无妄之灾(英中对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
无妄之灾
in late 1943, the allies were fighting their way up from southern italy towards rome when they encountered fierce resistance around monte cassino. one casualty of the battle for monte cassino was the benedictine monastery, built in the 6th century.
on 15 february 1944, us warplanes dropped 50 tonnes of bombs on the building, which crowned monte cassino, under the impression that the germans were using it as an observation point. in fact, the german commander had deliberately kept his troops from the building out of respect for its religions and cultural significance. at the time of the attack, the only occupants were the abbot* and six monks together with an unknown number of civilian refugees, mainly women and children. the monastery was razed to its foundations.

一九四三年杪,盟军由南意大利北上,一路征战,直指罗马,在卡辛诺山遇到猛烈抵抗。卡辛诺山攻守战之中,六世纪建筑的本笃修道院也遭破坏。
修道院建于山巅,美军以为德军占据了作观察站,一九四四年二月十五日派出战机,向这栋建筑物投下五十公吨炸弹,殊不知德军指挥官由于尊重修道院的宗教和文化意义,特别禁止军队进入。美军轰炸时,院内只有住持、六个修道士以及数目不详的避难平民,其中多数是妇孺。修道院被夷为平地。
备注：
*由 abbot(男住持)掌管的修道院叫 monastery,女住持( abbess)掌管的则叫 nunnery。两种修道院都可称为 abbey。