1705007075 现代英文选评注 [:1705000334]

1705007076 现代英文选评注 The Reigning Royalty of Europe欧洲之王室

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1705007078 Lord David Cecil (1902—1986)

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1705007080 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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1705007082 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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1705007084 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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1705007086 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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1705007088 ● 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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1705007090 ● 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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1705007092 ● 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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1705007094 ● Theoretically：理论上说来。head of the state：国家元首。

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1705007096 ● acts on the advice of his ministers：按照大臣的劝告而行事。注意句中his一字。minister在中国译作“部长”，英文原意是“仆人”；大臣者，帝王的仆人也。

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1705007098 ● this：纵为国家元首（事实上不发生什么作用）。amount to：（加起来）得到（什么样的数目）。does not amount to much：没有多少价值。

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1705007100 ● occasion：场合。此字前面的介词常用on（如on one occasion：某一次），但是这里用的是in（in which）。events：大事；国家大事。takes power：执政。when…是名词性从句，与前面的occasion相等。英国某一政党虽已掌握政权，但是群龙无首（没有公认的领袖），那时英国受宪法限制的君主，就可出来干涉，左右大局。

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1705007102 ● choose：常用作及物动词，这里是不及物动词，君主可以为政党选拔领袖，组织内阁。

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1705007104 ● did recently：did为did choose之略。Macmillan：英国前首相。方艾登辞职之际，Butler是副首相，继任希望本来甚大。但是保守党内部拥护Macmillan者，和拥护Butler者，分成两派。女王经咨询元老邱吉尔和Marquess of Salisbury（此人可能与本文作者是一家人）后，决定任命Macmillan组阁。

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1705007106 ● even here：即使在这种场合之中。the substantial body：大多数人。国王不大可能（unlikely）违反执政党多数意见，独断独行。pay attention to：国王有其智慧与经验，他的指示，政府人士可以注意倾听；但是国王不能指导政府的政策，他的话可能毫不起作用。

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1705007108 Monarchy today has also lost its religious halo. The religious conception does not fit with the secular views that lie behind modern democracy—all the more so because a large number of the citizens of these democracies no longer believe in any religion.

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1705007110 ● halo：神光（神、佛、天使、saints头上的光）。在君主专制的时候，帝王自命君权神授（中国的皇帝自称“奉天承运”）；英国国王加冕时，大主教还要背这么一段话：“Receive this kingly sword brought now from the altar of God and delivered to you by the hands of us the bishops and servants of God.”君主政体本来有一种神圣的光华，现在可是没有了。

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1705007112 ● secular：非宗教的。近代民主政治的基本观念（views）是非宗教的：人为贵，天次之。君权神授的观念，和这种看法格格不入（does not fit with）。

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1705007114 ● all the more so：尤其使这两种观念格格不入者。so是“不合”，more是“更不合”，the（副词）=on that account，因此而更为不合。民主国家里，很多老百姓什么教也不信，君主如再拿“天命”来号召，也没有人会相信的。

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1705007116 Only in England is the institution still sacramental, the monarch being crowned in church and still recognized as head of the national church. Other countries manage to forego the religious ceremony of coronation: the monarchs of Europe mark their accession by swearing an oath in the legislative assembly, according to a constitutional concept that does not accept any idea of divinely appointed monarch.

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1705007118 ● institution：（王室的）制度。sacramental：含有神圣意味的。（sacrament：圣礼，或是任何有神圣意味的东西。）

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1705007120 ● 第一句是倒装法。句子重心在前三个字，主语放在动词的后面。又本句用了一个absolute phrase（the monarch being…），这种短语用作轻描淡写的说明，最为合适。

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1705007122 ● crowned：加冕。这个字的名词形式是coronation。head of the national church：国教的教主。in church的church是“教堂”，national church的church是“教会”。

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1705007124 ● manage：想办法。forego或拼作forgo：取消。

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