古德明英语军事小故事：满堂金玉成何用 ？ (中英对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。

满堂金玉成何用 ？

There is a famous story of what Hulagu did to Al-Mustasim, the last Abbasid caliph, after capturing Baghdad: he imprisoned the caliph in a room full of treasure, and brought him gold on a tray instead of food. The caliph protested that he could not eat gold, and Hulagu asked him why he had not used his money to strengthen his army and defend against the Mongols. The caliph said, "That was the will of God." Hulagu replied, "What will happen to you is also the will of God."

Soon afterwards the caliph was executed by Hulagu. The Mongols did not want to shed "royal blood", so they wrapped him in a rug and trampled him to death with their horses.

有一个着名故事，说旭烈兀侵占巴格达之后，怎样处置阿拔斯末代君主穆斯塔西姆：他把穆斯塔西姆囚在放满珍宝的房间，用托盘盛黄金而不是食物给他。穆斯塔西姆说黄金不能吃，旭烈兀就问他为什么最初不用钱加强军备抵御蒙古。穆斯塔西姆说：「那是上帝的意旨。」旭烈兀回答：「你将会经历的，也是上帝意旨。」

不久，旭烈兀就把穆斯塔西姆处死。蒙古人不想流「王者的血」，用毯把穆斯塔西姆包，跃马把他踩死。

【附注】Protest除了解作「抗议」，还可指「力言」或「不满意地说」，例如：（1）He protested his innocence/He protested that he was innocent（他力言自己无辜）。（2）HeprotestedthatIhadwrongedhim（他申诉说，我枉了他）。