One day a terrible fire broke out in Rome which, burning day and night, consumed house after house, district after district,

当时在罗马发生了一场大火，它烧了几天几夜，烧毁了一排排房屋、一个个街区，

and made hundreds of thousands of people homeless – for by then Rome was a huge city with more than a million inhabitants. And what do you think Nero did?

使成千上万的人沦为无家可归者，因为罗马当时就已经是一个有100多万居民的巨大的城市。尼禄这时候在干什么呢？

He stood on the balcony of his sumptuous palace with his lyre and sang a song he had composed about the burning of Troy.

他站在他的豪华宫殿的阳台上，边弹古琴边唱着一首自己创作的歌颂特洛伊大火的歌。

To him this seemed perfect for the occasion.

他觉得这跟当时的情景很相称。

The people, however, were enraged.

可是这是迄今一直并不十分憎恨他的人民群众愤怒了，

Until then they had not hated him much because he had always given them splendid festivals and had only been cruel to close friends and acquaintances.

因为他常常让民众欣赏美好的庆典，他只对他的亲朋好友十分残忍，

Now the rumor spread that Nero himself had set Rome on fire.

但是现在人们却在互相传告：尼禄自己点燃了罗马的这场大火。

We do not know if it is true.

是否真是这样，这个人们并不知道。

But in any case Nero knew that people thought he was responsible.

但是，不管怎样，尼禄知道，人们会相信他干得出这样事来。

So he looked around for a scapegoat and found one in the Christians.

于是他便寻找一个替罪羊，他找到了基督徒当替罪羊。