揭秘：那些改变历史的婚外恋

 　　History is filled with great, enduring love stories, from Napoleon and Josephine to Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson.Here are some of history’s most consequential¹ trysts²:

　　历史上写满了精彩，隽永的爱情故事。从拿破仑与约瑟芬的故事到爱德华王子与华里丝·辛普森 的故事。下面这些故事都曾对历史进程产生重大影响：

　　1. Mary Godwin & Percy Bysshe Shelley

　　戈德温·玛丽与珀西·比希·雪莱

　　One of the great unions of literary history began in 1814, when the 16-year-old Mary Godwin and the dreamy, but very married, 21-year-old romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley met in secret at the grave of Mary’s famous suffragette mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. There, as Mary later recounted, the two touched each other with the “full ardour of love,” an ardor³ that would eventually leave the aspiring⁴ writer pregnant and Shelley estranged⁵ from his wife.

　　这段恋情堪称文学史最伟大的结合之一：故事始于1814年，16岁的玛丽·戈德温与那位耽于幻想、却已然成婚的21岁浪漫主义诗人雪莱在玛丽母亲的墓前秘密相会了。玛丽的母亲玛丽· 沃斯通克拉夫特是当时著名的妇女参政权论者。在那里，据玛丽之后回忆，两个“怀着满心爱恋”的人儿有了肌肤之亲。这份爱恋最终让这位有抱负的女作家怀孕了，而雪莱与妻子的关系日益疏远。

　　The  了Fallout: The lovers were married a few years later after Shelley’s pregnant wife drowned herself in Hyde Park, but their tumultuous partnership⁶ ended when the poet drowned a few years later. Still, it would produce some literary masterpieces, including Mary’s classic Frankenstein, which she conceived while on holiday in Switzerland with Shelley and Lord Byron in 1816.

　　结局：雪莱的妻子怀着身孕在海德公园投水自尽。数年之后，雪莱和玛丽这对情人结婚了。可是，这段多舛的爱情故事最终的结局却是——几年后，诗人溺死水中。不过，这段爱情还是启发他们创作了许多文学佳作，比如玛丽的《弗兰克斯坦》，她构思这篇小说的时间正是1816年，她与雪莱、拜伦伯爵在瑞典度假的时候。

　　揭秘：那些改变历史的婚外恋

　　2. Catherine the Great & Grigory Potemkin

　　叶卡捷琳娜女皇与格里高利·波将军

　　Every great empress needs a counselor⁷, military strategist, soul mate and boy toy, or, in the case of Grigory Potemkin, one man capable of wearing all of those hats. Catherine the Great first encountered the dashing Potemkin when the young commander (10 years her junior) helped the 33-year-old overthrow⁸ her disappointing husband, Czar Peter III,in 1762.

　　每位伟大的女皇都会需要一名顾问，一位军事谋士，一个灵魂伴侣，加上一个男宠。而格里高利·波将军一人担当了这所有的角色。1762年他们第一次相遇了——当时33岁的皇后在这位勇猛的将领（比她年轻10岁）的帮助下，颠覆了她那位不成气候的皇夫，沙皇彼得三世。

　　The Fallout: The coupling produced a powerful political alliance for decades. Yet even as Potemkin’s role at court expanded, he grew more marginalized in Catherine’s bedroom, increasingly relegated⁹ to the third wheel of a ménage à trois or consigned¹⁰ to the role of pimp, acquiring younger male specimens¹¹ for one of the most powerful women in history.

　　结局：这对佳偶在数十年间组成了一对强势的政治联盟。可是，随着波将军在政坛上势力的扩张，他在叶卡捷琳娜女皇卧室里的地位却越来越被边缘化，越来越变成“三角家庭（ménage à trois）里的第三者，甚至被委任为拉皮条者，为这位历史上最有权力的女人搜集更年轻的男子。

　　3. Charles Dickens & Nelly Ternan

　　查尔斯·狄更斯与娜莉·特南

　　Even literary giants are not immune to the midlife crisis. By 1857, the 45-year-old Victorian novelist was at the height of his powers, a literary superstar — who was also married with nine children and living, by all appearances, a virtuous¹² family life. Then he began an adulterous affair with Ellen “Nelly” Ternan, a gifted young actress in his employ who was just a year older than his 17-year-old daughter.

　　即使是文学巨擘也无可避免的会感染上中年危机症。在1857年，那位45岁维多利亚时代的伟大小说家成为了文学界的超级巨星，正处于事业的巅峰时期——已婚，有9个子女，过着父慈子孝的幸福生活，至少从表面上看是如此。这时，他却与一位受雇于自己的年轻女演员开始了一段婚外情，这位颇具天赋的年轻女演员名叫艾伦·“娜莉”·特南，比他17岁的女儿仅年长一岁。

　　The Fallout: The affair proved the best and worst of times for the writer. Dickens’s marriage fell apart, but his 13-year relationship with Nelly continued until his death, though his tireless (and successful) efforts to keep his double life a secret may have hastened his demise¹³. Nelly is believed to have inspired the dark secrets characteristic of his later novels and several of their characters, including Estella in Great Expectations.

　　结局：这段恋情最终成为作家一生中“最好的时代，同时也是最糟糕的时代”（《双城记》）。尽管狄更斯不遗余力的为自己的婚外情生活保守秘密（并且成功做到了），但最终他的婚姻崩塌了，不过他与娜莉的爱情关系却持续了13年，直至他去世。人们相信，狄更斯后期作品中黑暗神秘的风格特征正是诗人受到娜莉影响的结果，同时娜莉还启发狄更斯创造了许多文学形象，包括《远大前程》中的伊思黛拉。

　　4. Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn

　　亨利八氏与安·波琳

　　This historic pairing, portrayed¹⁴ in countless¹⁵ films, books and television shows, has long captured the public imagination, though the precise details of the courtship remain fuzzy.

　　这对具有历史影响的佳偶曾在电影、书籍和电视剧中被无数次描绘，长久吸引着世人的想象，可是，他们关系的真实细节却一直扑朔迷离。

　　The Fallout: Henry’s attempt to legitimize his marriage to Anne would famously lead to England’s break from the Roman Catholic Church, while Anne’s brief stint¹⁶ as Henry’s second queen would lead to the birth of the future Elizabeth I and Anne’s ultimate beheading.

　　结局：亨利力图使自己与安的婚姻合法化，众所周知，正因为此才导致了英国与罗马天主教教廷的决裂。而正因有了安作为亨利第二任皇后的短暂生涯，才有了后来伊丽莎白女王一氏的诞生，也才有了安最终的被送上断头台的命运。

　　5. Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton

　　伊莉莎白·泰勒与理查德·波顿

　　It seems fitting that the famous Hollywood duo met while playing another famously doomed¹⁷ couple in Cleopatra (1963). Both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were married to others at the time but the attraction was epic¹⁸ and a ferocious¹⁹ affair ensued.

　　这对人儿是在饰演电影《克里奥佩特拉》（1963）中另一对（和他俩一样）命中注定的恋人时相遇的，这似乎再合适不过了。当时伊丽莎白·泰勒和理查德·波顿都已经结婚，可是他们却被彼此吸引，由此展开一段史诗般的、热烈的恋情。

　　The Fallout: The couple’s 10-year “marriage of the century” became the closest thing to reality television in the 1960s, a constant magnet for gossip and hordes²⁰ of paparazzi. They would divorce in 1974, remarry the following year and divorce again shortly after that.

　　结局：这对恋人维系了十年的“世纪婚姻”成为了20世纪60年代最贴近真人秀的爱情故事，它像磁铁一样不断吸引着流言蜚语和无数的八卦新闻。他们在1974年离婚，又在一年之后复婚，但不久又再次分开了。

1 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

2 trysts   

n.约会，幽会( tryst的名词复数 )；幽会地点

参考例句：

• He's accused of having drug-fueled trysts with a Denver man. 人们指责他与一名丹佛男子幽会，期间还服用毒品助兴。 来自互联网
• Fools set far trysts. 蠢人定约早。 来自互联网

3 ardor   

n.热情，狂热

参考例句：

• His political ardor led him into many arguments.他的政治狂热使他多次卷入争论中。
• He took up his pursuit with ardor.他满腔热忱地从事工作。

4 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

5 estranged   

adj.疏远的，分离的

参考例句：

• He became estranged from his family after the argument.那场争吵后他便与家人疏远了。
• The argument estranged him from his brother.争吵使他同他的兄弟之间的关系疏远了。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

8 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

9 relegated   

v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

• She was then relegated to the role of assistant. 随后她被降级做助手了。
• I think that should be relegated to the garbage can of history. 我认为应该把它扔进历史的垃圾箱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 consigned   

v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃

参考例句：

• I consigned her letter to the waste basket. 我把她的信丢进了废纸篓。
• The father consigned the child to his sister's care. 那位父亲把孩子托付给他妹妹照看。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

13 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

14 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

16 stint   

v.节省，限制，停止；n.舍不得化，节约，限制；连续不断的一段时间从事某件事

参考例句：

• He lavished money on his children without stint.他在孩子们身上花钱毫不吝惜。
• We hope that you will not stint your criticism.我们希望您不吝指教。

17 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

18 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

19 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

20 hordes   

n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落

参考例句：

• There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
• Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》