Lesson 27

The Vasa

From the seventeenth-century empire of Sweden, the story of a galleon that sank at the start of her maiden voyage in 1628 must be one of the strangest tales of the sea.
来自十七世纪的瑞典帝国，关于一艘在1628年处女航开始时就沉没的帆船的故事，一定是关于海洋最奇怪的故事之一。
For nearly three and a half centuries she lay at the bottom of Stockholm harbour until her discovery in 1956.
近三个半世纪以来，她一直躺在斯德哥尔摩港的底部，直到1956年被发现。
This was the Vasa, royal flagship of the great imperial fleet.
这就是瓦萨号，伟大帝国舰队的皇家旗舰。
King Gustavus Adolphus, 'The Northern Hurricane', then at the height of his military success in the Thirty Years' War, had dictated her measurements and armament.
古斯塔夫·阿道夫国王，即“北方飓风”，当时正处于三十年战争中军事成就的巅峰，他规定了她的尺寸和武器装备。
Triple gun-decks mounted sixty-four bronze cannon.
三层炮甲板安装了六十四门青铜加农炮。
She was intended to play a leading role in the growing might of Sweden.
她被预定在瑞典日益增长的力量中扮演领导角色。
As she was prepared for her maiden voyage on August 10, 1628, Stockholm was in a ferment.
当她在1628年8月10日准备进行处女航时，斯德哥尔摩正处于骚动之中。
From the Skeppsbron and surrounding islands the people watched this thing of beauty begin to spread her sails and catch the wind.
从斯凯普斯布隆码头和周围的岛屿，人们注视着这个美丽的事物开始展开她的风帆并捕捉风。
They had laboured for three years to produce this floating work of art; she was more richly carved and ornamented than any previous ship.
他们花费了三年时间来制造这件漂浮的艺术品；她被雕刻和装饰得比任何之前的船只都要华丽。
The high stern castle was a riot of carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs; and zoomorphic animal shapes ablaze with red and gold and blue, symbols of courage, power, and cruelty, were portrayed to stir the imaginations of the superstitious sailors of the day.
高耸的船尾楼充满了雕刻的神灵、恶魔、骑士、国王、战士、美人鱼和小天使；而闪耀着红、金、蓝三色的兽形动物图案，作为勇气、力量和残忍的象征，被描绘出来以激发那个时代迷信水手们的想象力。
Then the cannons of the anchored warships thundered a salute to which the Vasa fired in reply.
然后锚泊战舰的大炮轰鸣出一声礼炮，瓦萨号对此开火作为回应。
As she emerged from her drifting cloud of gun smoke with the water churned to foam beneath her bow, her flags flying, pennants waving, sails filling in the breeze, and the red and gold of her superstructure ablaze with colour, she presented a more majestic spectacle than Stockholmers had ever seen before.
当她从漂浮的火药烟雾中浮现，船头下方的水面被搅动成泡沫，旗帜飘扬，三角旗挥舞，船帆在微风中鼓起，上层建筑的红金两色色彩斑斓时，她呈现出一幅比斯德哥尔摩人曾经见过的更为壮观的景象。
All gun-ports were open and the muzzles peeped wickedly from them.
所有炮门都是打开的，炮口从里面邪恶地窥视着。
As the wind freshened there came a sudden squall and the ship made a strange movement, listing to port.
随着风力增强，出现了一阵突然的飑，船做出了一个奇怪的动作，向左舷倾斜。
The Ordnance Officer ordered all the port cannon to be heaved to starboard to counteract the list, but the steepening angle of the decks increased.
军械官命令将所有左舷大炮搬运到右舷以抵消倾斜，但甲板的倾斜角度却增加了。
Then the sound of rumbling thunder reached the watchers on the shore, as cargo, ballast, ammunition and 400 people went sliding and crashing down to the port side of the steeply listing ship.
然后隆隆的雷声传到了岸上的观察者们那里，此时货物、压舱物、弹药和400人滑落并撞击到那艘陡峭倾斜的船的左舷。
The lower gun-ports were now below water and the inrush sealed the ship’s fate.
较低的炮门现在处于水面以下，涌入的海水决定了船的命运。
In that first glorious hour, the mighty Vasa, which was intended to rule the Baltic, sank with all flags flying—in the harbour of her birth.
在那第一个辉煌的小时里，本意旨在统治波罗的海的强大瓦萨号，在它诞生之地的港口，带着所有飘扬的旗帜沉没了。