止的一切力量
law, custom, loyalty and language.And this is one of those places.
法律 习俗 忠诚以及语言 这里便是其中之一
I know it doesn't look like the site of a national trauma,does it?
我知道这里看上去并不像民族血拼之地 不是吗
Especially these days,it looks more suitable for a county fair than a mass slaughter.
特别是如今 这里更适于乡村赶集 而非大规模杀戮
But this is the battlefield of Hastings,
但这里是黑斯廷斯战役的战场
and here one kind of England was annihilated and another kind of England was set up in its place.
英格兰的一个时代在此终结 转而开启了另一个时代
Some historians will tell you that for most people of England Hastings didn't matter that much,
有些史学家会告诉你 对多数英格兰人来说 黑斯廷斯之战并没有那么重要
that 1066 was mostly a matter of replacing Saxon lords with Norman knights.
1066年的改变不过是 诺曼骑士取代了撒克逊王族
Peasants still ploughed their fields and paid taxes to the king,
农民们仍一如既往地耕地纳税
prayed to avoid poverty and pestilence and watched the seasons roll round.
祈求远离贫困与瘟疫 年复一年经历着四季更迭
