威斯敏斯特教堂遐思英语
教堂大家有去吗?那么大家对于教堂是有什么印象的呢?接下来,我给大家准备了威斯敏斯特教堂遐思英语,欢迎大家参考与借鉴。
威斯敏斯特教堂遐思英语
Thoughts in Westminster Abbey
When I am in a serious humour, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey, where the gloominess of the place, and the use to which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building, and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind with a kind of melancholy, or rather thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable. I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the churchyard, the cloisters, and the church, amusing myself with the tombstones and inscriptions that I met with in those several regions of the dead. Most of them recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day, and died upon another: the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances, that are common to all mankind. I could not but look upon these registers of existence, whether of brass or marble, as a kind of satire upon the departed persons; who had left no other memorial of them, but that they were born and that they died. They put me in mind of several persons mentioned in the battles of heroic poems, who have sounding names given them, for no other reason but that they may be killed, and are celebrated for nothing but being knocked on the head. The life of these men is finely described in Holy Writ by “the path of an arrow,” which is immediately closed up and lost.
Upon my going into the church, I entertained myself with the digging of a grave; and saw in every shovelful of it that was thrown up, the fragment of a bone or skull intermixt with a kind of fresh mouldering earth, that some time or other had a place in the composition of a human body. Upon this, I began to consider with myself what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral; how men and women, friends and enemies, priests and soldiers, monks and prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in the same common mass; how beauty, strength, and youth, with old age, weakness and deformity, lay undistinguished in the same promiscuous heap of matter.
After having thus surveyed this great magazine of mortality, as it were, in the lump; I examined it more particularly by the accounts which I found on several of the monuments which are raised in every quarter of that ancient fabric. Some of them were covered with such extravagant epitaphs, that, if it were possible for the dead person to be acquainted with them, he would blush at the praises which his friends have bestowed upon him. There are others so excessively modest, that they deliver the character of the person departed in Greek or Hebrew, and by that means are not understood once in a twelve month. In the poetical quarter, I found there were poets who had no monuments, and monuments which had no poets. I observed indeed that the present war had filled the church with many of these uninhabited monuments, which had been erected to the memory of persons whose bodies were perhaps buried in the plains of Blenheim, or in the bosom of the ocean.
I could not but be very much delighted with several modern epitaphs, which are written with great elegance of expression and justness of thought, and therefore do honour to the living as well as to the dead. As a foreigner is very apt to conceive an idea of the ignorance or politeness of a nation, from the turn of their public monuments and inscriptions, they should be submitted to the perusal of men of learning and genius, before they are put in execution. Sir Cloudesly Shovel’s monument has very often given me great offence: instead of the brave rough English Admiral, which was the distinguishing character of that plain gallant man, he is represented on his tomb by the figure of a beau, dressed in a long periwig, and reposing himself upon velvet cushions under a canopy of state. The inscription is answerable to the monument; for instead of celebrating the many remarkable actions he had performed in the service of his country, it acquaints us only with the manner of his death, in which it was impossible for him to reap any honour. The Dutch, whom we are apt to despise for want of genius, show an infinitely greater taste of antiquity and politeness in their buildings and works of this nature, than what we meet with in those of our own country. The monuments of their admirals, which have been erected at the public expense, represent them like themselves; and are adorned with rostral crowns and naval ornaments, with beautiful festoons of seaweed, shells, and coral.
But to return to our subject. I have left the repository of our English kings for the contemplation of another day, when I shall find my mind disposed for so serious an amusement. I know that entertainments of this nature are apt to raise dark and dismal thoughts in timorous minds, and gloomy imaginations; but for my own part, though I am always serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can therefore take a view of nature in her deep and solemn scenes, with the same pleasure as in her most gay and delightful ones. By this means I can improve myself with those objects, which others consider with terror. When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.
相关 文章 :
1. 外贸英语常用词汇--商品包装篇
2. 外贸跟单英语面试自我介绍
3. 关于外贸展会英语对话情景
4. 外贸跟单员英语自我介绍4篇
5. 外贸英语函电询盘范文
6. 商务英语询盘范文外贸应用范文
蔡武曲纳: Westminster Abbey is the famous British Protestant churches, its history and even London is the epitome of British history. Westminster Abbey grand, spectacular, the United Kingdom is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, but also the history of the...
林芝地区15670585567: "威斯敏斯特教堂"的英文怎么写??? - ?
蔡武曲纳: 威斯敏斯特教堂 Westminster Abbey
林芝地区15670585567: 威斯敏斯特教堂的那段著名文字的英文翻译!!! - ?
蔡武曲纳: When I am young of time, dream of to never be limited.My dreaming of can change world, understanding gradually impossibly;Mature hour, the dream can change a nation;And go to an old age, detection oneself can't changing nation, the this ...
林芝地区15670585567: 威斯敏斯特教堂的那段著名文字的英文翻译!当我年轻的时候,梦想从没有被限制过.我梦想能够改变世界,渐渐明白到不可能;成熟时,梦想可以改变国家;... - ?
蔡武曲纳:[答案] When I am young of time,dream of to never be limited.My dreaming of can change world,understanding gradually impossibly;Mature hour,the dream can change a nation;And go to an old age,detection oneself...
林芝地区15670585567: 求威斯敏斯特教堂碑文英语原文“当我年轻的时候,我梦想改变这个世界;当我成熟以后,我发现我不能够改变这个世界,我将目光缩短了些,决定只改变我... - ?
蔡武曲纳:[答案] Legend has it that these words are written on the tomb of a bishop, buried in the crypts of Westminster Abbey in London: "When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I ...
林芝地区15670585567: 关于威斯敏斯特教堂英文名称及中文翻译的几点疑问 - ?
蔡武曲纳: Westminster Abbey译文主要有二个版本,威斯敏斯特教堂或西敏寺.目前没有在两种版本中选择固定的译法,所以都可以接受.Westminster Abbey是正式称谓,一些英语网站上以Westminster Abby作为简写,因为根据其读音在口语中较为常...
林芝地区15670585567: 急求:“威斯敏斯特教堂(Westminster Abbey)”的英文简介 - ?
蔡武曲纳: 楼上的教堂历史,我这个是介绍Westminster AbbeyFormally titled The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, this mainly Gothic church in London is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English monarchs. First built by Edward...
林芝地区15670585567: 跪求心灵鸡汤中写到在威斯敏斯特教堂地下室一个墓碑上关于先改变自己的那段话的英文版 - ?
蔡武曲纳: When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, ...
林芝地区15670585567: 想让世界认识我! - ?
蔡武曲纳: 在英国最古老的建筑物威斯敏斯特教堂旁边,矗立着一块墓碑,上面刻着一段非常著名的话: 当我年轻的时候,我梦想改变这个世界; 当我成熟以后,我发现我不能够改变这个世界,我将目光缩短了些,决定只改变我的国家; 当我进入暮年以...
林芝地区15670585567: 求威斯敏斯特教堂碑文英语原文 - ?
蔡武曲纳: Legend has it that these words are written on the tomb of a bishop, buried in the crypts of Westminster Abbey in London:"When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, ...