来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：古希腊历史简介 第3集 第3集》

• 
  
  somebody began making up one of these songs,
  有人开始创作这些诗歌中的某一首
• 
  
  telling the story of Greeks going to attack the city of Troy.
  它描述了希腊人攻打特洛伊的故事
• 
  
  And that for centuries thereafter,
  在这之后的几个世纪里
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  different rhapsodes repeated it but elucidated it,
  不同的史诗吟诵者重复着 讲解着
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  illuminated it, extended it,
  阐释着 拓展着
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  changed it, tried to improve it, sometimes they added stuff.
  变化着 尝试改进着 有时还添油加醋
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  They were alive in the tenth century.
  他们生活在十世纪
• 
  
  Some of them were alive in the ninth and certainly
  有些生活在九世纪 当然
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  some of them were alive in the time of Homer in the eighth.
  还有些生活在荷马所在的八世纪
• 
  
  So that what we have before us, is that kind of product
  所以 这些就早先吟诵者的产物
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  and that will explain both the similarities and the differences,
  它解释了史诗和史实的相似和差异
• 
  
  and that is what underlies our interpretation
  并构成了我们演绎