In the time we're starting this course in the seventeenth century, besides London, which is this gigantic place, the biggest cities in England were Norwich and Exeter, and York in the north.

我们这节课的起始年代,即十七世纪,除了伦敦这个巨型的城市,英国最大的城市是诺里奇和埃克塞特,以及北部的约克

耶鲁公开课 - 欧洲文明课程节选

In the city-states of Venice, which was a major trading city already on the decline, and in Florence, and in Milan, and in Turin, and in places like that you find something very comparable, but Italy is not united until the 1860s.

在威尼斯城邦,这个曾以贸易为主的城市已经走向衰落,而佛罗伦萨,米兰,都灵,类似的这些城市情况都是如此,除了十九世纪六十年代才统一的意大利

耶鲁公开课 - 欧洲文明课程节选