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The Waking World and the Well of Eternity
苏醒中的世界和永恒之井
Ten thousand years before the orcs and humans clashed in their First War, the world of Azeroth cradled only one massive continent, surrounded by the sea.
orc: 兽人 clash: 冲突 cradle: 抚育 massive: 巨大的 continent: 大陆 surround: 围绕
在人类与兽人之间爆发第一次大战的一万年前，艾泽拉斯世界只孕育着一片被海水包围大陆。
That landmass, known as Kalimdor, was home to a number of disparate races and creatures, all vying for survival amongst the savage elements of the waking world.
landmass: 大陆 disparate: 不同的 race: 种族 creature: 生物 vying: 竞争 survival: 生存 amongst: 在…之间 savage: 原始的 element: 自然环境 waking: 苏醒的
这片叫做卡利姆多的大片陆地养育着大量不同的物种，在这苏醒中的世界中，所有的物种都通过竞争面对残酷的自然。
At the dark continent's center was a mysterious lake of incandescent energies.
continent: 大陆 mysterious: 神秘的 lake: 湖 incandescent: 闪光的
在这片大陆的中央有着闪烁着能量的神秘湖水。
The lake, which would later be called the Well of Eternity, was the true heart of the world's magic and natural power.
lake: 湖 well: 井 eternity: 永恒 Well of Eternity: 永恒之井 magic: 魔力
被称为永恒之井的湖是世界魔力和自然力的中心。
Drawing its energies from the infinite Great Dark beyond the world, the Well acted as a mystical fount,
draw: 抽取 infinite: 无穷的 act: 扮演 mystical: 神秘的 fount: 源泉
这口井从无穷无尽的混沌黑暗之中汲取能量，
sending its potent energies out across the world to nourish life in all its wondrous forms.
send: 送给 potent: 强有力的 nourish: 滋养 wondrous: 惊人的 form: 形态
并以独特的方式用这些能量滋养着整个世界。
In time, a primitive tribe of nocturnal humanoids cautiously made their way to the edges of the mesmerizing enchanted lake.
primitive: 原始的 tribe: 部落 nocturnal: 夜间活动的 humanoid: 类人生物 cautiously: 慎重的 edge: 边缘 mesmerize: 入迷 enchant: 被施魔法的
后来，一个原始的夜间活动的人形生物部落谨慎地来到了这支魔法泉水旁边。
The feral, nomadic humanoids, drawn by the Well's strange energies, built crude homes upon its tranquil shores.
feral: 野性的 nomadic: 游牧的 humanoid: 类人生物 draw: 引诱 crude: 简陋的 tranquil: 宁静的 shore: 岸
这些原始的人形生物被泉水的魔力吸引，并在湖宁静的岸边上建造了自己原始的家。
Over time, the Well's cosmic power affected the tribe, making them strong, wise, and virtually immortal.
over time: 随着时间的过去 cosmic: 无边的 affect: 影响 tribe: 部落 wise: 智慧的 virtually: 几乎 immortal:永生
湖中无穷的力量对这个族群产生了潜移默化的影响，让他们更加强壮，睿智并拥有了不朽的生命。
The tribe adopted the name Kaldorei, which meant "children of the stars" in their native tongue.
adopt: 采用 native: 本地的 tongue: 语言
这个部族自称为卡多雷，这个名字在他们的语言中意为“星辰之子”。
To celebrate their budding society, they constructed great structures and temples around the lake's periphery.
celebrate: 庆祝 budding: 发展中的 society: 社会 construct: 建造 structure: 建筑物 temple: 神庙 periphery:周边
为了庆祝她们发展中的社会，她们在湖畔建造了宏伟的建筑和神庙。
The Kaldorei, or night elves as they would later be known, worshipped the moon goddess, Elune,
night elf: 夜精灵 worship: 崇拜 goddess: 女神
卡多雷，或称呼他们为暗夜精灵，崇拜月神艾露恩。
and believed that she slept within the Well's shimmering depths during the daylight hours.
shimmering: 闪烁的 depths: 深处 daylight: 日光
他们相信她白天就睡在井中心最闪光的深处。
The early night elf priests and seers studied the Well with an insatiable curiosity, driven to plumb its untold secrets and power.
priest: 祭司 seer: 先知 insatiable: 不知足的 curiosity: 好奇 drive: 驱使 plumb: 了解 untold: 无数的 secret: 秘密
由于受到井中所蕴含着的秘密与魔力所吸引，早期的暗夜精灵祭祀和先知们总是对井充满好奇，并孜孜不倦地研究着它。
As their society grew, the night elves explored the breadth of Kalimdor and encountered its other denizens.
society: 社会 explore: 探究 breadth: 广阔 encountered: 遇到 denizen: 居民
随着这个社会的成长，夜精灵探索着卡利姆多大陆，并遇到了其他的物种，
The only creatures that gave them pause were the ancient and powerful dragons.
creature: 生物 pause: 中止 ancient: 古老的 dragon: 龙
唯一让她们驻足的是上古的巨龙。
The great serpentine beasts were often reclusive, but they did much to safeguard the known lands from potential threats.
serpentine: 蜿蜒的 beast: 野兽 reclusive: 隐居的 safeguard: 保护 potential: 潜在的 threat: 威胁
虽然这些身形巨大而蜿蜒的生物总是过着遁世隐居的生活，但它们会为防止任何潜在的威胁波及这片大陆而做出努力。
The night elves discovered that the dragons held themselves to be the protectors of the world - and agreed that they and their secrets were best left alone.
night elf: 夜精灵 discover: 发现 dragon: 龙 protector: 保护者 agreed: 商定的 secret: 秘密
夜精灵发现龙群扮演着世界守护者的角色，便答应为龙群保守他们身份秘密。
In time, the night elves' curiosity led them to meet and befriend a number of powerful entities, not the least of which was Cenarius, a mighty demigod of the primordial forestlands.
curiosity: 好奇心 befriend: 与…交朋友 entity: 实体 mighty: 强大的 demigod: 半神 primordial:原始的 forestland: 林地
后来，夜精灵的好奇使她们结识了很多强大的朋友，其中就有林地里的半神塞纳留斯。
The greathearted Cenarius grew fond of the inquisitive night elves and spent a great deal of time teaching them about the natural world.
greathearted: 慷慨的 inquisitive: 好奇的 night elf: 夜精灵 deal: 份量
慷慨的赛纳留斯很喜欢这些好奇的暗夜精灵，并花了许多时间教他们认识这个美丽而富饶的大自然。
The tranquil Kaldorei developed a strong empathy for the living forests of Kalimdor and reveled in the harmonious balance of nature.
tranquil: 宁静的 develop: 发展 empathy: 共鸣 forest: 森林 revel: 深爱 harmonious: 和睦的 balance: 平衡
天性喜好宁静的卡多雷也对卡里姆多的森林产生除了共鸣一般的感觉，并为大自然的和谐感到欣喜。
As the seemingly endless ages passed, the night elves' civilization expanded both territorially and culturally.
seemingly: 看上去 endless: 无止境的 night elf: 夜精灵 civilization: 文明 expand: 扩大 territorially: 领土地 culturally: 文化地
随着看似无尽的时间的流失，暗夜精灵的文明无论是在领土上还是文化上都有了长足的发展。
Their temples, roads, and dwelling places stretched across the breadth of the dark continent.
temple: 神庙 dwelling: 住所 stretch: 延伸 breadth: 宽度 continent: 大陆
他们的庙宇，道路以及居所正逐渐遍布整块黑暗大陆。
Azshara, the night elves' beautiful and gifted queen, built an immense, wondrous palace on the Well's shore that housed her favored servitors within its bejeweled halls.
night elf: 夜精灵 gifted: 杰出的 queen: 女王 immense: 巨大的 wondrous: 惊人的 palace: 宫殿 shore: 岸 favored: 受到优待的 servitor: 仆人 bejewel: 饰以珠宝 hall: 大厅
夜精灵美貌且杰出的女王，建造了泉水湖畔的的宏伟宫殿，她仆人所住大厅里嵌满了宝石。
Her servitors, whom she called the Quel'dorei or "Highborne", doted on her every command and believed themselves to be greater than the rest of their brethren.
servitor: 仆人 command: 命令 rest: 其余的 brethren: 同胞
她的仆人被她叫做奎尔多雷或者上层精灵，她们热忠女王的每个命令，并认为自己比其他夜精灵优越。
Though Queen Azshara was loved equally by all of her people, the Highborne were secretly envied and disliked by the rest of the night elves.
equally: 同样地 secretly: 背地里 envied: 被人嫉妒的 disliked: 厌恶 rest: 其他的 night elf: 夜精灵
虽然大家一样热爱女王，上层精灵却受到暗中巨大的嫉妒。
Sharing the priests' curiosity towards the Well of Eternity, Azshara ordered the Highborne to plumb its secrets and reveal its true purpose in the world.
share: 共享 priest: 祭司 curiosity: 好奇心 towards: 朝 Well of Eternity: 永恒之井 order: 命令 plumb: 探索 secret: 秘密 reveal: 揭露 purpose: 意图
女王艾萨拉和先知一样，对湖水非常好奇，便命令贵族去探索湖水对世界真正的意义。
The Highborne buried themselves in their work and studied the Well ceaselessly. In time they developed the ability to manipulate and control the Well's cosmic energies.
ceaselessly: 不停地 develop: 发展 ability: 能力 manipulate: 操纵 cosmic: 巨大的
上层精灵们全力工作，日夜不停地研究月井。再这个过程中，它们得到了一种能够控制井中巨大的能量的能力。
As their experiments progressed, the Highborne found that they could use their newfound powers to either create or destroy at their leisure.
experiment: 实验 progress: 进程 newfound: 新发现的 either: 或 create: 创造 destroy: 毁灭 leisure: 从容地
在实验过程中，上层精灵发现他们可以从容地用新发现的力量创造或毁灭。
The heedless Highborne had stumbled upon primitive magic and were now resolved to devote themselves to its mastery.
heedless: 不注意的 stumble upon: 偶然发现 primitive: 远古的 magic: 魔法 resolve: 决定 devote: 致力于 mastery: 掌握
对于这种偶然发现的远古魔法，上层精灵下定决心要掌握这种力量。
Although they agreed that magic was inherently dangerous if handled irresponsibly, Azshara and her Highborne began to practice their spellcraft with reckless abandon.
inherent: 内在的 handle: 运用 irresponsible: 不负责任的 reckless: 鲁莽的 abandon: 放纵
虽然她们知道不负责任的使用魔法是危险的，艾萨拉女王和上层精灵们却鲁莽地投身在魔法的研究当中。
Cenarius and many wizened night elf scholars warned that only calamity would result from toying with the clearly volatile arts of magic.
wizened: 年长的 cholar: 学者 warn: 警告 calamity: 灾难 toy: 玩弄 volatile: 反复无常的
塞纳留斯和许多暗夜精灵学者都警告他们说，若不能正确地对待这种魔法的话，必定会导致灾难。
Even so, Azshara and her followers stubbornly continued to expand their burgeoning powers.
even so: 虽然如此 follower: 跟随者 stubbornly: 顽固地 continue: 继续 expand: 增加 burgeon:扩展的
尽管如此，艾萨拉和她的精灵依然固执地继续扩展着她们的魔法。
As their powers grew, a distinct change came over Azshara and the Highborne.
distinct: 明显的
随着力量的增加，艾萨拉和上层精灵们有了明显的变化。
The haughty, aloof upper class became increasingly callous and cruel towards their fellow night elves.
haughty: 傲慢的 aloof: 冷漠地 upper: 上面的 class: 阶级 increasingly: 逐渐地 callous: 无情的 cruel: 残暴的
这些高傲的上位者们开始对他们的臣民们越来越冷淡，越来越残忍。
A dark, brooding pall veiled Azshara's once-entrancing beauty. She began to withdraw from her loving subjects and refused to interact with any but her trusted Highborne priests.
brooding: 压抑的 pall: 遮盖物 veiled: 遮盖 entrancing: 迷人的 withdraw: 取回 refuse: 拒绝 interact: 相互作用 trust: 信任 priests: 祭司
一块黑暗压抑的面纱罩住了艾萨拉那曾经令人痴迷的美丽。她开始不再在意她曾经喜欢过的东西，并拒绝与她唯一信任的贵族祭司们以外的任何人接触。
A young scholar named Malfurion Stormrage, who had spent much of his time studying the primitive arts of druidism,
scholar: 学者 primitive: 原始的 druidism: 德鲁伊教
一个花去大量时间研究德鲁伊文化的年轻的学者玛法里奥怒风，
began to suspect that a terrible power was corrupting the Highborne and his beloved queen.
suspect: 怀疑 corrupt: 使堕落 beloved: 爱戴的
怀疑一种可怕的力量污染了上层精灵，和他爱戴的女王。
Though he could not conceive of the evil that was to come, he knew that the night elves' lives would soon be changed forever....
conceive: 想到 evil: 邪恶 night elf: 夜精灵
虽然他预测不出即将到来的邪恶，但他可以断言，夜精灵马上会发生巨大变化，并且永远不能复原。
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