In Search of Shakespeare 寻找莎士比亚

Like all stories from history, this is a search for ghosts -- a quest for the people who made us what we are, and for one man in particular. William Shakespeare is the most famous writer of all time, and yet his life is still shrouded¹ in mystery, so much so that a vast web of conspiracy² theories has grown up over whether he even wrote his own plays or not. This is a historical detective story, an Elizabethan whodunit³, searching for the life of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon set against the turbulent times in which he lived.

"Where are you going?"
"We are walking up the ancient road, it's one of the old roads of England."
"Are you walking all the way up?"
"Yeah! Bye!"

So why go in search of Shakespeare? Can the life of a writer ever be as interesting or exciting as a conqueror⁴, an inventor or an explorer, and Napoleon, Columbus, and Alexander the Great?
Oh, yes, yes, it can! More so, because the writers and the poets are the explorers of the human heart and long after the conquerors⁵ are forgotten, their legacy⁶ will be the most valuable to us as human beings, and Shakespeare is the greatest writer who ever lived, who wouldn't want to know what made him tick. That's what I want to try to do on this journey.

Our search for Shakespeare will take us into the hidden landscapes of Elizabethan England and the secret archives of English history. Luckily for us, Elizabethan England was a police state. Its spies recorded everything. Through them, we can trace Shakespeare's connections from Warwickshire to the wilds of Lancashire. We can follow him into the teeming⁷ suburbs of Tudor London and find his landlady⁸, his tax dodging⁹, even his summons for grievous bodily harm. We'll pinpoint¹⁰ the site of his first playhouse, the place which ignited the golden age of the theater: a time which has left its mark on our culture from that day to this and which gave us the greatest gallery of characters in the literature of the world.

Words and phrases: -- by improving

1. be shrouded in mystery == to keep information secret so that people do not know what happened
--VARIATIONS: be shrouded in mystery/secrecy (OR be shrouded/veiled in mystery)
--e.g. The incident has always been shrouded in mystery.
--e.g. The reason of his death is veiled in mystery.

2. a web of conspiracy == complicated set of secret plans
--VARIATIONS: a web of deceit/deception/intrigue/conspiracy;
--e.g. a tangled¹¹ web of relationships

3. what makes somebody tick == the thoughts, feelings etc give sb their character or make them behave in a particular way
--e.g. I've never really understand what makes her tick.

4. teeming == crowded, full of people;
--e.g. the teeming streets

5. tax dodge¹² == a way of paying less tax

6. summons [noun, pl.] == an official order to make sb appear in a court of law;
--e.g. The judge must issue a sUmmonS.
--e.g. He had been accused of a drug offence but police had been unable to SERVE a summons ON him.

7. grievous bodily harm [Br.Eng] == serious injury caused by a criminal attack

8. playhouse == a theatre, usually used in the name of theatres; e.g. the Oxford Playhouse

1 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

3 whodunit   

n.侦探小说（或剧本、影片等）

参考例句：

• It is not the most promising script for a whodunit.这并不是最有市场前景的侦探小说剧本。
• I always like the series "Whodunit" by Wei Sili.我一直很喜欢卫斯理系列的推理小说。

4 conqueror   

n.征服者，胜利者

参考例句：

• We shall never yield to a conqueror.我们永远不会向征服者低头。
• They abandoned the city to the conqueror.他们把那个城市丢弃给征服者。

5 conquerors   

征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
• The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。

6 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。

7 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

8 landlady   

n.女房东，女地主

参考例句：

• I heard my landlady creeping stealthily up to my door.我听到我的女房东偷偷地来到我的门前。
• The landlady came over to serve me.女店主过来接待我。

9 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句

10 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

11 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

12 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。