作者简介：Sean Drohan,毕业于美国普林斯顿大学，主修英语文学，专攻戏剧文学，同时Sean还学习了表演，填词，导演，挪威语等。Sean在校期间曾成功辅导学生录取：哥伦比亚大学（综合4名）莱斯大学（综合18名）、埃默里大学（综合20名）、威廉玛丽学院（综合32名）等美国名校。第一次来中国的他期待着与中国学生能碰撞出新的火花，帮助他们向着自己的梦想大学迈进。
翻译：Louise洪艳
I studied Classical Latin for six years at Princeton and in high school. This may seem strange to a lot of people, especially in China. Latin is used nowhere in the world today, with the exception of the Catholic Church, which actually uses a different type of Latin (“ecclesiastical,” instead of “classical”). It would seem that there’s no reason to study this “dead” language. However, many people from Western cultures do because, though it is no longer in use, people want to understand the foundation of their own modern language and also stay in touch with the ancient literature that is the foundation of your culture. The best parallel is perhaps Ancient Chinese, which many Chinese people study.
我从高中到普林斯顿大学学习期间已经学了6年的古典拉丁语了。对于很多人，尤其是中国人来说，这也许看似很奇怪。在当今世界，拉丁语已经不再被使用了，除了在天主大教堂里，而且在那里用的也是一种不同种类的拉丁语（“教会的”，而不是“古典的”）。或许学习一门灭绝的语言看似是没有道理的。但是很多来自西方文化的人们依然去学习它们，因为即使它们不再被使用，人们还是想要去了解他们自己现代语言的基础，也想能读懂作为文化基石的古代文学。这最好的比方大概就是现在很多中国人还在学习的古汉语了。
Latin was the language of the Roman Empire, one of the largest empires in history. The Romans conquered much of modern day Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. They forced these people to learn their language, and so Latin became the common tongue across much of the Western world. Most importantly, they forced them to use their alphabet, which is why most Western languages use the same alphabet. Poets such as Vergil, Catullus, Cicero, and Horace proved that Latin could be a language of literature by composing some of the greatest poems and orations of Western society. Vergil’s The Aeneid, modeled after Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad, is considered the great work of the Latin language. It is a 12,000 line poem that tells the story of the founding of Rome by Aeneas, one of the princes of the fallen Troy. In twelve books, it follows his long journey to Italy and the war he fights against one of the local kings. This epic poem not only strengthened the identity of the Roman people, but it helped establish the legitimacy of Rome’s first emperor, Augustus, as one section prophecies the coming of a great king clearly identifiable as Augustus. Interestingly, it was slightly unfinished or unpolished at the time of Vergil’s death, and he asked for it to be burned. Luckily, nobody listened to him.) You may notice that I spell Vergil’s name with an ‘e,’ while most spell it with an ‘i’ (Virgil). ‘Vergil’ is how the name was spelled in antiquity, but at some point, people decided to start spelling it ‘Virgil’ because ‘virga’ means ‘magic wand,’ and people thought so highly of Vergil’s writing that they thought he must be magical to write such amazing works.
拉丁语是历史上最大的帝国之一罗马帝国的语言。罗马人征服了当今欧洲的大部分领土，以及北非和中东地区。他们强迫这些地区的人们学习拉丁语，因此拉丁语成为了大多西方国家的通用语言。最重要的是，罗马人强迫那些地区的人使用拉丁语的字母表，于是导致了大多的西方语言使用同一种字母体系。弗吉尔，卡图卢斯，西塞罗,贺拉斯等诗人证实了拉丁语可能会是一种文学语言，可用于创作西方社会一些最伟大的诗歌和演讲。弗吉尔的《埃涅阿斯纪》模仿自荷马的《伊里亚特与奥德赛》，它也被认为是最伟大的拉丁语著作。埃涅阿斯是沦陷的特洛伊城的王子之一，弗吉尔用12,000行诗去叙说了一个罗马建立的故事。在12本书中，弗吉尔描述了埃涅阿斯到意大利的漫长旅途以及他对抗当地霸主之一的战争。这部史诗不仅强化了罗马人的身份，还确立了罗马的第一个皇帝奥古斯都的合法性，因为它的一部分清楚地预言了那位将要到来的伟大君王为奥古斯都。有趣的是，在弗吉尔死的时候，这部史诗只剩一点点没有完成或是说只是未润色，奥古斯都便要求人们把这本书烧掉。幸运的是，没有人听从他的这个命令。你也许注意到了，我在拼写弗吉尔的名字时用到的是字母e,然而大多数的人是用字母i.“Vergil”是是古时的拼写方式，但是在某些时候，人们决定开始去把它（弗吉尔的名字）拼成“Vergil”是因为单词‘virga’表示“魔杖 ”的意思，而人们实在是太推崇弗吉尔的文笔了，以至于他们觉得他一定是有魔力才能写出这样让人叹为观止的作品的。
Authors used Latin to compose poetry, songs, and stories through the 15th Century CE, until authors such as Dante (Italian), Chaucer (English), and Cervantes (Spanish) proved that great literature could be written in other languages.
整个公元十五世纪，作者们用拉丁语去创作诗文，歌曲和故事，直到如但丁（意大利），乔叟（英文），和塞万提斯（西班牙）等作者们证明了伟大的文学作品也可以用另外的语言来写。
Latin is the basis for the Romance languages, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Romanian. These modern day languages are the result of regional dialects mixing with native tongues to create a different style. Italian is itself still very close to Latin in vocabulary and grammar. English, though considered a Germanic language, is greatly influenced by Latin. In fact, most people consider the birth of the English language to be 1066, when William the Conqueror conquered England and brought with him the French and Latin language. Almost 60% of English words come from Latin, and almost 90% of science and technology terms. (Pro-Tip: The best way to study for the SAT is to learn Latin.) Sometimes, knowing the meaning of words can be very fascinating. “Pulverize” means to grind up in English. However, it comes from the Latin for “Pulvis” meaning “dust.” So, the word more literally means “to make into dust.” Many writers and poets will play on these underlying definition to deepen the meaning of their words. Shakespeare, in particular, was very skilled at using Latin to engage in double meanings and such.
拉丁语是意大利语，西班牙语，葡萄牙语，法语，和罗马尼亚等罗曼斯语的基础。这些现代的语言是区域方言和本地语言混合而形成的一种不同风格的语言。意大利语本身在词汇和语法上与拉丁语非常相似。英语虽然被认为属于日尔曼语系，但是也很大程度上收到了拉丁语的影响。事实上，大部分的人认为英语是在1066年诞生的，那时征服者威廉占领了英格兰，还把法语和拉丁语带到了那里。几乎百分之六十的英语词汇来自于拉丁语，并且几乎是科学技术相关的术语。(专家建议:学习SAT最好的方式是学习拉丁语）有时候，知道单词（拉丁语词汇）的意义是非常迷人的。“Pulverize”在英语中意思是折磨的意思。然而，这来自于拉丁语中的“Pulvis”，意思是“粉末”。因此，这个单词的更字面的意思是“把某物磨成粉末”。很多的作家和诗人会用这些基本的意思去深化他们的所用之词的意义。莎士比亚尤其精与使用拉丁词汇去制造一语双关以及其他诸如此类的效果。
Latin has a long history of being studied by the upper classes. Any person of means and education was expected to know Latin, and so it became the language of academia and business. Still, lawyers and doctors use quite a bit of Latin in their terminology and legal and medical concepts.
拉丁语被上层阶级学习已经有很长一段历史了。任何一个富有并接受教务的人都被要求懂拉丁语，于是拉丁语就变成了学术及商业语言。现在，律师和医生在他们的术语以及法律和医学概念上仍然非常频繁地使用拉丁语。
To a speaker of English or any of the other languages of Europe, Latin has had a tremendous impact on all aspects of our language and culture, and so many students wish to know more about it. Latin is a very complex language, and it requires strong problem-solving skills. I enjoyed learning it, and I would encourage someone to take a beginner level class. It would be an interesting way to improve one’s English.
对于一个说英语或者任何其他欧洲语言的人，拉丁语对我们语言文化的各个方面都早已产生巨大的影响，而且非常多的学生想要去更深入地了解这门语言。拉丁语是一门非常复杂的语言，并且它要求很强的解决问题的技能。我非常享受学习拉丁语的过程，也很鼓励一些人去参加拉丁语的初学者课程。这将会是提高英语水平很有趣的一个方式。
文中生词：
Ecclesiastical：belonging to or connected with the Christian Church基督教教会；牧师的；神职的
Legitimacy：合法性；合理性；正当；正统；正确
1）lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with law
2）undisputed credibility
Pulverize：粉碎；使成粉末；研磨
1）make into a powder by breaking up or cause to become dust
2）destroy completely
3）become powder or dust
Grind：磨；磨碎，碾碎；碾成，磨成(粉末)
1）press or grind with a crunching noise
2）make a grating or grinding sound by rubbing together
3）reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading
4）shape or form by grinding
Means（person of means）：considerable capital (wealth or income)金钱；财富
Tremendous：极大的，巨大的；惊人的
1）extraordinarily large in size or extent or amount or power or degree
2）extraordinarily good; used especially as intensifiers
3）extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
【智梦简介】
智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。
我们的使命：
“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”
我们的愿景：
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