Chapter 34
第三十四章
The crusades
十字军东征
But all these different quarrels were forgotten when the Turks took the holy land, desecrated the holy places and interfered interfered seriously with the trade from east to west. Europe went crusading
当土耳其人夺取圣地，亵读圣灵，并严重阻断了东西方的贸易时，所有内部的争吵便统统被忘记。欧洲人开始了十字军东征。
During three centuries there had been peace between Christians and Moslems except in Spain and in the eastern Roman Empire, the two states defending the gateways of Europe. The Mohammedans having conquered Syria in the seventh century were in possession of the Holy Land. But they regarded Jesus as a great prophet (though not quite as great as Mohammed), and they did not interfere with the pilgrims who wished to pray in the church which Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, had built on the spot of the Holy Grave. But early in the eleventh century, a Tartar tribe from the wilds of Asia, called the Seljuks or Turks, became masters of the Mohammedan state in western Asia and then the period of tolerance came to an end. The Turks took all of Asia Minor away from the eastern Roman Emperors and they made an end to the trade between east and west.
三个世纪以来，除了守卫欧洲门户的两个国家--西班牙和东罗马帝国，基督徒和穆斯林之间一直保持着基本的和平。在公元7世纪，穆罕默德的信徒征服了叙利亚，控制了基督教的圣地。但他们同样把耶稣视为一位伟大的先知（虽然不如穆罕默德伟大），并不阻止前来朝圣的基督徒。在康士坦丁大帝的母亲圣海伦娜于圣基的原址上修建的大教堂里，基督朝圣者被允许自由 祈祷。可到了11世纪，来自亚洲荒原的一支鞑靼部落，人称塞尔柱人或土耳其人，他们征服了西亚的穆斯林国家，成为基督教圣地的新主人。于是，基督教和伊斯兰教相互妥协的时期就此结束。土耳其人从东罗马帝国手里夺取了小亚细亚的全部地区，使东西方之间的贸易陷人完全的停滞。
Alexis, the Emperor, who rarely saw anything of his Christian neighbours of the west, appealed for help and pointed to the danger which threatened Europe should the Turks take Constantinople.
东罗马皇帝阿历克西斯平常心思全部放在东方，对西方的基督教邻居少有理会，此时却向欧洲的兄弟们求援。他指出，一旦土耳其人夺取君士坦丁堡，使通向欧洲的大门打开，他们一样将陷入土耳其骑兵的直接威胁之下。
The Italian cities which had established colonies along the coast of Asia Minor and Palestine, in fear for their possessions, reported terrible stories of Turkish atrocities and Christian suffering. All Europe got excited.
一些意大利城市在小亚细亚和巴勒斯坦沿岸拥有小块的贸易殖民地。由于担心失去自己的财产，便散布一些可怕的故事，绘声绘色地描述土耳其人是何等残暴且如何迫害、屠杀 当地基督徒的。听到这些故事，整个欧洲沸腾了起来。
