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伊玛, 一个令人肃然起敬的英格兰村庄(组图)
作者: 新三才网讯
2009-05-10
伊玛, 一个令人肃然起敬的英格兰村庄
Eyam - A Remarkable English Village
(1062, 647)
【新三才首发,转载请注明出处】大约十五年前的一个夏天,我和一位英国朋友路过德比郡(Derbyshire)的小村庄伊玛(Eyam)。我的朋友告诉我这个村庄值得一游, 我就随他下了车。
One day - it was nearly fifteen years ago, - an English friend and I drove through a village in Derbyshire, called Eyam. My friend told me that this was a village worth visiting, so we stopped and started to have a look around.
与我以往见过的德比郡其它村庄相比,这里的建筑、园林并没有特殊的地方。
I couldn't see anything special in terms of buildings and gardens in the village in comparison with all the other villages I have visited in Derbyshire.
当我们走到村中著名的景点——莫派申井(Mompesson’Well) 边时,我的朋友给我讲述了大瘟疫期间发生在这里的故事。故事如此感人, 我被深深吸引。 从此,伊玛成为我喜爱访问的村庄。
However, when we walked to Mompesson's Well, my friend began to tell me what had happened here during the Great Plague. I was completely absorbed and very moved by the story. Since then Eyam has become a village I love to visit.
1665年8月底,伊玛村庄的裁缝乔治•维克收到了一包从伦敦寄来的衣服,想不到这包衣服将正在伦敦地区发生的大瘟疫——淋巴腺鼠疫带进了乔治•维克的家,也带进了伊玛小村。
At the end of August in 1665 The Black Death or Bubonic Plague arrived in the village. It came first to the house of a tailor, George Vicars, in a parcel of woollen cloth from London.
乔治将潮湿的衣服打开放到火炉前晾晒,也将那些染上鼠疫的跳蚤放了出来。三天之后,乔治•维克成为伊玛村第一位鼠疫受害者。此后鼠疫在伊玛村蔓延开来,大面积的吞噬著人们的生命,以至教堂礼拜活动不得不改为在教堂后面的卡克里特•德福小山坳进行。
The cloth was damp and George hung them in front of the fire to dry, thus releasing the plague infested fleas. Three days later, George Vicars, the first plague victim, died of a raging fever. As the plague took hold and the villagers began to die it was decided to hold the church services outdoors at nearby Cucklett Delf .
眼看死亡人数不断上升,新牧师威廉•莫派申和刚刚卸任的老牧师汤玛斯•史大林建议村民主动自我隔离, 人人都不再离开村庄, 防止鼠疫外传。
Seeing the death toll rise the village Rector, William Mompesson, with the support of his predecessor Thomas Stanley, urged the parishioners to quarantine themselves to stop the spread of the disease.
做出这样的决定,村民们等于在生与死之间选择了死,牧师莫派申呼唤村民在对基督的坚定信念中寻找力量。
In making this decision, the villagers were effectively choosing death instead of life, but Mompesson urged them to find strength in their religious convictions.
为尽可能的减少交叉传染,外来的食品及其它供应品被运送到村庄的边界石上或莫派申井边。
To minimize cross infection, it was arranged that food and other supplies were left outside the village, at either the Boundary Stones, or at Mompesson's Well, high above the village.
住在查斯沃斯的德温郡伯爵免费为村民提供食物和药品。对其它物品, 村中的人们把付款的钱,要放在井中用水冲洗,或放在坑中用醋浸泡,以保证钱币不带有病毒。
The Earl of Devonshire, who lived at Chatsworth House, freely donated food and medical supplies. For all other goods, money, as payment, was either purified by the running water in the stream or was left in vinegar filled holes in the village's boundary stones.
在离伊玛村庄半英哩的瑞雷墓地里,埋著农妇伊莉莎白•汉克的丈夫和她的六个孩子。伊莉莎白是因为帮著邻居埋葬死去的亲人而将瘟疫带进自己的家中,她的丈夫和六个孩子在一周之内相继染病死去。为了不再把瘟疫传给别人,伊莉莎白自己一个人将先后死去的七个亲人一一埋葬。
The Riley graves, close to Riley House Farm and approximately 1/2 mile from the village house the bodies of the husband and six children of farmer Elizabeth Hancock. All died within a week of each other. Because of the high risk of infecting her neighbours she had the traumatic task of burying them all herself. Even more tragic is that the infection probably came to her family when she helped bury another villager's body.
乔治死去12个月时,瘟疫还在横行。1666年8月25日,牧师威廉•莫派申的28岁的妻子凯瑟琳不幸也被瘟疫夺去了生命。凯萨琳忠诚地与丈夫一起不停的去照料、护理那些染病的村民, 最踪也成为瘟疫的牺牲品。
Twelve months after the death of George Vicars, the plague was still claiming its victims, and on 25th August 1666 Catherine Mompesson (aged 28), wife of the recently appointed rector William Mompesson, died of the plague. She had loyally stayed with her husband and tended the sick, only to become a victim herself.
瘟疫在伊玛村横行了14个月,夺去了总共只有800多名村民中的260多名村民的生命,最后一名受害者死于1666年11月1日。
The Plague in Eyam raged for 14 months and claimed the lives of at least 260 of the 800 villagers. By 1st November 1666 the plague had run its course and claimed its last victim.
伊玛村庄无私的村民,带著对基督的坚定信念,展示了人类巨大的勇气和自我牺牲精神。他们自己付出了昂贵的代价,防止了瘟疫传入临近其它地区。
Eyam's selfless villagers, with their strong Christian convictions, had shown immense personal courage and self sacrifice. They had prevented the plague from spreading to other parishes nearby, but many paid the ultimate price for their commitment.
如今的伊玛小村把每年8月的最后一个星期天叫做瘟疫星期天,人们聚集在卡克里特•德福,纪念瘟疫中死去的人们。在瘟疫星期天,凯瑟琳的墓碑也会被玫瑰花环装扮起来。
Almost 350 years later a remembrance service is still held every Plague Sunday (the last Sunday in August) at Cucklett Delf in Eyam. Catherine Mompesson's tomb is in Eyam churchyard. Each year it is decorated with a wreath made of roses on Plague Sunday.
我相信每一个访问过这个没被污染的伊玛小村庄的人,都会被350年前发生在这里的悲烈故事所感动。
It's impossible to visit this unspoilt Derbyshire village and not be moved by the tragic events that took place here almost 350 years ago.
注意:本文部分信息参考了如下网站:http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/outandabout/eyam.htm;
Notes:some of the contents in this article is based on the following webpage: http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/outandabout/eyam.htm.
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