美国国家公共电台 NPR--Remembering the life of England's longest serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II

Remembering the life of England's longest serving monarch¹ Queen Elizabeth II

Transcript²

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to historian Dan Jones about the legacy³ of Queen Elizabeth II's reign⁴, and how the royal family has and will continue to be put to the test by the public.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Today we are remembering the life of England's longest-serving monarch. Here she is back in 1953 on her coronation day.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: I have been aware all the time that my peoples, spread far and wide throughout every continent and ocean in the world, were united to support me in the task to which I have now been dedicated⁵ with such solemnity.

MARTIN: Joining us now to talk about her 70-year reign is British historian Dan Jones. He's the author of "The Templars." Dan, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

DAN JONES: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: What was it like for you to hear that clip of a young Elizabeth?

JONES: It's interesting to hear the clip of young Elizabeth. It's interesting to hear the clip of monarchs⁶ speaking full stop because, of course, throughout the long span of monarchy⁷, which I've studied a lot over the course of my career, you don't tend to hear monarchs' voices. It's Victoria and onwards. So it was always, always interesting to hear the queen's pronouncements, which were carefully thought out and subtle and seemingly uncontroversial, even when she was saying quite controversial things.

MARTIN: Well, let's talk more about her legacy. I mean, a lot of what people give her credit for when they say that she was a successful queen - it is that she had longevity⁸. She just endured it, right? She just kept at it amidst, you know, changes in British society and the public pressure and the scrutiny⁹. I mean, how would you characterize her time on the throne? What did she do well?

JONES: She did well at staying on the throne. She did well at living a long life, which was, I mean, not to be sniffed¹⁰ at. There are - when we talk about great monarchs throughout British history, you think back to characters like Elizabeth I who did the same thing, who arrived on the throne at a time of enormous tumult¹¹ and change - that being then religious change in the reformation. And she lived through several generations maintaining a settlement.

Now, Elizabeth II has done something similar. She's lived through a period of enormous, tumultuous change and come to express her duty through being a constant face, a constant presence, a constant representative of something much longer than the span of anybody's life. And I think she did very well at that. She did very well at - and I mean this in the kindest sense possible - seeming spectacular yet quite dull. There was - the job is to avoid controversy¹² and to maintain a sort of semi-mythical presence, which is an odd job to give any human being, I think, psychologically, politically, culturally. And she dealt with it in a remarkable¹³ fashion.

MARTIN: There are those who are giving her a lot of credit, in particular, for her statement during COVID. She was able to give this national address that really made people feel less alone during these difficult, difficult lockdown periods. Are there some other key moments that you would cite from her reign that stick out to you as being particularly effective, using her platform effectively?

JONES: Well, within my lifetime, I suppose, the moment that the monarchy was tested, in the greatest sense since it had been in the abdication¹⁴ crisis, was at the death of Princess Diana. And although there was some criticism leveled at the queen and the royal family in general at that time, I think the fact that she pulled the royal family together and moved on was an interesting one. I mean, she's also had an extraordinarily¹⁵ difficult last, say, five years of her life with members of the family, with her son, Prince Andrew, with her grandson, Prince Harry¹⁶, who've tested public faith and support for the royal family, who've tested the unity¹⁷ and the malleability¹⁸, the adaptability¹⁹ of the royal family. And she's dealt with that in ways that have, right to the end, kept the show on the road, if you see what I mean.

And that's the job. That's the job. It's an age in which the royal family is a blatant²⁰ and obvious anachronism. And so the job of maintaining a sense that it isn't about to collapse²¹ and far from that, is something that has a future, has been a difficult one - one that, as I said, she maintained right to the end.

MARTIN: So what does that mean, then, for her eldest²² son, now King Charles? I mean, first of all, as you say, she was successful because in large part people didn't know a lot about her, that she was such a private person. And that was all by, I mean, perhaps nature, but also by design. He is so much more of a known quantity to the British public for good and for ill. What challenges will that mean for him?

JONES: It's existential. The queen has been the queen for so long that - and what happens always with a long reign of a monarch is that the separation between crown and the individual wearing it starts to disappear in people's minds. The queen was the crown for almost everybody alive in Britain today. This is, for most of them, the first time they will have seen another individual wearing that crown. Now, is the - was the faith and support of the monarchy really faith and support for the monarchy, or was it faith and support for the queen? My instinct is that it was faith and support for the queen.

And so Charles now has an incredibly difficult job. He's a middle-aged²³ going on elderly white man, and that is not sort of the easiest thing to be in a rapidly changing society. He's got to somehow either convince people that the crown itself, the institution of monarchy, is a force for positive goodness and something that's worth the money and worth maintaining, or he has to somehow convince people that he himself is his mother's equal as a monarch. And I think both of those are unbelievably difficult tasks which could prove existential to the monarchy.

MARTIN: British historian and author Dan Jones, we so appreciate your perspective and context on this day, the day we are marking Queen Elizabeth II's reign, 70 years on the throne, and her funeral proceedings²⁴. Thank you so much for being with us.

JONES: Thank you for having me.

1 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 monarchs   

君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Monarchs ruled England for centuries. 世袭君主统治英格兰有许多世纪。
• Serving six monarchs of his native Great Britain, he has served all men's freedom and dignity. 他在大不列颠本国为六位君王服务，也为全人类的自由和尊严服务。 来自演讲部分

7 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。

8 longevity   

n.长命；长寿

参考例句：

• Good habits promote longevity.良好的习惯能增长寿命。
• Human longevity runs in families.人类的长寿具有家族遗传性。

9 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

10 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 tumult   

n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹

参考例句：

• The tumult in the streets awakened everyone in the house.街上的喧哗吵醒了屋子里的每一个人。
• His voice disappeared under growing tumult.他的声音消失在越来越响的喧哗声中。

12 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

13 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

14 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

15 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

16 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

17 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

18 malleability   

n.可锻性，可塑性，延展性

参考例句：

• A material's loss of malleability due to chemical treatment or physical change. 材料由于化学处理或物理变化丧失了柔韧性。
• Malleability is a physical property. 延展性是物质的一个物理特性。

19 adaptability   

n.适应性

参考例句：

• It has a wide range of adaptability.它的应用性广。

20 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

21 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

22 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

23 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

24 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼