风雷老将心(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。
风雷老将心

king pyrrhus of epirus was an ambitious ruler whose aim was to revive the empire of his second cousin, alexander the great. he went to italy in 280 bc, where he defeated the romans at heraclea, and advanced to within 37 miles of the city of rome.
the roman senate was about to vote on peace with pyrrhus, when appius claudius, a distinguished general who had been retired for many years and was blind, arrived. "my blindness," he said, "has been a great annoyance to me, but now that i hear about these dishonourable proposals of yours, i wish i were deaf as well. do you remember your brave words about alexander? you bragged that if he dared to come into italy, he would not now be called 'the great'." these words changed everything. the romans decided against seeking peace, and in 275 bc defeated pyrrhus at beneventum.

伊庇鲁斯国王皮拉斯野心勃勃，有意重振其远房堂兄亚历山大大帝的帝国。公元前二八○年，他出兵义大利，在赫拉克利亚打败罗马军，进逼罗马城，离城不过三十七英里。
罗马元老院提议和皮拉斯讲和，正要投票决定，退休多年并盲了眼的名将阿丕乌斯．克逻阿士来了。他说：「失明令我十分苦恼，但听到你们这些可耻提议，我希望自己不但盲了，最好也聋了。还记得你们从前谈到亚历山大，说过什么豪言壮语吗？你们夸口说，假如亚历山大当年有胆来到义大利，今天就不会有『大帝』的称号。」这番话改变了一切。罗马决定不向皮拉斯求和，公元前二七五年，在贝尼芬顿把皮拉斯打败。