There is a strong current southward through the Dardanelles, which swung the vessel6 round as we came to anchor. The forts which, with their heavy modern guns, completely command this strait, are something less than a mile and a half apart, and near each is a large and handsome town,—Khilid-bahri on the European shore and Chanak-Kalesi on the Asiatic. The latter name signifies the pottery7-castle, and is derived8 from the chief manufactory of the place; the town of a couple of thousand houses, gayly painted and decorated in lively colors, lies upon a sandy flat and presents a very cheerful appearance. It is a great Asiatic entrep魌 for European products, and consular9 flags attest10 its commercial importance.
When I came upon deck its enterprising traders had already boarded the steamer, and encumbered11 it with their pottery, which found a ready market with the pilgrims, for it is both cheap and ugly. Perhaps we should rather say fantastic than ugly. You see specimens12 of it all over the East, and in the bazaars13 of Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus it may be offered you as something rare. Whatever the vessel is,—a pitcher14, cup, vase, jar, or cream-pot,—its form is either that of some impossible animal, some griffin, or dragon, or dog of the underworld, or its spout15 is the neck and head of some fantastic monster. The ware16 is painted in the most startling reds, greens, yellows, and blacks, and sometimes gilt17, and then glazed18. It is altogether hideous19, and fascinating enough to drive the majolica out of favor.
Above these two towns the strait expands into a sort of bay, formed on the north by a promontory20 jutting21 out from the Asiatic shore, and upon this promontory it is now agreed stood old Abydos; it is occupied by a fort which grimly regards a corresponding one on the opposite shore, not a mile distant. Here Leander swam to Hero, Byron to aquatic22 fame, and here Xerxes laid his bridge. All this is plain to be seen; this is the narrowest part of the passage; exactly opposite this sloping site of Abydos is a depression between two high cliffs, the only point where the Persian could have rested the European extremity23 of his bridge; and it surely requires no stretch of the imagination to see Hero standing24 upon this projecting point holding the torch for her lover.
The shore is very pretty each side, not bold, but quiet scenery; and yet there is a contrast: on the Asiatic horizon are mountains, rising behind each other, while the narrow peninsula, the Thracian Chersonesus of the ancients, which forms the western bank of the Dardanelles, offers only a range of moderate hills. What a beautiful stream, indeed, is this, and how fond history has been of enacting25 its spectacles upon it! How the civilizations of the East and West, in a continual flow and reflow, push each other across it! With a sort of periodic regularity26 it is the scene of a great movement, and from age to age the destinies of the race have seemed to hang upon its possession; and from time to time the attention of the world is concentrated upon this water-street between two continents. Under whatever name, the Oriental civilization has been a misfortune, and the Western a blessing27 to the border-land; and how narrowly has Europe, more than once, from Xerxes to Chosroes, from Omar to the Osmanlis, seemed to escape the torrent28 of Eastern slavery. Once the culture of Greece passed these limits, and annexed29 all Asia Minor30 and the territory as far as the Euphrates to the empire of intelligence. Who shall say that the day is not at hand when the ancient movement of free thought, if not of Grecian art and arms, is about to be renewed, and Europe is not again to impose its laws and manners upon Little Asia? The conquest, which one sees going on under his eyes, is not indeed with the pomp of armies, but by the more powerful and enduring might of commerce, intercourse31, and the weight of a world's opinion diffused32 by travel and literature. The Osmanli sits supinely and watches the change; the Greeks, the rajahs of all religions, establish schools, and the new generation is getting ready for the revolution; the Turk does not care for schools. That it may be his fate to abandon European Turkey and even Constantinople, he admits. But it is plain that if he goes thus far he must go farther; and that he must surrender a good part of the Roman Eastern Empire. For any one can see that the Hellespont could not be occupied by two powers, and that it is no more possible to divide the control of the Bosphorus than it is that of the Hudson or the Thames.
The morning was cold, and the temperature as well as the sky admonished33 us that we were passing out of the warm latitude34. Twenty-five miles from the Chang and Eng forts we passed near but did not call at Gallipoli, an ancient city with few antiquities35, but of great strategic importance. Whoever holds it has the key to Constantinople and the Black Sea; it was seized by the Moslems in the thirteenth century before they imposed the religion of the Koran upon the city of Constantine, and it was early occupied by the English and French, in 1854, in the war that secured that city to the successor of the Prophet.
Entering upon the Sea of Marmora, the "vexed37 Propontis," we had fortunately smooth water but a cold north-wind. The Propontis has enjoyed a nauseous reputation with all mariners38, ancient and modern. I don't know that its form has anything to do with it, but if the reader will take the trouble to consult a map, he will see how nearly this hag of water, with its two ducts, the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, resembles a human stomach. There is nothing to be seen in the voyage from Gallipoli to Constantinople, except the island of Marmora, famous for the quarries39 which furnish marbles for the palaces of the Bosphorus and for Eyoub and Scutari, the two great cities of the dead. We passed near enough to distinguish clearly its fine perpendicular40 cliffs.
It was dark before we saw the lights of Stamboul rise out of the water; it is impossible, at night, to enter the Golden Horn through the mazes41 of shipping42, and we cast anchor outside. The mile or two of gas-lights along the promontory of the old city and the gleams upon the coast of ancient Chalcedon were impressive and exciting to the imagination, but, owing to the lateness of our arrival, we lost all the emotions which have, struck other travellers anything but dumb upon coming in sight of the capital of the Moslem36 Empire.
点击收听单词发音
1 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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2 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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3 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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4 embarking | |
乘船( embark的现在分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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5 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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6 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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7 pottery | |
n.陶器,陶器场 | |
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8 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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9 consular | |
a.领事的 | |
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10 attest | |
vt.证明,证实;表明 | |
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11 encumbered | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 specimens | |
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人 | |
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13 bazaars | |
(东方国家的)市场( bazaar的名词复数 ); 义卖; 义卖市场; (出售花哨商品等的)小商品市场 | |
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14 pitcher | |
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手 | |
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15 spout | |
v.喷出,涌出;滔滔不绝地讲;n.喷管;水柱 | |
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16 ware | |
n.(常用复数)商品,货物 | |
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17 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
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18 glazed | |
adj.光滑的,像玻璃的;上过釉的;呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式);上釉于,上光;(目光)变得呆滞无神 | |
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19 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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20 promontory | |
n.海角;岬 | |
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21 jutting | |
v.(使)突出( jut的现在分词 );伸出;(从…)突出;高出 | |
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22 aquatic | |
adj.水生的,水栖的 | |
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23 extremity | |
n.末端,尽头;尽力;终极;极度 | |
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24 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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25 enacting | |
制定(法律),通过(法案)( enact的现在分词 ) | |
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26 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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27 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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28 torrent | |
n.激流,洪流;爆发,(话语等的)连发 | |
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29 annexed | |
[法] 附加的,附属的 | |
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30 minor | |
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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31 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
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32 diffused | |
散布的,普及的,扩散的 | |
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33 admonished | |
v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 );训诫;(温和地)责备;轻责 | |
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34 latitude | |
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区 | |
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35 antiquities | |
n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 );古迹;古人们;古代的风俗习惯 | |
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36 Moslem | |
n.回教徒,穆罕默德信徒;adj.回教徒的,回教的 | |
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37 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
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38 mariners | |
海员,水手(mariner的复数形式) | |
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39 quarries | |
n.(采)石场( quarry的名词复数 );猎物(指鸟,兽等);方形石;(格窗等的)方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 );从(书本等中)努力发掘(资料等);在采石场采石 | |
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40 perpendicular | |
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
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41 mazes | |
迷宫( maze的名词复数 ); 纷繁复杂的规则; 复杂难懂的细节; 迷宫图 | |
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42 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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