YU can well imagine hw prud all the Rmans nw were that they were Rmans， fr Rme was the champin fighterf the wrld. If a man culd tss his head and say， "I am a Rman citizen，" peple were always ready t d smething fr him， afraid t d him any harm， afraid what might happen t them if they did. Rme was ruler ntnlyf Italy butf Spain and Nrth Africa. Likether earlier natins，nce Rme had started cnquering， it keptn cnquering， until by 100 B.C. Rme was rulerf almst all the cuntries brdering the Mediterranean Sea-all except Egypt.
The New Champinf the Wrld， wh was t be champin fr a great many years， was very businesslike and practical.
The Greeks lved beautiful things， beautiful buildings， beautiful sculpture， beautiful pems. The Rmans cpied the Greeks and learned frm them hw t make many beautiful things， but the Rmans were mst interested in practical and useful things. Fr example， nw that the Rmans ruled the wrld， they had t be able t send messengers and armies easily and quickly in every directin t the endf the empire and back again. It was necessary t have rads， frf curse there were n railrads then. Nw， anrdinary rad made by simply clearing away the grund gets fullf deep ruts and in rainy weather becmes s muddy that it can hardly be used at all.
Rme set t wrk and built rads. These rads were like paved streets. Large rcks were placed at the bttm fr a fundatin， smaller stnes placedn tp， and large， flat paving-stnes laidver all. Thusandsf milesf such rads were built t all partsf the empire.ne culd g frm almst anywhere all the way t Rmen paved rads. We still have an expressin， "All rads lead t Rme." S well were these rads made that manyf them still exist tday， tw thusand years after they were built.
The Rmans als shwed their practical minds by making tw very imprtant city imprvements. If yu live in a city， yu turnn a spigt and yu get plentyf pure water whenever yu want it. The peple in cities at that time， hwever， usually had t get their water bth fr drinking and fr washing frm wellsr springs nearby. These springs and wellsften became dirty and made the peplevery sick. Everynce in a while becausef such dirty water there were thse terrible plagues， thse terribly cntagius diseases like thene I tld yu abut in Athens when peple died faster than they culd be buried.
Rman aqueduct ( 罗马高架渠 )
The Rmans wanted pure water， s they set t wrk t find lakes frm which they culd get pure water. Asftentimes these lakes were many miles away frm the city， they then built big pipes t carry the water all the way t the city. Such a pipe was nt madef irnr terra-ctta as nwadays， butf stne and cncrete， and was called an aqueduct， which in Latin means water-carrier. If this aqueduct had t crss a riverr a valley， they built a bridge t hld it up. Manyf these Rman aqueducts are still standing and in use tday.
Nw， up t this time waste water， after it had been used， and als everyther kindf dirt and refuse， was simply dumped int the street. This naturally made the cityr twn filthy and unhealthy and was anther causef plagues.
The Rmans， hwever， built great undergrund sewers t carryff this dirt and waste water and empty it int the riverr int smether place where they thught it wuld d n harm and cause n sickness. Nw we knw that it"s nt gd t dump sewage int rivers because they can becme plluted. Then if peple drink that water， they"ll get sick. The Rmans knew that they had t get the sewageff the city streets， but they didn"t knw hw t avid plluting their rivers. Nwadays， every large city has aqueducts and sewers as a matterf curse， but the Rmans were the first Eurpeans t build themn a large scale.
nef the mst imprtant things that Rme did was t make rules that everyne had tbey； laws， we call them. Manyf these laws were s fair and just that smefurwn laws tday are cpied frm them.
All the cities and twnsf the Rman Empire had t pay mneyr taxes t Rme. Rme therefre became a very wealthy city. Millinsf this mney，which was brught t her， was spent in putting up beautiful buildings in the city， temples t the gds， splendid palaces fr the rulers， public baths， and hugepen-air places called amphitheaters where the peple culd be amused.
The amphitheaters were smething likeur ftball and baseball fieldsr stadiums. They did nt have ftballr baseball， hwever. They had charit races， and deadly fights between men，r between men and animals. Charits were small carts with large wheels drawn by twr by fur hrses and driven by a man standing up. Perhaps yu have seen charit races in the circus.
The sprt that the Rmans enjyed mstf all was a fightf gladiatrs. Gladiatrs were very strng and pwerful men wh had been captured in battle by the Rmans. They were made t fight withne antherr with wild animals fr the amusementf the crwds. These gladiatrial fights were very cruel， but the Rmans enjyed seeing bld shed. They liked t seene man kill antherr a wild animal. It was s amusing. The mvies wuld nt have interested them half as much. Usually the gladiatrs fught untilner thether was killed， fr the peple were nt， as a rule， satisfied until this was dne.
Smetimes， hwever， if a gladiatr， wh had been knckedut， had shwn himself particularly brave and a gd fighterr a gd sprt， the peple seated all arund the amphitheater wuld turn their thumbs up as a sign that his life was t be spared by thether gladiatr. The winning gladiatr， befre killing hisppnent whm he had dwn， wuld wait t see what the peple wished. If they turned their thumbs dwn， it meant he was t finish the fight by killing his man.
Althugh Rme had becme such a fine and beautiful and healthy city in which t live， the rich peple were getting mstf the mney that came there frm allver the empire. They were getting richer and richer all the time， while the pr peple， wh gt nthing， were getting prer and prer all the time. The Rmans brught the peple they cnquered in battle t Rme and made them wrk fr them withut pay. These were slaves and they did all the wrk. It is said that there were mre than twice as many slaves as Rmans-tw slaves fr every Rman citizen.
Nw， Scipi， wh had cnquered Hannibal in the Punic War， had a daughter named Crnelia Graccha， and she had tw sns. They were very fine bys， and Crnelia was naturally very prudf them.
ne day a very rich Rman wman was visiting Crnelia and shwingff all her rings and necklaces andtherrnaments，f which she had a great many and was very prud.
When she had shwnff all she had， she asked t see Crnelia"s jewels. Crnelia called t her tw bys， wh were playingutside， and when theycame in t their mther she put her arms arund them and said： "These are my jewels."But bys wh are jewels when they are yung d nt always turnut t be jewels when they grw up. Yu may wnder hw Crnelia"s jewels turnedut.
When they grew up， the Gracchi， as they were called， saw such great extravagance amng the rich and such great misery amng the pr that they wanted t d smething abut it. They saw that the pr had hardly anything t eat and n place t live. This did nt seem fair. They tried t lwer the pricef fd， s that the pr might be able t buy enugh t eat. They tried t find sme way t give the pr at least a small piecef land where they might raise a few vegetables. They were partly successful in bringing this abut. But the rich peple didn"t like giving up anything t the pr， and they killednef the Gracchus brthers， and later they killed thetherne， als. These were Crnelia"s jewels.
【中文阅读】
你可以很容易就想象得到所有的罗马人为自己"是"罗马人而感到怎样的自豪， 因为罗马是世界上的新"拳王"。如果一个人把头一甩说，"我是罗马公民，"人们就 随时想巴结他，却丝毫不敢伤害他，担心万一得罪了他，不知会有什么后果。罗马 不仅统治着意大利，还掌控了西班牙和北非。如同其他早期的民族一样，一旦罗马 成为征服者，它就会继续扩张，到公元前 100 年，罗马已经是地中海沿岸所有国家 的统治者--除了埃及。
罗马这个新的世界霸主，将在以后很多年要维持霸主的地位，所以做事非常认 真、注重实效。
凡是美的东西希腊人都喜爱，美的建筑、美的雕塑、美的诗歌。罗马人模仿希 腊人，从他们那里学会了怎样创造出很多美的东西，但是他们最感兴趣的还是那些 切合实际而又有用的东西。比如说，既然罗马人统治着世界，他们就必须能够迅捷 地朝任何一个方向派出使者和军队，到达帝国最边远的地方，再从那儿返回。所以 必须要有路，因为，当然了，那时还没有铁路。当时只不过把地面的障碍物清除掉， 就形成了一般的道路，而这种道路到处留有很深的车辙，到了雨天就变得非常泥泞， 根本没法走。
罗马开始认真修路了。这些道路很像一层层铺起来的马路。他们把大石头放在 最下面作为地基，稍小一些的石头铺在大石头上，大块而平整的铺路石放在最上面。 几千英里长的这种马路通向整个帝国的各个区域，人们几乎可以由各个不同的地方， 通过这种铺好的道路到达罗马。我们现在还有个说法："条条大路通罗马。"这些路修 建得很坚固，它们建成后已过了两千年，其中许多道路现在还保留着。
罗马人也对城市做了两项重大的改善而显示出务实的精神。如果你住在城市里， 任何时候想用水，只要打开水龙头，就可以得到很多干净的水。但是，在那个时代， 城里的居民要饮水和用水通常只能到附近的水井或山泉那里去取水。这些山泉和水 井经常受污染，人喝了脏水就会生病。间或，因为人们饮用这样污浊的水，引发了 可怕的瘟疫，就是那种传染性极强的病，像我给讲过的发生在雅典的那场瘟疫一样， 当时死的人太多，一时都来不及下葬。
罗马人想要干净的水，于是就开始一心寻找有干净水的湖泊，以便取用。因为 这些湖泊常在离城市很多英里以外的地方，于是，他们建了一些巨大的管道将水从 远处一直引到城里。这种管道可不像如今的管道那样由铁或陶制成，而是由石头和 水泥制成，被称为"高架渠"，这个词拉丁语原意为"输水管道"。如果高架渠必须 越过河流或山谷，他们就建一座桥把它托起来。许多罗马时期的高架渠至今还矗立 在那里，而且还在使用。
直到这个时期，用过的废水和各种污物、垃圾，都直接倾倒在街道上了事。这 自然就让城镇污秽不堪、很不卫生，也是引起瘟疫的另一个原因。
但是，罗马人建了庞大的地下下水道，让这些垃圾和废水流走，排放到河里或 其他他们认为不会带来危害、引起疾病的地方。现在我们知道把污物倒入河里是不 对的，因为河水会被污染。然后，人如果喝了受污染的河水，就会生病。当时的罗 马人只知道让废水远离城市街道，却不知道如何避免废水污染河流。现在，每个大 城市理所当然都有导水管和下水道了，但是，在欧洲，最先大规模建造它们的是罗 马人。
罗马做的最重要的事情之一就是制定人人都必须遵守的规则，我们现在把这些 规则称为法律，其中有很多是非常公正合理的，以至于我们今天的法律其中有些还 是仿效它们制定的。
罗马帝国的所有城镇都必须向罗马交钱或交税，罗马因此而成了极富有的城市。 那些奉送给罗马的无数钱财被用来兴建城市里华美的建筑物和神庙、统治者住的辉 煌宫殿、公共浴室和叫做"竞技场"的大型圆形露天场所，供人们在那儿娱乐。
竞技场有点像我们的橄榄球场和棒球场，或者露天体育场。但是，他们并没有 橄榄球或棒球。他们有双轮马车比赛，还有一项比赛是人与人之间或人与兽之间的 殊死肉搏。双轮马车是一种小型马车，轮子很大，被两匹或四匹马拉着，由一个人 站着驾驭。可能你们在马戏团里看过双轮马车比赛。
在所有竞技运动中，罗马人最喜欢的要数角斗士的格斗。角斗士都是体格强壮 有力的男人，他们是在战争中被罗马人俘虏过来的。他们被迫互相格斗，或者和野 兽搏斗，以娱乐在场的大量观众。这些角斗士的格斗非常残忍，但是罗马人喜欢看 血淋淋的场面。他们喜欢看到一个角斗士杀死另一个角斗士或是杀死一只野兽，这 是最令他们开心的，即使让他们看电影，他们也会觉得不如看角斗士格斗那样让人 过瘾呢。通常，角斗士之间的格斗都是以其中一方被杀作为结束，照例人们不看到 最后的场面是不会满意的。
不过，有时候，虽然一个角斗士已经被击倒，但是他在格斗中显得勇猛无畏，训练有素，豁然大度，那么坐在圆形竞技场里的观众就会"向上竖起"大拇指，表 示他们希望另一个角斗士饶他一命。获胜的角斗士，并不马上杀死倒在地上的对手， 而是等着看观众有什么反应。如果他们把大拇指"朝下指"，这就意味着他必须杀掉 对手，结束这场格斗。
尽管罗马已经成为一座人们居住的优雅、美丽而又卫生的城市，但是，来自帝 国各地的大部分财富却源源不断地落到富人手中。他们变得越来越富有，穷人却一 无所获，变得越来越贫穷。罗马人把战场上抓到的俘虏带到罗马，迫使这些人无偿 为他们劳动。这些人就是奴隶，所有的活都是他们做。据说，奴隶的数量是罗马人 的两倍还多--每个罗马人有两个奴隶为他服务。
在"布匿战争"中征服了汉尼拔的西庇阿，有个女儿叫科妮莉亚 格拉恰，她 有两个儿子，都是非常优秀的孩子，科妮莉亚自然为有这样的儿子感到骄傲。
一天，一个非常富有的罗马妇女拜访科妮莉亚，向她炫耀自己所有的戒指、项 链和其他的珠宝首饰，这样的珠宝她有好多好多，所以非常得意。
炫耀完她所有的珠宝，她说想看看科妮莉亚的珠宝。 科妮莉亚朝正在外面玩的两个儿子呼唤了一声，他们进屋来到母亲跟前，她用胳膊搂住了他俩，说： "他们就是我的宝贝。"但是，孩子小时候是父母的宝贝，等他们长大了可就不见得还是受人珍视的宝 贝了。你们可能很想知道科妮莉亚的"宝贝"后来怎么样了。
长大后，他们被人称为格拉古兄弟，他们眼看着富人的生活极尽奢华，而穷人 却困苦不堪，所以他们想做点什么来改变这种状况。他们看到穷人几乎没有东西吃， 没有地方住，这显得很不公平。他们努力去降低食物价格，好让穷人能买得起足以 吃饱的食物。他们还想方设法让穷人至少可以分到一小块土地，这样他们可以种点 蔬菜。他们的努力在某些方面取得来了成功。但是富人不想分给穷人任何好处，因 此他们谋杀了其中一个兄弟，后来把另一个也害死了。这就是科妮莉亚的宝贝长大 后的命运。