书城英文图书美国学生世界历史
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第61章 历史上时间最长的战争

Is this anther Latin heading? No, it"s English.

Don"t yu understand English?

It was 1338, and Edward III was kingf England. He alswned sme land in France, which the French king wanted t take away frm him. Edward III decided he wanted t rule France as well as England. He said he was related t the frmer kingf France and had a better right t the cuntry than thene wh was ruling. S he started a war t take France, and the war he started lasted mre than a hundred years. This is knwn as the Hundred Years" War and it is:

The Lngest War that Ever Was!

The English army sailedver frm England and landed in France. The first great battle was fught in 1346 at a little place called Crécy. The English army wasn ft and was made up chieflyf the cmmn peple. The French army were mstly knights clad in armrn hrseback.

The French knightsn hrseback thught themselves much finer than the cmmn English sldiers wh weren ft. The English sldiers, hwever, used a weapn called the lngbw, which sht arrws with terrific frce, and they cmpletely whipped the French knights in spitef the fact that the knights were nbles, were trained t be fighters, rden hrses, and were prtected by armr.

Cannns were used by the English in this battle fr the first time. The cannns, hwever, did nt amunt t much nr d very much harm. They were s weak that they simply tssed the cannn-balls at the enemy asne might thrw a basketballr ftball. They scared the hrsesf the French but did littlether damage. But this was the beginningf what was befre lng t be the endf knights and armr and feudalism.

After the battlef Crécy, a hrribly cntagius disease called bubnic plague attacked the peplef Eurpe. It was like the plague in Athens in the Agef Pericles, but this plague did nt attack justne cityr cuntry. It was suppsedt have started in Cathay, and it spread westward until it reached Eurpe. There was n running away frm it. It spread far and widever the whle land and killed mre human beings than any war that has ever been. The bubnic plague was called Black Death, because black spts cameut allver the bdyf anyne wh caught it, and he was certain t die within a few hursr a dayr tw. There was n hpe. N medicine had any effect. Many peple cmmitted suicide just as sn as they fund they had the disease. Many died just frm fright, actually "scared t death."It lasted tw years, and millins upn millins caught the disease.ne thirdf the peplef Eurpe diedf it. Whle twns were wipedut, and in many places nne was left t bury the dead. Dead bdies lay where they had fallen-n the street, in the drway, in the marketplace.

The crps in the fields went t waste, fr there was nne t gather them. Hrses and cws ramedver the cuntry at will, fr there was nne t care fr them. The plague attacked even sailrs at sea, and ships were fund drifting abutn the water with nt a sul alive leftn bard, with nt evenne left t steer the ship.

What if it had killed every last man, wman, and child in the wrld! What then wuld have been the future histryf the wrld?

As if there were nt enugh peple dead already, the Hundred Years" War still wentn year after year. The sldiers wh had fught at Crécy had been dead fr years. Their children had grwn up, fught, and died; their grandchildren had grwn up, fught, and died; and their great grandchildren had dne the same; and the English army was still fighting in France. The French prince at that time was very yung and weak, and the French were almst in despair-hpeless- because they had n strng leader t help them driveut the English after all these many years.

Nw, in a little French village there was living a pr peasant girl, a shepherdess, called Janf Arc. As she watched her flcksf sheep, she had wnderful visins. She heard vices calling t her, telling her she was thene wh must lead the French armies and save France frm England. She went t the prince"s nbles and tld them her visins. But they did nt put any faith in herr her visins, and they did nt believe she was able t d the things she thught she culd.

T test her, hwever, they dressed up anther man as the prince and put himn the thrne while the prince std atne side with the nbles. Then they let Jan int the rm. When Jan entered the ryal hall, she gavene lk at the man wh was seatedn the thrne and dressed up as the prince. Then withut hesitating she walked directly past him and went straight t the real prince.

Befre him she knelt and said, "I have cme t lead yur armies t victry." The prince atnce gave her his flag and a suitf armr, and she rdeut at the headf all the army and had the prince crwned king.

The French sldiers tk heart again. It seemed as if the Lrd had sent an angel t lead them, and they fught s hard and s bravely that they wn many battles.

Janf Arc at the stake ( 火刑柱上的贞德 )The English sldiers, hwever, thught that it was nt the Lrd but the devil wh had sent Jan and that she was nt an angel but a witch, and they were very much afraidf her. At last, the English made her prisner. The French king, whm she had saved, didn"t even try t save her, in spitef all she had dne fr him. Nw that things were ging his way, he didn"t like t have a wman running things, and the sldiers didn"t like t have a wmanrdering them arund, and they were glad t be ridf her.

The English tried her as a witch, judged her guiltyf being a witch, and then they burned her alive at the stake.

But Jan seemed t have brught the French gd luck, t have put newlife int their armies, fr frm that timen, France increased in strength, and, after mre than a hundred yearsf fighting, at last drve the Englishutf the cuntry. In mre thanne hundred yearsf fighting, hundredsf thusandsf peple had been wunded and crippled and blinded and killed, and after it all England was n betterff, just the same as when it started-all the fighting all fr nthing.

【中文阅读】

这又是一个拉丁文的标题吗? 不是的,这是英语的。 难道你不懂英语?

公元 1338 年,英国国王是爱德华三世。他在法国也拥有一些土地,法国国王 想把这些土地从他手里夺过去。爱德华三世认定自己不仅要统治英国还要统治法国。 他自己是法国前国王的亲戚,比现任国王更有资格领导这个国家,所以他发动了一 场夺取法国的战争,这场战争持续了一百多年,史称"百年战争",而且是:

历史上时间最长的战争!

英国军队乘船从英国出发,在法国登陆。第一次大战役是公元 1346 年,战场在 一个叫克雷西的小地方。英国军队都是步兵,主要由普通老百姓组成。法国军队大 部分是身着盔甲、骑着骏马的骑士。

骑在马上的法国骑士认为自己比普通的英国步兵强得多,不把他们放在眼里。 然而英国士兵使用了一种叫做长弓的武器,这种弓射出的箭威力极大,彻底击败了 法国骑士,尽管法国骑士都是贵族,又受过专门的训练,骑着大马,还被盔甲保护 得严严实实。

在这次战役中英国人第一次使用大炮。但是这些大炮没有起到多大作用,杀伤 力也不强。大炮的冲力很小,只是向敌军抛出炮弹,就像扔了只篮球或足球一样。 炮弹只是让法军的马匹受到惊吓,没有造成其他伤害。但这是个序幕,它预示不久 以后骑士、盔甲和封建主义的结束。

克雷西战役之后,欧洲爆发了一场可怕的叫做"腺鼠疫"的传染病。它像伯里 克利时代雅典的瘟疫一样,不过这场瘟疫不仅仅侵害一个城市,或一个国家。据说 它起源于中国,向西一直蔓延到欧洲。所经之处无人幸免。在整个大陆广泛传播, 死于这场瘟疫的人比在以往任何一场战争中死去的人都多。腺鼠疫当时叫做"黑死 病",因为任何人感染了这种病,全身会出现很多黑点,而且在几小时或一两天之内 必死无疑。没有任何希望。任何药物都没有效果。许多人刚发现自己染上病,就自 杀了。许多人只是受不了惊恐而死,是真正"吓死的"。

这场瘟疫持续了两年,千百万人感染上这种病。有三分之一的欧洲人因此而死 去。经常是整个城镇的人都死光了,许多地方连埋死尸的人都没剩下。到处是倒地 而亡的尸体--街上、门口旁、市场里。

田里的庄稼都荒芜了,因为没有人收割。马和牛没人照看,在乡间四处乱窜。 就连航海的水手也感染了黑死病,船在水上漂来漂去,船上连一个活人也没有,哪 有人来驾船呢?

要是世界上每一个男人、女人和孩子都死于这场瘟疫,那会有什么结果呢?之 后世界的历史会怎样呢?

好像因黑死病而死去的人还不够多似的,英法百年战争还在一年又一年地继 续。曾参加过克雷西战役的士兵们已经死去多年了。他们的孩子长大后,开始作战, 然后死去;他们的孙子长大成人,继续打仗,再死去;他们的曾孙也重复这个过 程;英国军队仍然在法国作战。那时候,法国王子既年幼又懦弱,法国人几乎绝望 了--法国濒于绝境--因为英国人入侵这么多年以后,他们没有强悍的领袖帮助 他们驱逐英国人。

那时,在法国一个小村庄里,生活着一个贫穷的农家女孩,她是一个牧羊女, 叫贞德。她在牧羊时,看到了奇妙的幻象。她听到有声音在召唤她,还说只有她才 能率领法国军队,将法国从英军手下拯救出来。她找到王子身边的贵族,把她看到 的幻象告诉他们。但是他们根本不相信她和她看到的幻象,也不相信她有这样的能 力可以拯救法国。

不过,为了试试,他们把另一个人装扮成王子,让他坐在王位上,而王子和贵 族们站在一边。然后他们让贞德进屋。当贞德走进皇家大厅,她看了一眼那个坐在 王位上、装扮成王子的人。接着,她毫不迟疑地从他身边走过,直接走到真正的王 子面前。她向王子下跪,对王子说:"我是来带领你的军队走向胜利的。"王子立刻将 自己的旗令和一副盔甲给了她,自己加冕为国王。贞德一马当先领军杀敌。

法国士兵重新振作起来。似乎就像上帝派了一位天使领导他们,他们浴血奋战、 英勇万分,接连打了很多胜仗。

但是英国士兵却认为不是上帝而是魔鬼派来了贞德,她不是天使而是女巫,他 们非常惧怕她。最后,英国人把她俘虏了。法国国王此时根本没打算救她,尽管她 挽救过他,还为他立下汗马功劳。既然形势正按照自己的意愿好转,他可不想让一 个女人来管事,士兵们也不愿意让一个女人指挥他们团团转,他们都很高兴能摆 脱她。

英国人把她作为女巫审判,并以此判她有罪,然后,把她活活烧死在火刑柱上。 但是贞德似乎给法国带来了好运,让军队获得了新生,从那时起,法国军力大 增,经过一百多年的奋战,终于把英国人从自己的国土上赶走了。在一百多年的战 争中,成千上万的人受伤、致残,成了瞎子乃至死亡,经过这么长时间的战争,英国的情况丝毫没有变好,还和战争开始时一样--百年来的拼战厮杀全都白费了。