TED演讲:激发《权力的游戏》灵感的战争(1)

 　　As far as we know, Medieval England was never invaded by ice zombies, or terrorized by dragons, 就我们所知，中世纪的英国不是被冰僵尸入侵，也不是受到恶龙的威胁，

　　but it was shaken by a power struggle between two noble families 而是因两个贵族家庭之间的权力斗争而动摇。

　　spanning generations and involving a massive cast of characters with complex motives¹ and shifting loyalties². 这场斗争世世代代持续，牵连众多人物，有的动机复杂、有的见风使舵。

　　If that sounds familiar, it's because the historical conflicts 如果那些话你听着耳熟，是因为电视剧《权力的游戏》的大部分背景

　　known as the Wars of the Roses served as the basis for much of the drama in Game of Thrones. 都取材于刚才提及的历史斗争——“玫瑰战争”。

　　The real-life seeds of war were sewn by the death of King Edward III in 1377. 战争的起因是1377年爱德华三世的逝世。

　　Edward's oldest son had died before his father, but his ten-year-old son, Richard II,  爱德华的长子死在他之前，但他十岁的儿子——理查二世，

　　succeeded to the throne ahead of Edward's three surviving sons. 越过爱德华的其他三个儿子，继承了王位。

　　This skipping of an entire generation left lingering claims to the throne among their various offspring, 由于略过了一代人的关系，这三位儿子的后代一直纠缠王位继承的问题。

　　particularly the Lancasters, descended³ from Edward's third son, and the Yorks, descended from his fourth son. 以三儿子的后代兰卡斯特一族和四儿子的后代约克一族争论最激烈。

　　The name of the ensuing wars comes from the symbols associated with the two families, “玫瑰战争”的名字和两个家族的家徽有关。

　　the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. 白玫瑰代表约克一族；红玫瑰则是兰卡斯特一族。

　　The Lancasters first gained the throne when Richard II was deposed⁴ by his cousin Henry IV in 1399. 1399年，亨利四世罢免理查二世，兰卡斯特一族首先夺得王位。

　　Despite sporadic⁵ unrest, their reign⁶ remained secure until 1422,  尽管社会偶有骚动，但兰卡斯特一族的统治一直持续到1422年，

　　when Henry V's death in a military campaign left an infant Henry VI as king. 当时亨利五世于军营病逝，留下了幼小的亨利六世继承王位。

　　Weak-willed and dominated by advisors,  亨利六世意志软弱，同时受到臣子们的蠱惑，

　　Henry was eventually convinced to marry Margaret of Anjou to gain French support. 最终被说服迎娶安茹的玛格丽特以换取法国的支持。

　　Margaret was beautiful, ambitious, and ruthless in persecuting⁸ any threat to her power, 玛格丽特既美丽又有野心、她冷酷地对待任何威胁到她的权力的人，

　　and she distrusted Richard of York, most of all. 其中她特别不信任约克一族的理查。

　　York had been the King's close advisor⁷ and loyal General, 约克一族世世代代是国王的近臣和忠诚的将军，

　　but was increasingly sidelined by the Queen, 但皇后渐渐提拔她的支持者，

　　who promoted her favorite supporters, like the Earls of Suffolk and Somerset. 如萨福克伯爵和森密实伯爵，架空了约克一族。

　　York's criticism of their inept⁹ handling of the war against France led to his exclusion¹⁰ from court and transfer to Ireland. 约克对他们在法国战争中无能的批评导致他被排除在朝廷之外，并被流放到爱尔兰。

　　Meanwhile, mounting military failures, and corrupt¹¹ rule by Margaret and her allies caused widespread discontent, 同时，战场上接二连三的失败和玛格丽特与她同党们的迂腐管治，引起了社会广泛的不满。

　　and in the midst of this chaos¹², Richard of York returned with an army to arrest Somerset and reform the court. 在这一片混乱中，理查·约克带领军队回归，捉拿森密实伯爵，重组议会。

　　Initially¹³ unsuccessful, he soon got his chance 尽管一开始并不成功，但理查很快便发现了他的机会，

　　when he was appointed Protector of the Realm after Henry suffered a mental breakdown¹⁴. 在亨利六世的一次精神崩溃时，他被任命为护国将军。

　　However, less than a year later, Henry suddendly recovered and the Queen convinced him to reverse York's reforms. 然而，不到一年，亨利六世突然康复，同时玛格丽特说服他推翻理查·约克的改革。

　　York fled and raised an army once more. 理查逃亡，再次组织军队。

　　Though he was unable to directly seize the throne, 虽然他没法直接夺取王位，

　　he managed to be reinstated as Protector and have himself and his heirs designated to succeed Henry. 但他再次成功地成为护国将军，自己和后代亦成为亨利六世的继承者。

1 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

2 loyalties   

n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 )；忠心；忠于…感情；要忠于…的强烈感情

参考例句：

• an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
• Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

4 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

6 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。

7 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

8 persecuting   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时，这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
• He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。

9 inept   

adj.不恰当的，荒谬的，拙劣的

参考例句：

• Whan an inept remark to make on such a formal occasion.在如此正式的场合，怎么说这样不恰当的话。
• He's quite inept at tennis.他打网球太笨。

10 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

11 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 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。