走进剑桥大学 第3期:古老的建筑

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古老的建筑

It is a commonplace remark that Cambridge as a town contrasts unfavorably with Oxford¹, and an acute American writer, himself an alumnus of Trinity College, has gone so far as to describe it as, of all English provincial² towns, the most insignificant³, the dullest, and the ugliest.

常听人说，剑桥市根本就不能和牛津市相比。一位激进的美国作家甚至过分地说，在英格兰所有的市镇中，剑桥是最无足轻重、枯燥乏味和不堪入目的，而这位作家自己就曾经是三一学院的一员。

The street architecture is mean，dingy yellow brick being the chief material of the houses, and the site, is as dreary⁴ and uninteresting as anything in England. But the glory of Cambridge is of course its group of colleges, whose varied⁵ beauty is rivaled only by Oxford; and the Cantab will not easily allow that anything at Oxford is finer than Trinity, King’s, or the Fitz William Museum. Of the university buildings, the last-named, founded by Viscount FitzWilliam, who died in 1816，is one of the noblest classical buildings in England, and contains valuable books, paintings, prints, and sculpture. The Senate-house, opened in 1730, is a building of admirable proportions, with a richly-decorated interior.

街道旁的建筑十分简陋，暗红色的砖块是建造房屋的主要材料，这样的场景在英格兰随处可见，令人感到压抑、无趣。当然了，剑桥也有它的亮点，坐落在市区各个地方的学院，其变换多姿的美景恐怕只有牛津才可与之媲美。剑桥人也绝不会同意，牛津有什么能比得过三一学院、国王学院和菲茨威廉博物馆的建筑。所有大学的建筑中，这所菲茨威廉博物馆是英格兰古建筑中最有名气的，里面有着大量的藏书、图画、报刊和雕塑。建造这个博物馆的菲茨威廉伯爵已经在1816年去世。1730年开放的议会大楼十分宽敞，内部装潢也甚为华丽。

Among the colleges，Trinity holds the premier⁶ place as the largest. Its great court covers more than two acres of ground, and the chapel⁷, dating from Queen Mary’s reign⁸, has been restored and elaborately decorated. King’s College, founded by Henry VI, in connection with his famous school at Eton, is celebrated⁹ for its chapel, unquestionably the finest building in Cambridge. It was finished in 1536，and ranks with St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, among the most perfect existing specimens¹⁰ of perpendicular¹¹ architecture.

三一学院是所有学院中面积最大的,其庭院超过了两英亩。还有可以追溯到玛丽女王统治时期的小教堂，后来被整修一新并精心装饰了一番。亨利六世主持建造的国王学院在1536年建成，与伊顿学院毗邻，并和圣乔治教堂，温莎教堂一起被视为为现存的垂直式建筑的典型代表。

Third in architectural importance is St John’s，with its four courts. The picturesque¹² buildings are mostly Tudor or Jacobean. In size and wealth, St. John’s ranks next to Trinity, and it has produced many famous scholars.

第三重要的建筑是圣约翰学院，它共有4个庭院。这些别致的建筑大多是都铎时期或者是詹姆士一世时期建造的，无论从规模还是从财力上来说，圣约翰学院都仅次于三一学院。这里也走出了许多的著名学者。

In addition, we have St. Catherine’s, its red brick buildings dating from the end of the seventeenth century, and its court, planted with elms, opening to the street. Many noted¹³ ecclesiastics¹⁴ and theologians have been educated here. Magdalene is the only college on the north side of the river Cam. Not much remains¹⁵ of the ancient buildings, the finest part of the college being the Pepysian library containing the books of the famous diarist, and many black letter volumes. St. Peter’s or Peterhouse, the oldest college in Cambridge, preserves some of its ancient buildings, has pretty gardens and a small deer-park, and a library rich in medieval theology. All of those buildings are scenic¹⁶ pictures which should not be missed in Cambridge.

此外，还有圣凯瑟琳学院，其典型的红砖建筑建成于17世纪末期，敞开的庭院里种满了榆树，许多著名的牧师和神学家都曾在此就读。莫德林学院是唯一一所坐落在康河北岸的学院，它并没有太多的古建筑。学院中最漂亮的应该算是佩皮斯图书馆了，里面有很多佩皮斯这位著名日记作家的书和黑体字卷册。剑桥大学历史最悠久的学院——圣彼得学院里保留有很多古建筑，它的花园小巧可爱，还拥有一所小型的鹿园，图书馆里拥有很多中世纪神学方面的典藏。所有的这些建筑都是剑桥大学里不可错过的风景。

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