1.法国国王和王后死后，英国、奥地利、普鲁士和其他国家马上向这个新生的共和国宣战。英国占领了土伦，但他们被拿破仑·波拿巴率领的法军赶了回来。作为一名出生于科西嘉岛a的军官，拿破仑很快就凭借自己作为一名将军的领导才能，吸引了整个欧洲的注意力。
2.他将奥地利军队赶出意大利，并迫使普鲁士求和。此后，他率领一支伟大的舰队和军队航行穿越地中海并入侵埃及，希望借机到达并征服英属印度领地b。在途中占领马耳他c之后，他在亚历山大港d登陆并向开罗e挺进，随后又赢得了金字塔战役。
3.但是，他的舰队受到伟大的英国海军上将纳尔逊的追击，并在著名的尼罗河战役中，于阿波克尔湾f被彻底击败。在这次于夜间进行的战役中，9艘法国战船被俘获，2艘被烧毁。旗舰爆炸，法国海军上将和1000名船员葬身大海。拿破仑随后向叙利亚进军，但在那里遭到败绩，于是离开部队返回法国。他于1804年当上了法国皇帝。
4.爱尔兰对于英国政府对待他们的方式极为不满。法国大革命之后不久，他们便酝酿了一场暴动，但很快被镇压。他们转而觉得有必要将爱尔兰与大英帝国更紧密地联系在一起。在爱尔兰遭到很多反对意见之后，国会联合提案生效。爱尔兰要将32名上院议员和100名下院议员送到英国国会。
5.如今麾下已有几支大军的拿破仑决定征服欧洲。他立即着手计划入侵英国，并征集了许多炮舰用于运送部队，但他受到纳尔逊的严密监视，以至于不得不放弃计划。
6.纳尔逊男爵随后在特拉法尔加角g对面，进攻法军和西班牙军队组成的联合舰队，并获全胜；但他却被敌人帆缆处射来的一颗子弹击中而牺牲。他的死让整个国家陷入巨大悲痛之中，而随后一年当时最伟大的两位政治家的死，又给这一惨痛损失增添了悲伤的意味。这两位政治家便是小威廉·皮特（伟大的查特姆伯爵的儿子）和他的舌战对手查尔斯·詹姆斯·福克斯。
7.拿破仑企图在欧洲各王室四处安排自己的亲戚，来巩固自己的权力。在诡诈地将西班牙国王送进监狱之后，他宣称让自己的哥哥约瑟夫继承王位。对于这一点，西班牙人极为愤怒，他们发动了武装起义，并请求英国提供帮助。
a 科西嘉人：科西嘉出生的人。科西嘉是地中海的一个岛屿，位于意大利海岸附近，属于法国。
b 英属印度领地：印度国内由英国统治的部分。
c 马耳他：地中海上的一个小岛，西西里岛以南，属于英国。
d 亚历山大：地中海国家埃及一座著名的城市，尼罗河西入海口附近。
e 开罗：埃及的重要城市，位于尼罗河右河岸，亚历山大港西南112英里处。金字塔位于尼罗河对面。
f 阿波克尔湾：亚历山大港以东，位于阿波克尔城堡和尼罗河的罗斯塔入海口之间。
g 特拉法尔加：位于西班牙西南海岸，卡迪兹西南25英里处。
8.由亚瑟·韦尔兹利爵士（后来成为威灵顿公爵）指挥的一支10000人的军队被派到西班牙，半岛战争a由此打响。期间进行了许多战役，而英国军队几乎在所有战役中都获胜了。法国军队被一步步赶出比利牛斯山脉b。最后一次伟大的战役是在维多利亚c进行的，从那以后，威灵顿进入法国，并在图卢兹d打败法军。
a 半岛战争：之所以叫做半岛战争，是因为它在西班牙和葡萄牙发起，这两个国家在法国西南部形成了一个众所周知的半岛。
b 比利牛斯山脉：法国和西班牙之间的山脉。
c 维多利亚：比斯开湾的毕尔巴鄂以南30英里处。
d 图卢兹：位于法国南部，波尔多东南139英里处。
138
THE DEATH OF NELSON
纳尔逊之死
cannonade，attack with cannon.
complete，entire.
conflict，struggle；fight.
epaulet，badge worn on the shoulder.
express，signify.
mortal，fitted to cause death；fatal.
persuade，induce.
van，the front line.
1.After chasing the French and Spanish fleets across the Atlantic and back again，Admiral Lord Nelson caught them at a little distance from that headland in the south of Spain which is called Cape Trafalgar.
2.Having given the signal to move towards the enemy，this greatest of our many great sailors went down into his cabin and wrote a prayer.Soon afterwards，his famous signal，“England expects that e ver y man this day will do his duty，”was given forth from the mast-head of theVictory，in which he sailed，andwas greeted with loud cheers from ever y ship.His captainstried in vain to persuade him notCAPE TRAFALGAR.
to lead the van；and tried also to induce him not to wear a coat on the breast of which were sewed the gold-lace stars of the order of the Bath.
a
3.His colleague，Admiral Lord Collingwood，leading the second line，wentinto action first；but Nelson was not long in finding his way into the heart of the conflict.As the Victory sailed into action，a ball went through her rigging，and then came a tempest of shot and shell.While Nelson and Captain HardyaCollingwood.-Born 1750.He commanded the Excellent at the battle off Cape St.Vincent in 1797.After Nelson fell at Trafalgar，Collingwood completed the victory and took command of the fleet.He died on board his ship，the Ville de Paris，in 1810.
stood together on the quarterdeck，a cannon ball passed between them，and a splinter from the wood which it struck tore the buckle off Hardy‘s shoe.Then said Nelson with a smile to Hardy，“This work is toowarm，Hardy，to last long.”
4.Through all this hot fire the Victory answered not with a single gun.But when she reached her foe，the Bucentaur，on board of which the French Admiral was thought to be，the whole broadside of the Victory was poured into the enemy.The rigging of this vesselLORD NELSON.
became entangled with that of a French ship，the Redoubtable.The cannonade went on，and both ships took fire.The fire was soon put out；but during the confusion a number of men，stationed in the mizzen-top of the French ship，and armed with muskets，continued to fire down on the British deck.
5.While Nelson was talking with Captain Hardy，a bullet passed through the epaulet on his left shoulder，and，passing down his back，lodged in his spine.He fell forward on his knees，with his left hand-the only one he had-on the deck；and then he rolled over on his side.“They have done for me at last，Hardy，”he said to the captain，who stooped down to ask him if the wound wassevere.-“I hope not，”said Hardy.“Yes，”said Nelson；“my backbone is shot through.”
6.As they were carrying him down the ladder to the cock-pit，he spread his handkerchief over his face and breast，that the sailors might not know that he had been hit.The surgeon found that the wound was mortal.One or two men were kept constantly busy，fanning him with a sheet of paper，and wetting his parched lips with lemonade.He begged the doctor not to waste attention onhim，but to go to those whose wounds were not mortal.
7.The noise of battle still went on above and around；and，as each French ship hauled down her flag in token of defeat，a burst of cheering rose from the Victory’s crew，which roused the dying Admiral from his swoon of pain.Hardy could not stay below，but he went down as often as he could to report the progress of the action.At last he announced a complete success，saying that the smoke prevented him from seeing clearly，but that he believed fourteen or fifteen ships had struck their flags.
a Struck their flags.-Hauled down their colours in token of surrender.
8.“That‘s well，’said Nelson；“but I bargained for twenty.”Then he suddenly said，in a loud voice，“Anchor，Hardy，anchor.”Hardy asked whether he should not now look to Admiral Collingwood for orders.“No！”said Nelson；“not while I live-I‘ll anchor if I live；”-a speech supposed to express his intention of anchoring both ships and prizes at once，lest a gale should come on.