2021年经济学人 菲利普亲王-为爱放弃王位的希腊王子(1)

Obituary¹

讣告

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

菲利普亲王，爱丁堡公爵

Pledge of a lifetime

一生的誓言

Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died on April 9th, aged² 99

菲利普亲王，女王伊丽莎白二世的丈夫，于4月9日去世，享年99岁

His huge, red hands were what you noticed first.

首先让人注意到的是他那双红彤彤的大手。

On his wrist the plain watch with its brown leather strap³, and the copper⁴ bracelet⁵ he wore to ease the rheumatism⁶ that so plagued his later years.

他的手腕上戴着一块棕色皮带的普通手表，还有一只铜手镯，以缓解让他晚年饱受折磨的风湿病。

Moulded by his genes⁷ and by life, those hands, big as lion paws, in turn moulded those around him: his wife, their children, her subjects.

这双被基因定型、被生活打磨过的手，像狮爪般硕大，这双手反过来又塑造了周围的人:他的妻子，孩子，以及女王的臣民。

Had Philip been the soft-skinned English aristocrat⁸ that the king and queen would have preferred for their elder daughter, Elizabeth,

如果菲利普亲王符合国王和王后为大女儿伊丽莎白选定的择偶标准——一个养尊处优的英国贵族青年，

it would have been different. But he was an outsider.

那么情况可能会有所不同。但他是个局外人。

By the age of 26, when he married his second cousin once removed, he had lost virtually all his early roots.

26岁时，当他迎娶自己的远房表妹时，他几乎是失去了早期的所有血脉。

His father was dead; his mother, having suffered a mental breakdown⁹, had withdrawn¹⁰ into a religious order.

他的父亲去世了；母亲因精神崩溃而皈依宗教团体。

She wore a grey habit to the end of her life.

一生都以一件灰色衣服示人，直至终老。

Three of his four sisters married Nazis¹¹; none was welcome at the royal wedding in Westminster Abbey just after the end of the war.

四个姐妹中有三个嫁给了纳粹；因此，战争刚刚结束，在威斯敏斯特大教堂举行的皇室婚礼上，没有一位姐妹受邀前来参加。

By then, Philip had also lost his birthright, his home, his name, nationality and church.

这场婚姻，也让菲利普已经失去了与生俱来的王位继承权，他的家族，他的姓名，国籍以及宗教信仰。

Even his birthday—fixed first in the Julian calendar and then in the Gregorian—was no longer the same.

甚至他的生日也从最初的罗马儒略历日期改为了公历。

The 20th century would test Britain’s monarchy¹² with divorce, democracy and disdain¹³.

20世纪英国皇室受到了婚姻失败、民主政治和蔑视的考验。

But the man who held its future in those hands had an immigrant’s hunger for tradition and hard work.

但将未来掌握在手中的菲利普亲王保有着移民对传统和努力的渴望。

He came to Britain by accident. He was born in 1921 on the island of Corfu.

他是偶然来到英国的。1921年，他出生在科孚岛。

His father, son of the king of Greece, was of Danish and Russian origin mainly;

他的父亲是希腊国王的儿子，主要是丹麦和俄罗斯血统；

his maternal¹⁴ grandfather grew up in Austria and Germany, and became British.

他的外祖父在奥地利和德国长大，后来加入了英国国籍。

As a toddler, Philip was carried aboard ship in a cot made from an orange crate¹⁵ when his family was banished¹⁶ from Greece.

在菲利普亲王幼儿时期，他们全家被驱逐出希腊，当时的他被装在一个橘子板条箱做成的小床里被抬上船。

Until he was ten they lived in exile in St Cloud, a leafy Paris suburb.

在他十岁之前，他们一直流亡在巴黎绿树成荫的郊区圣克劳德。

1 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

4 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

5 bracelet   

n.手镯，臂镯

参考例句：

• The jeweler charges lots of money to set diamonds in a bracelet.珠宝匠要很多钱才肯把钻石镶在手镯上。
• She left her gold bracelet as a pledge.她留下她的金手镯作抵押品。

6 rheumatism   

n.风湿病

参考例句：

• The damp weather plays the very devil with my rheumatism.潮湿的天气加重了我的风湿病。
• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。

7 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

8 aristocrat   

n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物

参考例句：

• He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
• He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。

9 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

10 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

11 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。

13 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

14 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

15 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

16 banished   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
• He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》