There were three thousand five hundred of them. They formed a front a quarter of a league in extent. —
他们的人数为三千五百人。 他们排成一条大约四分之一里的阵列。 —

They were giant men, on colossal horses. There were six and twenty squadrons of them; —
他们是巨人，骑着巨大的马。 他们有二十六个中队； —

and they had behind them to support them Lefebvre-Desnouettes’s division,–the one hundred and six picked gendarmes, the light cavalry of the Guard, eleven hundred and ninety-seven men, and the lancers of the guard of eight hundred and eighty lances. —
他们身后还有来支援他们的列福布-德诺埃特的师，– 巴黎警卫队的一百零六名精选骑兵，一千一百九十七人，与八百个长枪的警卫枪骑兵。 —

They wore casques without horse-tails, and cuirasses of beaten iron, with horse-pistols in their holsters, and long sabre-swords. —
他们戴着没有马尾的头盔，穿着经过打击的铁质胸甲，枪套上插着马手枪，手持长刀。 —

That morning the whole army had admired them, when, at nine o’clock, with braying of trumpets and all the music playing “Let us watch o’er the Safety of the Empire,” they had come in a solid column, with one of their batteries on their flank, another in their centre, and deployed in two ranks between the roads to Genappe and Frischemont, and taken up their position for battle in that powerful second line, so cleverly arranged by Napoleon, which, having on its extreme left Kellermann’s cuirassiers and on its extreme right Milhaud’s cuirassiers, had, so to speak, two wings of iron.
那天早晨整个军队都在欣赏他们，当九点钟，伴随着喇叭声和其他乐器演奏着“让我们保卫帝国的安全”时，他们成为坚实的队列，一支炮兵在他们的侧翼，另一支在中部，部署在那由拿破仑精心设计的强大的第二阵线里，拥有右翼是凯勒曼的铁甲骑兵，左翼是米洛的铁甲骑兵，可以说是铁翼。

Aide-de-camp Bernard carried them the Emperor’s orders. —
副官贝尔纳交给他们拿破仑的命令。 —

Ney drew his sword and placed himself at their head. —
内伊拔剑，站在他们的前面。 —

The enormous squadrons were set in motion.
庞大的中队行动起来了。

Then a formidable spectacle was seen.
接着出现了一个可怕的景象。

All their cavalry, with upraised swords, standards and trumpets flung to the breeze, formed in columns by divisions, descended, by a simultaneous movement and like one man, with the precision of a brazen battering-ram which is effecting a breach, the hill of La Belle Alliance, plunged into the terrible depths in which so many men had already fallen, disappeared there in the smoke, then emerging from that shadow, reappeared on the other side of the valley, still compact and in close ranks, mounting at a full trot, through a storm of grape-shot which burst upon them, the terrible muddy slope of the table-land of Mont-Saint-Jean. They ascended, grave, threatening, imperturbable; —
伴随着高举的剑、军旗和喇叭在风中飘荡，他们所有的骑兵按照师列的方式部队，同时行动，如同一个人一样，精确地像铜制的撞城槌一样攻破了“美联储”的山丘，跌入那已经有许多人倒下的可怕深渊中，消失在烟尘中，然后从那阴影中出现，在山谷的另一边重新出现，仍然紧凑地并列，齐趁全马奔驰，在炮弹雨中穿越可怕的加农炮击，猛然爆裂的，他们勇敢地登上蒙圣让高地上铺满泥浆的斜坡，严肃、威胁、波澜不惊； —

in the intervals between the musketry and the artillery, their colossal trampling was audible. —
在火枪与大炮轰鸣之间，他们巨大的脚步声可闻。 —

Being two divisions, there were two columns of them; —
由于是两个师，所以有两列： —

Wathier’s division held the right, Delort’s division was on the left. —
瓦帝耶的师在右侧，德洛尔特的师在左侧。 —

It seemed as though two immense adders of steel were to be seen crawling towards the crest of the table-land. —
就像可以看到两只巨大的钢蛇蠕动向着高地的山脊。 —

It traversed the battle like a prodigy.
它像一个奇迹般地穿越了战场。

Nothing like it had been seen since the taking of the great redoubt of the Muskowa by the heavy cavalry; —
自从重骑兵攻占了马斯科瓦大红坑以来，再也没有见过这样的场面； —

Murat was lacking here, but Ney was again present. —
这里没有村，但奈伊再次出现； —

It seemed as though that mass had become a monster and had but one soul. —
那支大军看上去仿佛成了一只怪兽，只有一个灵魂； —

Each column undulated and swelled like the ring of a polyp. —
每支列队像水母的触环一样起伏膨胀； —

They could be seen through a vast cloud of smoke which was rent here and there. —
他们可以透过一片浓烟看到，那里被时而撕裂的空隙所显示； —

A confusion of helmets, of cries, of sabres, a stormy heaving of the cruppers of horses amid the cannons and the flourish of trumpets, a terrible and disciplined tumult; —
头盔、呐喊声、军刀之间的混乱，马匹脊背上的狂风暴雨，混杂着大炮和号角的奏鸣，可怕且有秩序的喧哗； —

over all, the cuirasses like the scales on the hydra.
最后还有如九头蛇鳞片般的铁甲；

These narrations seemed to belong to another age. —
这些叙述好像属于另一个时代； —

Something parallel to this vision appeared, no doubt, in the ancient Orphic epics, which told of the centaurs, the old hippanthropes, those Titans with human heads and equestrian chests who scaled Olympus at a gallop, horrible, invulnerable, sublime–gods and beasts.
毫无疑问，这样的景象在古老的奥菲克史诗中也有所出现，那些讲述半人马的故事，那些人首马身的泰坦，带领人类头部和马胸部的那些残暴、无敌、崇高的神明和野兽；

Odd numerical coincidence,–twenty-six battalions rode to meet twenty-six battalions. —
奇怪的数值巧合，二十六个营面对二十六个营； —

Behind the crest of the plateau, in the shadow of the masked battery, the English infantry, formed into thirteen squares, two battalions to the square, in two lines, with seven in the first line, six in the second, the stocks of their guns to their shoulders, taking aim at that which was on the point of appearing, waited, calm, mute, motionless. —
在高地的山脊背后，在掩护炮台的阴影里，英军步兵列成了十三个方阵，每个方阵两个营，分两列，第一列七个，第二列六个，枪托顶在肩上，瞄准即将现身的目标，静静地等待，冷静、寂静、不动； —

They did not see the cuirassiers, and the cuirassiers did not see them. —
他们看不到铁甲骑兵，铁甲骑兵也看不到他们； —

They listened to the rise of this flood of men. —
他们听到这支军队的声势在逐渐增长； —

They heard the swelling noise of three thousand horse, the alternate and symmetrical tramp of their hoofs at full trot, the jingling of the cuirasses, the clang of the sabres and a sort of grand and savage breathing. —
他们听到三千名骑兵的蹄声，三千匹马脚交替齐步的轰鸣，铁甲响声，刀剑挥动声以及一种雄壮而野性的呼吸声； —

There ensued a most terrible silence; then, all at once, a long file of uplifted arms, brandishing sabres, appeared above the crest, and casques, trumpets, and standards, and three thousand heads with gray mustaches, shouting, “Vive l’Empereur!” —
紧随其后，一排举起刀剑的手臂出现在山脊之上，头盔啸声，号角声，军旗高擎，三千张灰色胡须的头颅高喊着，“为皇帝万岁！” —

All this cavalry debouched on the plateau, and it was like the appearance of an earthquake.
所有的骑兵一下子涌上高地，宛如地震的出现。

All at once, a tragic incident; on the English left, on our right, the head of the column of cuirassiers reared up with a frightful clamor. —
突然，一个悲剧事件发生了；在英国左侧，我们的右侧，铁甲骑兵队列的首领发出可怕的喧哗声。 —

On arriving at the culminating point of the crest, ungovernable, utterly given over to fury and their course of extermination of the squares and cannon, the cuirassiers had just caught sight of a trench,– a trench between them and the English. —
抵达山脊的顶点时，控制不住自己，彻底投入狂怒和对方阵和大炮的消灭行动中的铁甲骑兵，刚刚发现了一个壕沟，– 一个壕沟分隔他们和英国人。 —

It was the hollow road of Ohain.
那是奥安的中空路。

It was a terrible moment. The ravine was there, unexpected, yawning, directly under the horses’ feet, two fathoms deep between its double slopes; —
这是一个可怕的时刻。峡谷出现了，出其不意，张开着，直接在马蹄下，双坡之间有两个蜡烛深； —

the second file pushed the first into it, and the third pushed on the second; —
第二纵队把第一纵队推进去，第三纵队推着第二纵队； —

the horses reared and fell backward, landed on their haunches, slid down, all four feet in the air, crushing and overwhelming the riders; —
马跃起来，向后倒下，陷入，四蹄朝天，压倒骑手； —

and there being no means of retreat,– the whole column being no longer anything more than a projectile,– the force which had been acquired to crush the English crushed the French; —
又因为没有后退的办法，– 整个队列只剩下一个投射体，– 为了压碎英国人而获取的力量压垮了法国人； —

the inexorable ravine could only yield when filled; —
无情的峡谷只有在填满后才能让路； —

horses and riders rolled there pell-mell, grinding each other, forming but one mass of flesh in this gulf: —
马和骑手一起滚落其中，互相碾磨，形成一个肉的块状物在这个深渊： —

when this trench was full of living men, the rest marched over them and passed on. Almost a third of Dubois’s brigade fell into that abyss.
当这条壕沟充满了活人时，剩下的人就踏在他们身上继续前进。杜波侯爵的一个旅有近三分之一都掉进了那个深渊。

This began the loss of the battle.
这开始了战斗的失利。

A local tradition, which evidently exaggerates matters, says that two thousand horses and fifteen hundred men were buried in the hollow road of Ohain. This figure probably comprises all the other corpses which were flung into this ravine the day after the combat.
当地的传统，显然夸大了事实，称在奥安的中空路里埋葬了两千匹马和一千五百名士兵。这个数字可能包括了在战斗后第二天被抛入这个峡谷中的所有其他尸体。

Let us note in passing that it was Dubois’s sorely tried brigade which, an hour previously, making a charge to one side, had captured the flag of the Lunenburg battalion.
顺便提一下，这正是杜波侯爵麾下那支备受考验的旅在一个小时前，向一侧冲锋，夺得了卢农堡营的旗帜。

Napoleon, before giving the order for this charge of Milhaud’s cuirassiers, had scrutinized the ground, but had not been able to see that hollow road, which did not even form a wrinkle on the surface of the plateau. —
拿破仑在下令米洛铎铁甲骑兵冲锋前，已经仔细检查了地形，但却没有看到那条中空的路，这条路甚至在高地表面上都没有一丝皱纹。 —

Warned, nevertheless, and put on the alert by the little white chapel which marks its angle of junction with the Nivelles highway, he had probably put a question as to the possibility of an obstacle, to the guide Lacoste. —
尽管受到标志它与尼韦尔高速公路相交角的小白色教堂的警告和警惕，他可能询问了导游拉科斯特是否可能会遇到障碍。 —

The guide had answered No. We might almost affirm that Napoleon’s catastrophe originated in that sign of a peasant’s head.
导游的回答是否定的。我们几乎可以断言，拿破仑的灾难源于一个农民头像的迹象。

Other fatalities were destined to arise.
另一些不幸即将发生。

Was it possible that Napoleon should have won that battle? We answer No. Why? —
拿破仑可能会赢得那场战斗吗？我们的答案是否定的。为什么？ —

Because of Wellington? Because of Blucher? —
因为惠灵顿？因为布吕歇尔？ —

No. Because of God.
不是因为上帝。

Bonaparte victor at Waterloo; that does not come within the law of the nineteenth century. —
拿破仑在滑铁卢获胜；这不符合19世纪的规律。 —

Another series of facts was in preparation, in which there was no longer any room for Napoleon. —
另一系列事实正在准备中，其中不再有拿破仑的位置。 —

The ill will of events had declared itself long before.
事件的恶意早已显露。

It was time that this vast man should fall.
这位伟大人物应该倒下了。

The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the balance. —
这个人在人类命运中的过重份量扰乱了平衡。 —

This individual alone counted for more than a universal group. —
这个人个体的力量超过了整个集团。 —

These plethoras of all human vitality concentrated in a single head; —
所有人类活力聚集在一个头脑中； —

the world mounting to the brain of one man,–this would be mortal to civilization were it to last. —
世界攀升至一个人的大脑，如果持续下去，这将对文明是致命的。 —

The moment had arrived for the incorruptible and supreme equity to alter its plan. —
无懈可击和至高的公平需要改变其计划的时机已经到来。 —

Probably the principles and the elements, on which the regular gravitations of the moral, as of the material, world depend, had complained. —
可能是道德世界和物质世界的规律性引发了投诉。 —

Smoking blood, over-filled cemeteries, mothers in tears,– these are formidable pleaders. —
吸烟的血腥、墓地过度填埋、母亲的泪水，这些都是强有力的辩护者。 —

When the earth is suffering from too heavy a burden, there are mysterious groanings of the shades, to which the abyss lends an ear.
当地球承受着过重的负担时，幽灵们发出神秘的呻吟，深渊倾听其中。

Napoleon had been denounced in the infinite and his fall had been decided on.
拿破仑已经被无限之物指控，并决定了他的失败。

He embarrassed God.
他让上帝感到困扰。

Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the Universe.
滑铁卢不是一场战斗；它是宇宙的转变。