彭蒙惠英语：Queen Elizabeth I（在线收听）

Queen Elizabeth I

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The perilous path to the throne

Ultimately, Protestant factions tried to incite a revolution, entering London, where they were defeated and sent to their deaths. Lady Elizabeth was shipped off to the Tower of London, although charged with no crime. She anticipated execution, yet her sister simply had her put under house arrest.

As her reign progressed and her health deteriorated, Queen Mary became increasingly fixated on her Catholic faith and, as a result, took to burning Protestants at the stake. In 1558, Mary died without an heir.

Elizabeth takes the throne

Upon hearing that she was queen, Elizabeth wanted to get to work immediately. Everyone else wanted her to marry immediately. If Elizabeth failed to produce an heir, then her cousin Mary Queen of Scots, also Catholic, would inherit the throne. This needed to be prevented at all costs.

Her sister’s widower, now King Philip II of Spain, was the first to offer marriage, but he was far from the last. Through the course of her reign, negotiations were conducted with Erik of Sweden and the Hapsburg Archduke Charles. At 38, she even toyed with the possibility of marriage to the 17-year-old French Duke of Alençon, but ultimately, the Queen decided no.

Dodging danger

The religious turmoil of the times shaped the Queen’s life. Elizabeth was a religious Protestant who regarded convoluted discussions of dogma as beside the point. “There is only one Jesus Christ. The rest is a dispute over trifles,” she insisted. Unlike her relatives, she was free of any zealotry. When it came to religion, her wish was simply to keep stability in her land.

The same could not be said of Mary Queen of Scots, who appears to have schemed to become England’s Catholic queen throughout her life.

Vocabulary Focus

faction (n) [5fAkFEn] a small group of people who are part of a larger group, and oppose the ideas of everyone else

fixate (v) [5fikseit] to obsess or be totally preoccupied by someone or something

convoluted (adj) [5kCnvElju:tid] extremely complicated and difficult to understand

beside the point (idiom) not important or not related to the subject being discussed

Specialized Terms

house arrest (n phr) 软禁（在家） when one is kept as a prisoner in one’s own home

burn at the stake (v phr) 绑在木架上烧死；火刑 to kill someone by tying them to a post and burning them

dogma (n) 教义，教条 a fixed belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept without any doubts

zealotry (n) 狂热 an attitude that one’s opinions about something are right and everyone else should believe in the same way

英国女王伊莉莎白一世

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通往王位的险峻之途

最后，新教徒派系欲发起革命，他们进入了伦敦，却在那儿战败并被处死。伊莉莎白被送到伦敦塔，尽管没受到任何控诉。她预期会被处决，但她的姐姐只是将她软禁在家。

玛丽女王继续统治。她的健康日益恶化，也愈来愈执迷于天主教的信仰，结果在1558年时，将新教徒送上火刑柱。玛丽死时没有留下继位人。

伊莉莎白继承王位

伊莉莎白一听到自己当了女王，立刻就想开始工作。所有人都要她立即结婚。如果伊莉莎白没有生出继承人，她的表妹，也就是天主教徒的苏格兰女王玛丽，就会继承王位。此事必须不惜一切代价予以阻止。

伊莉莎白姐姐的鳏夫，当时是西班牙国王的菲利浦二世，是第一个向她求婚的，但他绝不是最后一个。在她统治期间，瑞典国王埃里克和奥地利查理大公都曾谈过。她在38岁时甚至戏玩过和17岁的法国阿列松公爵结婚的可能性，但最后女王决定不要。

避开危险

那个时代的宗教动乱形成了女王的一生。伊莉莎白是位虔诚的新教徒，她认为对教义错综复杂的讨论无关紧要。“耶稣基督只有一个，其它都是无谓的争执。”她坚持。不像她的亲戚，她没有任何狂热。涉及宗教时，她只希望保持领土的安定。

苏格兰的女王玛丽就不同了，她一生都计划着要当英格兰的天主教女皇。