Mounting his skinny steed, the protagonist of Don Quixote charges an army of giants.
骑上瘦马，主人公堂吉诃德向一队巨人发起进攻。
In his eyes, it is his duty to vanquish these behemoths in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea.
在他的眼中，以心爱的女人达辛妮亚之名，将这些庞然大物彻底击败是他的职责所在。
However, this act of valor is ill conceived.
然而，这个英勇举动却欠缺考虑。
As his squire Sancho Panza explains to him time and again, these aren't giants; they are merely windmills.
他的随从桑秋·潘沙又一次向他解释，这些并非巨人；它们不过是风车而已。
Don Quixote is undeterred, but his piercing lance is soon caught in their sails.
堂吉诃德仍不气馁，但是他刺出的长矛立刻就被风车的风帆卡住了。
Never discouraged, the knight stands proudly, and becomes even more convinced of his mission.
这位骑士永不泄气，他骄傲地挺直胸膛，更加确信自己的使命。
This sequence encapsulates much of what is loved about Don Quixote, the epic, illogical, and soulful tale of Alonso Quijano,
这组景象反映了人们为何喜爱堂吉诃德，这个经典的、没有逻辑却真挚的、关于阿隆索·吉哈诺的故事，
who becomes the clumsy but valiant Don Quixote of la Mancha, known as the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.
这位笨拙而又勇敢的主人公，拉曼却地区的堂吉诃德，也被称为愁颜骑士。
Originally published in two volumes, the narrative follows Don Quixote as he travels through central and northern Spain fighting the forces of evil.
这本书最初分两卷出版，故事跟随堂吉诃德的脚步遍及西班牙中部和北部，记叙了他与邪恶势力的斗争。
Despite Don Quixote's lofty imagination,
尽管堂吉诃德有出色的想象力，
his creator, Miguel de Cervantes, could never have imagined his book would become the best-selling novel of all time.
他的创作者米格尔·德·塞万提斯从未想到他的书竟能成为最畅销的小说。
Barring 5 years as a soldier, and 5 more enslaved by pirates, Cervantes spent most of his life as a struggling poet and playwright.
在做了五年士兵之后，塞万提斯被海盗奴役了五年，他在人生大部分的时间中都是一个痛苦的诗人和剧作家。
It wasn't until his late 50's that he published his greatest creation: an epic satire of chivalry novels.
直到50多岁时，他发布了自己最杰出的作品，一部经典的讽刺骑士小说。
At this time, medieval books chronicling the adventures of knights and their moral code dominated European culture.
在当时，中世纪时期有很多书籍记述骑士历险故事和骑士道德准则，它们在欧洲文化中占据主导地位。
While Cervantes was a fan, he was weary of these repetitive tomes, which focused more on listing heroic feats than character development.
虽然塞万提斯也是拥趸之一，但他对这些陈词滥调也感到厌倦，这些书的内容都旨在列举英雄事迹，而并非人物的成长发展。

To challenge them, he wrote Don Quixote, the story of a hidalgo, or idle nobleman, who spends his days and nights reading chivalry novels.
塞万提斯向这些骑士小说发起了挑战，写下了堂吉诃德，这是关于一个游手好闲贵族的故事，这位西班牙绅士日日夜夜都在读骑士小说。
Driven mad by these stories, he fashions himself a champion for the downtrodden.
他被这些小说搞疯了，把自己当成受压迫人民的捍卫者。
Everyone in his village tries to convince him to give up his lunacy, going so far as to burn some of the lurid books in his personal library.
同村庄的每个人都试图劝说他放弃这些愚蠢行为，村民甚至不惜烧掉堂吉诃德书房中的部分骑士小说。
But Don Quixote is unstoppable. He dresses up in old shining armor, mounts his skinny horse, and leaves his village in search of glory.
但是没有什么能阻止堂吉诃德，他穿起古老闪亮的铠甲，骑上他的瘦马，离开了村庄，前去寻找荣耀。
Cervantes' novel unfolds as a collection of episodes detailing the mishaps of the valiant knight.
塞万提斯的小说详细地展开了一组故事，描述了这位勇敢骑士的不幸遭遇。
Yet unlike the chivalry books and perhaps all other prior fiction, Cervantes' story deeply investigates the protagonist's inner life.
和其他骑士书籍不同，或者说和所有之前的虚构小说不同，塞万提斯的故事深刻探讨了主人公的内心世界。
Don Quixote matures as the narrative develops, undergoing a noticeable transformation.
随着叙事的发展堂吉诃德不断成熟，他经历了显而易见的改变。
This literary revelation has led many scholars to call Don Quixote the first modern novel.
这种文学展开方式让许多学者将堂吉诃德称为第一本现代小说。
And this character development doesn't happen in isolation.
这种人物性格的发展并不是割裂独立的。
Early on, Don Quixote is joined by a villager-turned-squire named Sancho Panza.
一开始，堂吉诃德的伙伴是同村的村民桑丘·潘沙，他后来成为了一名乡绅。
Sancho and Don Quixote are a study in opposites: with one as the grounded realist to the other's idealism.
桑丘和堂吉诃德是截然相反的两类人：一个是脚踏实地的现实主义者，另一个则是理想主义者。
Their lively, evolving friendship is often credited as the original hero and sidekick duo, inspiring centuries of fictional partnerships.
他们生动的，不断演化的友谊经常被认为是主人公和助手组合的最早原型，这也启发了后续几个世纪小说中的伙伴关系。
Don Quixote was a huge success. Numerous editions were published across Europe in the seventeenth century.
堂吉诃德获得了巨大的成功。在17世纪，不计其数的版本在全欧洲发行。
Even in the Americas, where the Church banned all novels for being sinful distractions, audiences were known to enjoy pirated editions.
甚至传到了美国，而当时美国的教会禁止各类小说，认为它分散人们的精力，是有罪的存在，但读者们则享受着读盗版书的快乐。
The book was so well received that readers clamored for more.
这本书好评如潮，读者们强烈要求看后续情节。
After a rival author attempted to cash in on a fake follow-up, Cervantes released the official sequel in response.
某个作家写出一个假的后续作品以此赚钱，在这一事件后，塞万提斯写出了正统的后续故事。
Now published alongside the first volume as a completed text,
现在，第二卷随第一卷共同出版，共同构成一部完整的作品，
this second volume picks up where the original left off, only now Don Quixote and Sancho have become folk heroes.
第二卷增加了原来版本中遗漏的部分，只有在现在的版本中，堂吉诃德和桑丘才成为民间英雄。
Just as in real-life, Cervantes included his novel's success in the world of his characters.
塞万提斯把现实生活中小说的成功写进了他笔下角色的世界。
This unconventional meta-awareness created philosophical complexity, as the knight and his squire ponder the meaning of their story.
这种一反常规的超越式的思考意识创造出哲学层面的复杂性，骑士和随从开始思考他们的故事带来了何种意义。
Unfortunately, Cervantes had sold the book's publishing rights for very little. He died rich in fame alone.
不幸的是，塞万提斯当时以低价将书的版权卖出。他去世时仅是名声显赫，却并无多少财富。
But his treatise on the power of creativity and individualism has inspired art, literature, popular culture, and even political revolution.
但是他的出色想象力和个人主义精神影响了艺术、文学、流行文化、甚至是政治革命。
Don Quixote argues that our imagination greatly informs our actions, making us capable of change, and, indeed, making us human.
堂吉诃德认为我们的想象力极大地影响我们的行动，使我们能够改变，也使我们为人。