文筆好不好，只讀一小段：英文尋章摘句（2）

加拿大安大略省筆譯口譯協會（atio）認證翻譯、加拿大認證esl老師、留學申請顧問。

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溫哥華英文教練，致力于地道英文表達

Classically, the most dangerous moment for an autocratic system is when it tries to reform itself. For all the obloquy heaped upon the Spanish Empire, much of it deserved, it can only be described as spectacularly successful. It was mostly at peace; it provided Spain with vast wealth-nine-tenth of Spanish-American exports to Spain were in silver and gold, accounting for around half of all the bullion circulating in the world at the time; and altogether it survived for three hundred years---longer than any European empire save that of Ancient Rome. Although administered brutally and exploitatively, it was governed effectively. Uprisings like that of Tupac Amaru II were crushed so easily as to suggest that it would endure indefinitely. Yet the fact that they occurred at all gave a measure of underlying discontent.

這一段講述的是西班牙帝國鼎盛時期的簡況：富得流油、殘酷壓榨其在中、南美洲的殖民地，那里物產豐富，坐擁金礦銀礦。西班牙帝國的統治是殘暴、掠奪性的，但卻是有效的，在相當一段時期內，那里是平靜的。當那里獨立的浪潮真正揭開的時候，西班牙帝國已經在那里統治了300多年，類似的統治在歐洲，之前只有羅馬帝國可以做到。

這段文字凝練、概括，也不失提點，比如第一句上來就提到當暴政開始改革的時候，也就是它最危險的時候。然后話鋒一轉，講述在西班牙帝國的鐵腕治下，中南美洲的富庶和平靜，對這三百年的統治有了一個至少在“造富”上面的肯定。文末，舉了一個被快速鎮壓下去的反叛，讓人覺得西班牙帝國的統治將千秋萬代下去，而這個造反本身，已經顯示出隱沒的不滿正在生成。