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● vital statistics：世界书局《四用字典》解作“人口统计”。但此词亦有“履历”之意：包括出生年月日、出生地点、婚姻状况等。those of his relations：those仍是statistics。亲戚有远近，以degrees表示之。relations in the nearer degrees：近亲或家属。at least：虽然不致把“三代”“九族”都填进去，至少父母妻子的“履历”都得要一填的。
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● just cause：正当理由。allowed：请求政府批准。注意：allowed后面不必跟 buy等字样。allow之本身，就含有to have的意思。import duty：进口税。进口税高达百分之一百，你还要去申请外汇买卖英国脚踏车，一定有理由，试于表格上详述之。
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● much better：反语。脚踏车是一种machine。
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● at half the cost：西班牙制脚踏车价钱只需英国的一半，何况它的品质又比英国的好得多（在西班牙政府看来）。
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When he has waited fifteen months for an answer, while sterling reserves continue to fall, the chances are that the answer will be “We lament to inform you that last year’s bicycle import quota has already been satisfied; we therefore advise you to fill out the necessary forms in quintuplicate for the present year’s quota…” this year which, as a matter of fact, ended three months before.
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● 申请表送上去后，如石沉大海。一年零三个月后（同时，西班牙政府外汇更形缺乏，他们更舍不得批准了），批复来了。
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● the chances are that：很可能的。
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● 引号中文字模仿“官样文章”。
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● lament原意是“悲悼”，这里只是“深表遗憾”。此字改用regret亦可；regret亦有“悲悼”、“惋惜”之意。import quota：进口定额。satisfied：满足（额子已满）。
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● the present year’s quota：本年的进口定额。可是回信离开填发日期已有十五个月，换言之，公文里的所谓“本年”，已经过了三个月。西班牙政府的“公文旅行”，把事情一搁，就是一年三个月。
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The most painless way, therefore, to import a British bicycle, as I learned from a friendly clerk at the Town Hall, is to arrive with it at the frontier, prepared to pay the import duty in cash, and insist on entry.
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● painless：作者没有说申请人的痛苦，这里用了个painless，前面那种填表、等候，最后还碰了一鼻子灰的痛苦，都包含在内了。
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● Town Hall：市政府议事厅；或市政府。
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● arrive with it at the frontier：入境的时候，就把车子带来。prepared是过去分词。in cash：用现款付。insist on entry：同海关人员交涉，坚持要把车子带进来。
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现代英文选评注 The Reigning Royalty of Europe欧洲之王室
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Lord David Cecil (1902—1986)
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戴维·塞西尔为英国贵族，亦是当代有名批评家，在牛津大学任教多年。著有The Stricken Deer（诗人Cowper传），Early Victorian Novelists，Hardy the Novelist等。
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本文原发表于1957年8月5日的《生活画报》（Life）。作者身为贵族，对于王室似颇为崇敬。但是他的谦虚合理的态度，相信民主自由的中国人似乎也能接受。
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原文甚长，此处摘录数段。题目中reigning一字，意为“在位的”。法国、意大利、西班牙等国王室后人，今仍在世，他们仍旧保持王室的尊号，只是他们并不“在位”。又如：英女王为reigning queen，其母（王太后）亦有queen的尊号，可是就不是reigning了。
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European monarchies of today are a very different thing from those of the past. For one thing they are constitutional. They also thrive in liberal democracies, where the government is conducted by the heads of the majority party in the elected chamber of government. Theoretically the king is head of the state. But he always acts on the advice of his ministers, so this does not amount to much. The one important occasion in which Britain’s constitutional monarch can influence events is when a party takes power without an accepted leader. The monarch can then choose, as Queen Elizabeth II did recently when she named Harold Macmillan to be prime minister, rather than Richard Austen Butler. But even here a monarch is unlikely to act against the wishes of the substantial body of the party in power. And though the monarch can advise the government, which may pay attention to the king’s wisdom and experience, he does not direct policy.
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● monarchies（此字ch读作/k/音）：君主政体；君主国。those仍是指monarchies。第一句里的thing的用法应加注意。有了这个字，文章显得更为亲切，因为这个字太普通了。
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● For one thing：今古君主政体不同之处可能很多，今举一点来说。constitutional：合宪法的。君主立宪（constitutional monarchy）与君主专制（absolute monarchy）不同。
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● liberal democracies：自由民主的国家。君主政体在那种国家里也能盛行不衰（thrive）。接着一个定语从句说明何谓自由民主的国家。在自由民主的国家里，管理政务之事（government is conducted）是由民选（elected）的国会（国会的上院下院都是house，但是也可以称为chamber）里的多数党（majority party）领袖担任的。
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