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In time, most of the continent was subdued by the descendants of these invaders,
当时，该大陆的大部分被这些侵略者的后裔征服，
who, like the Spartans, maintained a distance between themselves and the peoples they had conquered.
他们像斯巴达人一样，保持他们和他们所奴役民族之间的距离。
Traces of this division persist today in what is known as the "caste system".
这种划分延续至今，被称为“种姓制度”。
In it, professions or occupations are strictly separated from each other.
该制度中，不同职业被严格地分开。
Men who were warriors had to remain warriors, and their sons had to be warriors too, because they belonged to the warrior caste.
是武士的男人必须永远当武士，他们的子孙也只可以当武士，因为他们属于武士种姓。
Other castes were similarly closed, like those of farmers and craftsmen.
其它种姓几乎同样严格自成一体，如手工业者和农民。
A farmer could never become a craftsman, or a craftsman a farmer – nor could their sons.
一个农民永远不能成为手工业者，反之亦然——他的儿子也不能。
Someone who was a member of one caste couldn't marry a girl from another – or even share a meal with a member of another caste.
一个种姓的男子不可以娶另一个种姓的姑娘为妻——连与另一个种姓的某个人同桌吃饭也不行。
At the top were the priests, or Brahmins – even higher than the warriors.
最高种姓是僧侣，是婆罗门——他们的地位比武士还高。
