那座国王几乎从未住过的城堡

在巴伐利亚阿尔卑斯山的一处陡峭山脊上，矗立着一座宛如梦境的白色城堡。它是由国王路德维希二世建造的，比起统治国家，他更热爱音乐、故事和一切美好的事物。他想要一座童话里的城堡，于是把它建在山谷之上的陡峭岩崖上，塔楼直插入山间的薄雾之中。

High on a rocky ridge in the Bavarian Alps stands a white castle that looks like a dream. It was built by a king named Ludwig the Second, who loved music, stories, and beautiful things more than he loved ruling. He wanted a castle from a fairy tale, so he set it on a steep crag above the valley, with towers reaching into the mountain mist.

路德维希为这座城堡花费了巨额财富。技艺精湛的工匠雕刻房间，在墙上绘制古老传说中的场景。但国王在城堡里只住了大约十一个夜晚就去世了，城堡也始终没有完工。许多房间一直空荡而寂静，等待着一种再也不会到来的生活将它们填满。

Ludwig spent a fortune on his castle. Skilled workers carved the rooms and painted the walls with scenes from old legends. But the king lived inside for only about eleven nights before he died, and the castle was never finished. Many rooms stayed bare and silent, waiting for a life that never came to fill them.

如今，这个故事有了一个奇怪的圆满结局。那位孤独的国王几乎没有使用过的城堡，如今成了世界上参观人数最多的城堡之一。每天都有成群的游客沿着山路而上，仰望它的塔楼。它甚至启发了主题公园里那些著名的城堡形象，于是一个私人的梦想，如今活在了数百万张照片里。

Today the story has a strange happy ending. The castle that one lonely king barely used has become one of the most visited castles on earth. Crowds of travellers climb the path each day and look up at its towers. It even inspired the famous castles you see in theme parks, so a private dream now lives in millions of photographs.