cautioned,warned.consulted,taken the advice of.contempt,scorn;disdain.discussing,talking over.execution,beheading.
expelling,driving out.
musketeers,soldiers armed with muskets.
resistance,opposition.
rugged,rough.
1.Some time after the execution of King Charles the First a dispute arose between Oliver Cromwell and that small body of men that was all that remained of the Long Parliament.There was a wish on the part of the leaders of the Parliament to bring in a number of Presbyterians once more.Now,as Cromwell feared this section,he opposed their admission into the House.And when he saw that some were determined to have them in,he took the bold step of expelling the Long Parliament.
2.On a certain April day,while he was discussing the affairs of the Government in his lodging at Whitehall,one of his officers,named Colonel Ingoldsby,ran in to tell him that the Commons were passing a Bill to admit the Presbyterians,and that they hoped it would be all over before he heard of it.He lost no time in going to the House,dressed in the usual sad colours of the Puritans-black clothes and gray worsted stockings.With him marched a smallband of musketeers;for what purpose he scarcely knew,since he had not quitemade up his mind what to do.
3.Leaving them in the lobby,he went into the House,and for some time sat silently in his place.The debate went on;and he listened with grim,composed face,until the Speaker was about to put the matter to the vote.At that moment he turned to Harrison,a man who was anxious for a Republic,and said to him,“Now is the time.I must do it.”
4.After Harrison had cautioned him,he sat down for a moment;and then rising,took off his hat,and began to speak.He grew so very violent after a while,that some one rebuked him,saying that he was using language not fit for the Parliament to hear.“I know it!”he cried,appearing to lose all control overhis temper,and rushing out into the middle of the floor,with his hat pushed tightly down on his grayish hair.
5.As he walked up and down,speaking with the greatest violence,he presented a figure more remarkable for rugged energy than for beauty;for he had a swollen,reddish face,and the marks of toil and anxiety had left furrows in his cheeks.
6.Sir Harry Vane and others tried to put him down by loud speaking;but he could match them all.“I’ll put an end to your prating,”he cried.“You are no Parliament.Get you gone,and give way to honester men.”
7.The stamping of his foot on the floor was the signal for the door to be opened suddenly;and in poured a number of soldiers with steel caps and doublets of buff leather,holding loaded fire-locks in their hands.
“Fetch him down!”he cried twice,
pointing to the Speaker in the chair;and that venerable personage rose and retired,the hand of a soldier having laid hold of his robe to pull him from his seat.Then pointing to the mace which lay on the table of the House,he said,with much contempt in his tone,“Take away that bauble.”
8.The members did not venture
“TAKE AWAY THAT BAUBLE!”
to offer resistance of any kind;but they walked out of the House as quickly as their dignity would allow them.As Vane passed by on his way out,he ventured to say,“This is not honest;yea,it is against morality and common honesty.”To this Cromwell replied,using that style of language of which the Puritans were so fond,“Sir Harry Vane!Sir Harry Vane!the Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane!”
9.In a few minutes after this there was not a single member in the House.Cromwell gave orders that the door should be locked,and sent one of his colonels off with the mace to Whitehall.He went thither himself too with the key of the House,and told his officers how “the Spirit of God had come upon him,”and “that he had not consulted flesh and blood”in the doing of this daring deed.
中文阅读
1.查理一世国王被处决后不久,奥利弗·克伦威尔与长期国会中保留下来的一小撮人之间的争斗日益激烈。国会领导者方面有一个愿望,就是将一些长老派成员再吸纳进来。而克伦威尔由于害怕这部分人生事,因此反对允许他们进入国会。当他看到有些人决意要让长老派成员进来时,就大胆地采取了解散长期国会的举措。
2.在4月的一天,他在白厅的住所里讨论政府事宜时,一个名叫英戈尔兹比上校的军官跑进来告诉他说,下院正在通过一项允许长老派成员进入国会的法案,而且他们希望在他得到这一消息之前就完全。克伦威尔立即前往国会大厦,他一如既往地身穿清教徒阴郁色调的衣服:黑色的外衣,灰色的毛料长袜。与他一起前往的,还有一小队火枪手,至于为什么带这些人,他也不太清楚,因为他尚未完全决定怎么办。
3.他将火枪手们留在大厅里,自己前往议会厅,不久,他就平静地坐在自己的位置上了。辩论仍在继续,他脸色阴沉而镇静地听着,直到议长打算将该问题投票表决为止。此时,他面向急于建立共和国的哈里森,对他说,“是时候了,必须立即行动。”
4.哈里森提醒他认真考虑一下之后,克伦威尔坐了片刻,然后站起来,摘下帽子,开始讲话。他说了一会儿就变得非常激动,以至于当有人回击他,说他使用的语言会让国会听不下去的时候,他嚷道:“我怎么会不知道!”他的情绪似乎完全失控,只见他一下冲到场地中央,将帽子狠狠地向下压在略带灰色的头发上。
5.当克伦威尔不安地来回踱步,用极其严厉的腔调说话时,他表现得更像一个以粗俗见长而不是以优雅取信的人,因为他的脸向外鼓起、略带红色,辛劳和焦虑的特征在他的面颊上留下了皱纹。
6.哈里·范内爵士以及其他一些人企图通过高声说话压住他的声音,但他的嗓门却把他们都比了下去。“我要中止你们的废话,”他叫道,“你们不是国会。你们都滚吧,把位置让给那些更忠诚的人。”
7.他在地板上重重跺脚,作为突然将门打开的信号;一队头戴钢盔、身穿牛皮紧身上衣、手拿装满子弹的长枪的士兵鱼贯而入。“把他拿下来!”他用手一指坐在席位上的议长,连喊了两次。只见议长面色凝重地站起、走下,一个士兵一把抓住议长的长袍,将他拉离座位。接着,克伦威尔又用手一指放在议会桌上的权杖,口气轻蔑地说:“把那个东西拿走。”
8.其他成员不敢再做出任何反抗,而是尽量保持尊严地快速走出议会厅。范内在出门经过他身边的时候,大着胆子说了一句:“这不是忠诚,而是违背了道德和基本原则。”对此,克伦威尔用那种清教徒们特别喜欢的口吻答道:“哈里·范内爵士!哈里·范内爵士!是上帝派我来解放你哈里·范内爵士!”
9.这之后不出几分钟,议会厅里就空无一人了。克伦威尔下令将大门锁上,并派自己手下的一名上校将权杖送到白厅。他自己带着议会厅的钥匙,也去了那边,并对手下的军官讲着“上帝的灵魂是怎样在他身上附体的”,以及在做这件勇敢的大事的时候“他并没有同自己的肉体商量”。
THE HOUSE OF STEWART RESTORED
斯图亚特王朝复辟
115
CHARLES II.(PART I.)
查理二世(一)
1660to 1685A.D.-25years(公元1660~1685年,共25年)dregs,remains.lurked,remained hid.plague,sickness.
rioting,noisy revelry.
victims,dead.
wail,cry of sorrow.
1.Great was the joy throughout England when Charles the Second entered London.The road was strewn with flowers,and the bells rang merrily for the Restoration of Monarchy.The people,weary of the strict mode of life of the Puritans,were very glad to have the throne filled by a King who cared for little else than worldly pleasure;and the serious mood of the former time was exchanged for a gay and heartless spirit,which too soon spread over the whole nation.